Dinner Rolls

When I look back, knowing what I know now, it is a wonder to me how my Mom prepared a huge, all homemade Thanksgiving dinner single handedly.  Maybe us kids helped her a little but maybe we "helped" by making it take even longer too.  That I don't remember, but I do remember her being up early, apron on, and very busy.  The table was pretty, the food was delicious and we got to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade with Dad.

One of my favorite additions to our meal, was always Mom's homemade cloverleaf dinner rolls.  She had a technique down to making them and I can't wait to try and make them this year with her as my teacher.   In the meantime, these dinner rolls are little less pretty but still quite tasty.  When Mom and I get together, we will use this same recipe and attempt to make them into cloverleaf rolls.  Ok Mom?  All I did to make these tasty little guys, was use my favorite Gluten Free Bread recipe.

*Make sure dry ingredients are at room temperature before starting

3 c GF Flour Mix - I used Paula's GF Flour Mix - see below for her recipe
2 t xanthan gum
1/2  t sea salt
3 T sugar
1 t dry yeast
2 t coconut oil (melt before measuring)
1 1/2 c + 2 T warm water

1. Grease and dust with GF flour an 8×4 loaf pan.  Heat oven to 200 degrees.
2. Combine GF Flour Mix, xanthan gum, salt, sugar, and dry yeast in a medium sized bowl and whisk together. Set aside.
3.  In mixing bowl, combine the coconut oil and warm water together and then add the dry ingredients. Mix on high for 2 minutes, this activates the yeast. It should resemble a thicker cake batter.
4.  Pour batter into prepared pan and cover with a tea towel.  Turn OFF the oven and set the covered bread in the warm oven to rise. Carefully shut the oven door.
5. The bread will take about 30 min. to rise to just below the top of the pan.  Take the bread out carefully and set aside. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
6.  Place bread in preheated oven and bake 45-55 minutes.  After the first 10-15 minutes, tent tinfoil over the bread for the remainder of the baking time to prevent the crust from darkening too much.
7. Test the bread with a toothpick. After you’ve removed the bread from the oven, immediately rub the top with butter. Remove loaf from the pan to a wire rack to cool.
8.  Let cool completely before cutting.   This makes a big difference on how well it will slice and stay together.

Paula's Gluten Free Flour Mix (this makes enough for 2 loaves of bread plus 1 extra cup)
1 1/2 c. millet flour
1 1/2 c. sorghum flour
1 c. tapioca flour
1 c. potato starch
1 c. arrowroot powder 

Paula also recommends this recipe for dinner rolls...
  If you let the dough sit a bit longer after you’ve mixed it, it will thicken to the point that you can scoop the dough in a muffin-sized scoop and drop it in rows of three. Leave a bit of room in between them, maybe a 1/2 to 1 inch or so.
Use a 9×13 cake pan that has been greased well. Let them rise about the same time – enough to get just to the top of the pan. Cover them with tin foil for the first ten minutes just like the bread and bake them the same amount of time and at the same temperature.

When I made these Gluten Free Vegan Dinner Rolls, as soon as it was done mixing (step 3.), I just spooned a little dough into greased and floured muffin tins, filling them about 1/2 way.  Then continued with the directions above starting with 4, covering them with a tea towel and letting them rise in the 200 degree preheated oven, turned off for 15-20 minutes, then follow the rest of the directions above.  

A great dinner addition, warm homemade dinner rolls :)  Thanks again Paula at WholeIntentions.com!