This Cornmeal Bread Rolls are soft, fluffy and oh so big! You get more bite (and carbs!) in every single piece of these rolls. This is definitely bigger than regular dinner rolls but if you like the small portion rolls, you can easily make 12 from one batch. But seriously, why would you want a small piece of roll when you can have a bigger one. Unless of coarse you are counting calories and carbs, then maybe you should totally stay away from bread 🙂 not a happy life, that’s just me talking 🙂
I had been wanting to make this cornmeal bread rolls for a long time but something always bump it off my to do list, plus as I mentioned, this is quite a large portion from my usual small batch baking. So I really needed to plan when I make this so I can avoid leftover. Although you can freeze this, I always prefer fresh bread especially fresh out of the oven. I decided to make it one long weekend more than enough for me the share with friends.
About This Recipe
Homemade Bread is a labor of Love .. worth every minute
If you’ve made homemade yeast bread before, then you know that it is a labor of love in every step. Yeast bread making takes awhile, although there are yeast bread that you can make in 1 – 1 1/2 hrs end to end. There’s also the no knead artisan style bread that takes forever, 18 -24 hrs of resting, so you can leave it and forget it until the following day and go about your regular day. Then there’s the average yeast bread that takes about 3 hrs to make, this is where I categorized this rolls.
An Extra Step for a Softer Fluffier Cornmeal Buns
There is one extra step for this recipe that is not usual for a yeast bread, that is the cooking part of the cornmeal flour. It wouldn’t take long, only 2-3 minutes and then just leave it to cool. I guess what I am trying to say is that if you’ve never made yeast bread before or any kind of bread, this wouldn’t be a beginner bread rolls recipe, but it doesn’t mean that you cannot make it. Once you get used to making yeast bread, you will feel more confident, and this rolls will be a an easy recipe. It wouldn’t cut the time of the process (Still 3 hrs or more) but it will feel easier. So if you like a challenge, just a little bit, try to make this bread rolls. Yes it takes awhile to have the end product which is normal for most yeast bread, but the process are almost the same with other bread rolls except for the cornmeal cooking part.
Simple Easy to Find Ingredients
The ingredients are easy to find, except for the cornmeal, all the ingredients are basic to yeast bread making. I have other cornmeal recipe that you can use your extra cornmeal, and they wouldn’t take 3 hrs to make. Try my Cornmeal Muffin or Cornmeal Bread they’re one of my favorite too.
A Texture Different From Usual DinnerRolls
This bread has slightly different texture from usual bread rolls, and that’s because of the addition of cornmeal. The cornmeal gave a “gritty” texture to the bread which makes it different for regular dinner rolls. Sometimes, change is good, try it! It is soft, fluffy and with a nice yellow color. The exterior has a unique texture because of the sprinkled cornmeal on top, this actually reminds me of our Filipino Pandesal because of the exterior being rolled in bread crumbs, it gave the same effect as using cornmeal.
9 or 12 pieces, your choice
I made 9 pieces and each piece is larger than regular bread roll, which is a treat. You can easily make a dozen from this batch. You can also bake it in a cookie sheet and have it like a separate bread rolls. I really like baking it in a pan with each piece side by side because it helps keep it moist, and I like pulling them out one by one and see the beautiful soft texture of the bread as it pulls away. Such a delight to see!
Make-Ahead – Yes!
Yes, you can make this ahead of time. This can be left in a covered container for 5 days at room temperature. I usually make this as my bread for the entire week since I live by myself. You can easily make this for a family dinner, for breakfast or brunch. It’s a nice bread that go with almost anything, from stews, soup, salad, pasta or anything where you require a bread pairing.
How to Make Cornmeal Bread Rolls
ENJOY and don’t forget to share an make your friends beg for more 🙂
- First thing first, activate the yeast for about 10 minutes to get the yeast activated. I added it in warm milk (110F) and added sugar in it. Temperature is very important in activating the yeast, make it too hot or cold and the yeast will not activate properly. If you do not have a kitchen thermometer, microwave milk for about 15 – 20 seconds, that should do the trick. If you are using a milk straight from refrigerator make it about 25 seconds and then just touch it to make sure its not too hot or cold.
- Next Cook the Cornmeal and sugar to turn it into a thick clump of dough. Set it aside to cool.
