Looking for an easy go-to gluten free rolls recipe? Stop looking because this is it. No really, I mean it. This is economical, easy, and versatile. It’s a great everyday bread choice for the whole family.
Let’s be honest – acquiring good gluten free bread can be a challenge. There are several popular ready-made breads on the market, but they can be somewhat expensive. You can also make your own bread, but “making bread” sounds fairly intimidating.
Yeah, that’s about where I was on Day One of our gluten free adventure.
After quite a bit of searching and some trial-and-error, I’ve found an excellent recipe that I use about twice a week. This is my standard gluten free rolls recipe for my husband’s egg sandwich breakfast, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, garlic bread for supper, gluten free bread crumbs, and countless other uses.
I’ve messed up this recipe many times, but I have finally stumbled upon the ideal process. This recipe is from the Better Better Gluten Free Flour website. Here’s the link to the original recipe: Gluten Free Italian or Kaiser Rolls
The following is my own process for making these terrific rolls.
Gluten Free Rolls
Ingredients:
1 package active dry yeast
2 1/2 cups very warm water
1 1/2 tsp salt
3 1/2 cups Better Batter Gluten Free Flour
1/4 c cornmeal, optional (I use this every time)
1 egg white, lightly beaten with a Tbsp water (optional)
Poppy seeds or sesame seeds (optional for sprinkling on top)
Other equipment you will need:
-Large cookie sheet, or two smaller ones
-Heavy duty mixer
-1/4 or 1/3 measuring cup (for scooping dough)
-Extra cup of water or small water bottle (for smoothing surface of dough)
-Your fingertips!
-Cooling racks
If you are like me, you may not have had a heavy duty mixer. I did not absolutely need to replace my cookie sheets, but I did purchase different ones because they were more versatile and less prone to cause burning on the bottom (GF baked goods are more vulnerable to this). Please keep reading after the recipe to hear more about my personal recommendations.
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Set up your heavy duty mixer, put the water and the yeast in the bowl. Stir this for several seconds, then let this mixture sit for 5 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, you can measure out your flour and salt and put these in another bowl. Or, you can set up the rest of
your equipment.
3. When the 5 minutes is up, give the yeast-water a quick stir. Slowly add your flour and salt (so it doesn’t puff back up in your face). Mix on “low” or a “stir” setting for a few moments until most of the flour is incorporated. Then, mix on high for five minutes.
4. Lightly grease your cookie sheets. Or, if you use the USA pans I recommend at the end of the recipe, you can skip
this. The pans are already coated with a cool silicone surface – no more greasing!
5. Sprinkle your cookie sheet/s with a small amount of cornmeal for a nice texture on the bottom, if you wish. I have a small shaker filled with cornmeal, which helps it go on much more evenly than with a spoon (trust me, I’ve tried!).
6. Get your extra cup of water and measuring cup ready. I typically use a 1/4 cup, but I’ve sometimes used a 1/3 cup for larger rolls. Try some of each to see what you prefer.
7. Dip your measuring cup in water and get a slightly overfilled scoop of dough. Drop your dough onto the pan and dip it back in the water again. This is important to do each time you scoop to prevent the dough from sticking to the cup.
8. If you use a 1/4 cup, you’ll get between 16-18 rolls. I can get 8 or 9 rolls on each of my small pans. And it’s OK if they are somewhat close to each other. You can easily tear them apart later when they are cooling.
9. After all of your dough has been put on the pan/s, dip your fingers in the water (or a small spray bottle) and smooth out the tops of each roll. A smooth top helps it stay a nice even shape that cuts easily. A lumpy roll makes it hard to keep the top half in one piece when you slice it.
10. Once you have nice smooth rolls, put your pan/s out on your counter. Let rolls rise for about 20 minutes.
11. If you wish, now is the time to add the egg wash and/or the seeds. You can also leave them plain on top. Be careful how much you handle them so you don’t pop all the nice yeast bubbles.
12. When the oven is ready, put the rolls in and set timer for 25 minutes. If your rolls aren’t at least a little browned on top, put them back in for a couple more minutes. Adjust your time according to how they turn out in YOUR oven.
13. Remove rolls and let them cool on the pan for a few minutes. When they’ve cooled a bit, put the rolls right on the cooling rack.
14. Please, please, please, for best results, let them cool completely! I’ve cut them open after only 15 minutes because I made them too close to the time I needed them. They are good to eat, but so sticky on the inside. Made it pretty hard to cut them cleanly. For best results, they’ll probably need at least an hour or two. Once they cool, the inside structure is much more stable and they cut very nicely.
Eat these up in the next few days. They’ll keep well in the fridge for about 3 or 4 days. After that, you might want to let them dry out a little more on the counter and grind them up for breadcrumbs. Most of the time, I have to make more before they get to that point.
