Gluten Free Dinner Rolls

I am finally taking a moment to breath and catch up on some posts!

A few weeks ago, I received a complimentary 2.5 lb. sample of Better Batter Gluten-Free All-Purpose flour to review. A quick bit of info on Better Batter: the ingredients are: Rice and Brown Rice Flours, Tapioca Starch, Potato Starch, Potato Flour, Xanthan Gum and Pectin. Some Better Batter product information: it is Kosher, made in a dedicated facility and is approved not only by the Celiac Sprue Association but also for use in the Feingold Diet by the Feingold Association.

Well, let me put it this way: I used up all of the flour in one day and my guys ate everything I made before I could get photos! I made “real” cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning (they were so good!) and even tried out some “Pigs in a Blanket,” which Mike proceeded to eat all of and Sam didn’t even get to try one!). I even made “Nutter Butter” cookies! I immediately ordered 25 pounds of the Better Batter GF flour and it arrived this past Friday. I have been experimenting like a mad food scientist and am having a hard time pulling myself away long enough to make a post!

I am going to do this “review” differently by showing the results of Better Batter in actual recipes. I think it is so awesome, that I may be switching from my beloved Tom Sawyer’s GF All-Purpose Flour, which uses gelatin instead of pectin. I really wish I could figure out what proportion to add these ingredients (gelatin and/or pectin) to my own GF flour blends, they have made all the difference in my GF recipes, although I think the pectin is winning out over the gelatin.

Hang on, deep breath: “omm…” (very helpful with ADD! 😉 )

Okay, so one thing at a time because I also have other very cool recipes to share too, like how to make your own (you will be able to make a dairy-free version too!) evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, liquid coffee creamers, beef jerky, GF “Hamburger Helper” Mixes, vegan marshmallows without gelatin (did you know that gelatin is derived from beef?) or agar agar, (and I am not a fan of the Kosher marshmallows made from fish gelatin, as I can taste the fish. Then again, beets taste like dirt to me, so maybe it is my palette! 😉 ). I am even closing in on a corn-free “light corn syrup!” I also have more condensed soup recipes (in fact, I will be revising the whole condensed soup “series” of posts because this has been a real journey for me and I have “updated” the condensed soup recipe many times, which is confusing even for me when I look up my own recipe on my blog! I am going to give the GF Magic Mix and each of the soups their own page.

Okay, enough rambling for now! I found the following recipe on Recipezaar (I like getting recipes from here because they have reviews) and with a few tweaks, I made a GF version. The original recipe is listed with my changes in red.

Easy Dinner Rolls (you will need to mix up the dough 2 hours – 3 days ahead of time)

printable recipe

1 cup Water (110° F.)

2 pkgs. Yeast (Do not use quick rising in this recipe) (I buy my yeast in bulk, so I used 5 tsp. Yeast… each package of yeast is about 2 1/2 tsp.)

1/2 cup Butter, melted (for dairy-free, use Earth Balance.  Earth Balance also has a soy-free version.  You can also use 1/2 cup Coconut Oil, melted)

1/2 cup Sugar

3 Eggs

1 tsp. Sea Salt

4 1/4 cups Flour (I used Better Batter GF All-Purpose Flour)

• Combine warm water and yeast in a large bowl (I used the bowl of my stand mixer); let stand for 5 minutes.

• With a wooden spoon, stir in butter, sugar, eggs and salt (I just added all of these ingredients into the bowl of my stand mixer).

• Add flour, 1 cup at a time and beat as much as you can (you will probably be able to use all of the flour) (Again, added to the bowl of my stand mixer and let it do the work for me! I just used the standard beater attachment since GF dough tends to be more of a batter consistency).

• Cover and Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or up to 3 days.

• Grease a 13×9 baking pan.

• Turn dough out onto floured surface.

• Divide into 24 equal pieces (I divided mine into 20 equal pieces of 2-oz. each, if you do not have a scale, just eyeball it)

• Roll each piece into a smooth round ball.

• Place in rows in prepared pan. (I brushed mine with an egg wash: 1 beaten egg combined with 1 Tbs. water).

• Cover and let rise for 1 hour; until doubled (here is a cool tip for rising: put the covered dough in a cold oven on the middle rack. On the rack below it, fill an oven safe dish with a couple inches of boiling hot water, then shut the door. This makes for ideal rising conditions! 🙂 )

• Heat oven to 375°.

• Bake until golden brown, about 17 minutes.

My guys flipped over these dinner rolls! Sam even had one for breakfast this morning 😀 ) I want to learn how to make these using Agave Nectar, so if it works out, I will do an updated post later!