- Time to mix the wet and dry ingredients in the mixing bowl and then add the cooked. Knead the dough just until it becomes elastic. The dough will be slightly sticky, but you should have a clean bowl after kneading and mixing it. Clean bowl means that you are on the track for the consistency of the dough. If your dough gets too sticky, add 1 tbsp of flour at a time until you get a clean bowl and the dough forms. But don’t over do it as adding too much flour can make the bread heavy and dense. Final dough should be slightly sticky but manageable and shapeable. The dough is done, Congratulations!
- First Rest Period: Transfer in a greased bowl and cover and let it sit for 60 minutes in warm place.
- Shape: Take the dough out from the bowl and divide it into 9 or 12 portions. Use a kitchen weighing scale if you have one. Shape each portion into ball, cover and leave for 15 minutes. Work on each dough, knead a bit to release the air that gets build up in the 15 minutes rest. Roll bottom and side in cornmeal and arrange in a parchment lined baking pan or in a baking sheet.
- Second Rest Period: Cover and let rest for another 1 hour in a warm place
- Brush with Buttermilk Brush the top with milk and sprinkle cornmeal on top.
- Bake Bake in preheated 350F oven about 20-25 minutes or until until top is golden brown,
Tips for a Successful Soft Homemade Bread
- Check Yeast Expiry a Date – you might be wondering how come the bread did not rise when you followed exactly the recipe. Well, first thing first, make sure the yeast is not yet expired.
- Liquid Temperature – Yeast grows in temperature between 105 – 110F, so it is important to have the water that you are using to “proof” it in this range. If you go lower or higher, the yeast might not proof properly. That means the bread will not rise as much, resulting to a flat and tough bread. If you do not have kitchen thermometer, microwave the water (from the faucet) about 15 – 20 seconds. Feel it with your fingers, it sound be lukewarm not hot.
- Amount of Yeast – Just because you want a tall fully bread doesn’t mean you have to put as much yeast in the mixture. Sometimes if you add too much, it will have a tendency to collapse. Just imagine putting more air than what is needed in a balloon, the balloon will explode. The same case with bread.
- Right Type of Yeast – Us the recommended yeast type in the recipe. If doing substitution, make sure to adjust accordingly. This recipe uses active dry yeast.
- Flour Measurement is not exact all the time, but with only minimal difference. Sometimes it could be plus 2 – 4 tbsp more, this is why I always set aside about 1/4 cup in case I need to add more. If you measure the liquid properly, and still the dough turn out dry, then it could be that the flour moisture is either dryer than usual. Dry flour requires more liquid, and lighter flour requires less liquid. This could depend on the brand of the flour and the age of the flour, and of course flour could vary from country to country. The nearer the flour gets to expiry date, the more that it gets dryer. If you are like me who doesn’t monitor the expiry date, then you just have to feel the dough if it needs additional flour. You want it to be still soft and moist but not too sticky. Moist but enough to form the dough into a ball. My test is a bowl with clean side, while the dough still slightly stick at the bottom. This gives a soft dough.
- Rest Period – Yeast bread needs time to rise. There are bread that uses less yeast but requires more rest time, the likes of No Knead Bread or Artisan Bread which usually require 8- 16 hours rest period to get the volume and to develop the flavor. There are 1 hour bread like my Rosemary Dinner Rolls which used this same bread dough. Resting the dough is imperative to allow the gluten to relax and to allow the dough to rise. A well rested dough will rise better, will created pockets or air, and will make a light and soft bread. Remember, 2 rest period. First at least 1 hour and another 1 hour for the second rest period. It’s worth the wait, promise.
Why is My Dough Too Wet or Too Dry?
Don’t get frustrated if your dough did not turn out immediately as what you see in the photo or video. Most likely It is not because you did not follow the recipe. When it comes to bread making, the amount of flour and liquid is not always 100% precise. This is way often times you will encounter recipes that says, if your dough is dry, add a bit more liquid. If your dough is too wet, add a little bit more flour. This instructions are not meant to confuse you, they are meant to guide you on how to adjust as you work through your dough. The reason for this is that although the measurement of water and flour are specified in the recipe, it still could slightly vary depending on many factors.
- One key thing that could affect the texture is how you measure the ingredients. Measuring by weight is the best way to do it, but the spoon and level technique comes as close to measuring by weight although not 100% exact. Scooping the flour directly often ended up with a bit more than required.