Kitchen Tools: My Personal Recommendations
USA Pans: I use two small USA Pans 10 x 14 Inch Cookie Sheets
1. They fit together on one oven shelf, or I can move them around the oven if I’m cooking something else at the same time. Very versatile.
2. No greasing because of the silicone coating.
3. The nice silvery surface keeps the rolls from getting dark on the bottom. Gluten free products seem to burn easily, so I appreciate this feature.
KitchenAid 4-1/2-Quart Stand Mixer
This is the only mixer I’ve used since we went gluten free.
1. Gluten free bread and rolls are made differently from “normal bread”. You have to mix the dough longer and probably on a more regular basis. This will stand up to your frequent use better than a lighter-use electric mixer. If you want to save money on gluten free bread, you’ll probably want to make it yourself. So getting equipment that will last will be worth your investment.
2. I only used a hand mixer before this because I didn’t bake that often. A hand mixer would not only be exhausting, but I can use my time better than just standing there holding it (ingredient and tool prep).
3. You’ll almost certainly have to replace your mixer anyway, to avoid gluten contamination. The threshold for something being gluten free is less than 20 parts per million. One hidden piece of dried gluten cake batter can easily have more than that.
4. If you plan on having a two-way gluten household, you’ll need to keep your glutenous mixer and get a new clean mixer for your gluten free baking.
This gluten free roll recipe is awesome and I hope you love it. It’s easy and delicious – please let me know what you think!
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{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
How necessary is it to buy new cookie sheets? I have stoneware from pampered chef that I don’t want to part with. Can I deep clean it somehow?
A friend of mine, whose husband is terribly sensitive to Gluten, was able to take an air compressor and blow out her toaster oven with great results. Her husband is their Gluten have…and he never got sick. Just a little FYI.
Hi Ranee,
I do have two large metal pans I’ve had since *before* we made our house gluten free. Since they are a smooth metal surface, there’s not much chance of any remaining gluten sticking in there. However, they are pretty old and very dark.
I choose to get these newer pans partly because the shiny surface kept the bottom of the rolls from getting burned. Also, I love having two smaller pans so I could cook other things at the same time if I needed to. Very versatile.
I did, however, give up my baking stone. Since it’s so porous, I didn’t have much confidence that I’d get rid of tiny bits of hidden baked-on crumbs. Plus, you aren’t advised to use soap on baking stones, making me even more discouraged about making it totally clean.
I am asking a celiac expert right now about any way of deep cleaning a baking stone so it would be safe for gluten free cooking. I’ll post her response as soon as I get it.
Thanks for the great question.
Erika
My husband and three sons are GF, and have been for 7 years. I have separate baking sheets, cupcake tins, and toaster for them, but I use the same Kitchenaid mixer (I have the 6 quart). I know you’re not supposed to put the paddles, etc in the dishwasher, but I have done it for about 6 years with no bad results. The cost of another mixer is prohibitive, so I sanitize the mixer itself every time I use it. There has never been an adverse reaction from the mixer cross contamination. As for stoneware, just don’t use it, or have separate GF pans. It’s too porous, not worth the risk! I just ordered 25 lbs of Better Batter flour, and it’s the best Gf flour I’ve used yet. These rolls are delicious!
Amy – thanks for writing in and sharing your experiences. I agree that stoneware just seems to much of a CC risk to use for both types of cooking. And I’m so glad you like the Better Batter, and the roll recipe!
I make these rolls at least twice a week, a little more if we end up needing garlic rolls or making stuffing (like I did this week). That will eat up most of one recipe. My husband uses it nearly every day to make an egg and cheese sandwich in the morning. Tastes so much like a nice hard Italian roll.
Great to hear from you!
Erika
I love to bake, and this recipe is fantastic. I use a bun pan, scoop out 1/3 cups of the dough and have perfect sandwich buns. There is always a bit left, which I spread into the bottom of a loaf pan and sprinkle with freshly ground dried rosemary. A little ciabatta! All are beautiful and delicious. Thanks so much.
Sharon -
I love the idea of making a little ciabatta bread on the side – I’ll try that next time!
Is the recipe correct- 2 1/2 cups water and 3 1/2 cups gf flour? i had to add a lot more flour. let me know if i did something wrong
Mike –
The recipe is correct. It can look pretty liquidy at first, but by the time your 5 minutes of mixing are up, you’ll have a thicker scoopable batter/dough. It will look a lot like cake batter and that is good! If you add more flour, it will probably be somewhat tough. The long mixing time helps to add air and thicken it up somewhat. I’m not sure of all the chemistry involved, but it just works!
What I may do here is put the mixing time in boldface and clarify what the texture should be. I may also take some pictures the next time I do this to make it even more clear.
Thanks so much for checking and your question will help me improve how I explain the recipe.
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