Last week the Los Angeles Times ran a yummy-looking recipe in the Culinary SOS Column for the Orange Dinner Rolls from Morrison's Lodge in Oregon. Even though I rarely make yeasted baked goods (well, except for the no-knead breads that I've been into lately -- and those don't really count), these rolls looked so pretty and interesting that I had to give the recipe a try. The bread is made from a slightly sweet yeasted dough, and it has a mixture of sugar and orange zest rolled up inside. The individual rolls are then baked in muffin pans, which makes for a charming presentation.
The recipe was easier than I thought it was going to be. The dough was extremely sticky when I took it out of the Kitchenaid mixer, but after incorporating some more flour during kneading, I was able to handle it and roll it out very easily. The recipe advises that cutting the rolls with string is easier and cleaner than using a knife. I used plain dental floss, which is sturdier than string and cuts like a charm. I let the rolls rise in the muffin pans for about 90 minutes before baking.
These rolls were just gorgeous coming out of the oven and I was initially pleased as punch with the way that they turned out. Then Tom and I each tasted one. Even though the orange filling was nice, the bread itself was unbelievably bland. I was trying to figure out what the heck was wrong with the rolls when Tom honed in on the problem immediately: "Did you put any salt in these?" I quickly realized that in fact, I had completely forgotten to add any salt at all to the dough. When I read the recipe before starting it, I had noticed that the salt wasn't added with the flour and other dry ingredients as I would have expected, but instead incorporated at the very end, right before kneading. I remember thinking this was strange because when is salt ever added to a sticky dough at the very end? In any case, I accidentally forgot to add the salt and ended up with a flat and flavorless result.
I can only imagine that these rolls would have been quite delicious if I had actually put together the recipe correctly. Even though oversalting is one of the most common complaints I have when I eat in restaurants, salt is in fact absolutely critical to both cooking and baking alike. This experience was an unfortunate reminder that one little teaspoon of the stuff can in fact make all the difference in the world.
Recipe: "Orange Dinner Rolls" from Morrison's Lodge, printed in the February 25, 2010 Los Angeles Times.
The recipe was easier than I thought it was going to be. The dough was extremely sticky when I took it out of the Kitchenaid mixer, but after incorporating some more flour during kneading, I was able to handle it and roll it out very easily. The recipe advises that cutting the rolls with string is easier and cleaner than using a knife. I used plain dental floss, which is sturdier than string and cuts like a charm. I let the rolls rise in the muffin pans for about 90 minutes before baking.
These rolls were just gorgeous coming out of the oven and I was initially pleased as punch with the way that they turned out. Then Tom and I each tasted one. Even though the orange filling was nice, the bread itself was unbelievably bland. I was trying to figure out what the heck was wrong with the rolls when Tom honed in on the problem immediately: "Did you put any salt in these?" I quickly realized that in fact, I had completely forgotten to add any salt at all to the dough. When I read the recipe before starting it, I had noticed that the salt wasn't added with the flour and other dry ingredients as I would have expected, but instead incorporated at the very end, right before kneading. I remember thinking this was strange because when is salt ever added to a sticky dough at the very end? In any case, I accidentally forgot to add the salt and ended up with a flat and flavorless result.I can only imagine that these rolls would have been quite delicious if I had actually put together the recipe correctly. Even though oversalting is one of the most common complaints I have when I eat in restaurants, salt is in fact absolutely critical to both cooking and baking alike. This experience was an unfortunate reminder that one little teaspoon of the stuff can in fact make all the difference in the world.
Recipe: "Orange Dinner Rolls" from Morrison's Lodge, printed in the February 25, 2010 Los Angeles Times.
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