- Also, all-purpose flour could very from country to country, or even from brand to brand. Don’t be surprise if you find that some brand tends to require a bit more liquid as the others.
- On top of this, the amount of liquid is also affected by the state of your flour. How old is the flour that you are using? Older flour nearing expiry tends to be drier and this requires more liquid.
Bread making requires patience, and practice. Once you learn how to feel the right texture of the dough, everything will be quick and easy. You can instantly tell if you need to add more water or flour to get the dough in right state.
Soft and Fluffy Cornmeal Bread Rolls (Light, Tender, and Easy)
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Activate Yeast: In the bowl whisk together yeast with warm milk and 1/2 teaspoon of the granulated sugar. Rest for 15 minutes until mixture is foamy. Set aside while you cook the cornmeal mixture.
- Cook the Cornmeal: In a pan, transfer the cornmeal, 1/2 of the sugar, 1/4 teaspoon of salt and water. Stir and cook in medium heat until it thickens. This will only take about 2 minutes. Once the mixture is thick, add the softened butter and stir until fully melted. Turn of the heat and continue stirring. Remove from the heat and let cool before adding to the flour.
- Add Wet and Dry Ingredients: In the mixing bowl, pour the activated yeast. Add the bread flour, cooked cornmeal mixture, egg, remaining sugar and salt. Mix on medium low-speed (KitchenAid Setting 2) until combined, then switch to a hook attachment. Allow mixture to knead on medium-low speed until smooth and elastic, about 15 minutes. If the dough is too sticky add 1 tbsp of flour at a time, nut NOT too much. The dough should be slightly sticky, smooth and elastic. If too much flour is added the bread will be dense and heavy. A good measure of correct texture is a clean mixing bowl, while the dough still slightly sticking at the bottom.
- First Rest Period, 60 Minutes: Remove the dough from the bowl and form into a ball. Grease the bowl bot the inside and the cover facing inside. This will help prevent the dough from sticking to the bowl and the cover. Transfer into a greased bowl. Roll the dough inside the bowl to coat it with the oil. Cover the bowl with bowl cover, plastic wrap or warm towel and allow to rest for 60 minutes in a warm place.*** TIP: To help the dough rise better, store it inside the oven which had been pre-heated to 110F. Once it reached the 110F, turn OFF the oven. DO NOT forget to turn it OFF, you only want the oven to warm up for the dough to rise, you do not want to dough to be baked. Some oven has a proofing setting, mine doesn’t, so this is my trick.
- Shape: Remove from the bowl and lightly push the dough down with the heel of the palm of your hands to knockout the air. At this stage, the dough should at least double in size. Divide the dough into 9 equal portions (or 12 for small portions) and roll each portion. For even size, use kitchen weighing scale if you have one. Roll each piece into a ball, cover and let rest for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, the dough will slightly be fluffier. Flatten each piece to knock down the air and then roll again into a ball size. Roll the bottom and side in cornmeal leaving the top without cornmeal. Arrange in a 9-inch square pan lined with parchment paper.
- Second Rest Period, 60 Minutes: Cover and let rest for another 60 minutes. Use the same trick in step 4.
- Preheat oven to 350F during last 10 minutes of dough rising. If using the trick in step 4, make sure to remove the bread from the oven before pre-heating it to 350F.
- Egg Wash: Gently brush top of the rolls with milk. Sprinkle cornmeal on top.
- Bake: Bake in preheated 350F oven until top is golden brown, about 25 – 28 minutes. Check at 20 minutes and cover top with aluminum foil to avoid burning the top.
- Cool: Leave in the pan for 5 minutes then remove from the pan and transfer in a cooling rack. Remove the parchment paper lining as well. This will prevent the bottom from getting soggy.
Make the Bread Without Stand Mixer
This bread can be made without stand mixer although it will require a little bit more effort but it is doable. Instead of a stand mixer, simply use a large mixing bowl to mix the dough. Here’s how you do it
- Activate the yeast
- Cook the cornmeal mixture
- Simply mix the wet and dry ingredients in a large bowl until it forms into a ball.
- Transfer in a floured surface and continue kneading until the dough becomes smooth, soft and elastic. Take your time, about 8 minutes or so.
- Proceed to Step 4
Makes 9 – 12 bread rolls
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SweetnSpicyLiving
Oh, they do look soft and fluffy! And buttery too!
they are! I think cooking part of the dough makes a difference after all