When It's OK To Cheat

People who have known me over the last few years know what joy I take in baking bread. I love the whole process, sometimes even more than the finished bread. Even so, there are times when I need something to put on the table quickly...and I still want yeast bread, not quick bread. That's when I cheat. I use frozen bread dough. If it was frozen dough from my own freezer it wouldn't be a cheat, just me being superbaker or something. Alas, I don't put bread dough, unbaked, into the freezer. For one thing I would have to clean out the freezer to find the room. For another thing I would have to think of it when I'm making the dough. Maybe one day...

Until then I can use the frozen white bread dough from the market. One week in November they had it on sale and I was going to show some friends how to make this recipe, so I bought two packages...a total of 6 pounds. Unfortunately the time with the friends was cancelled due to illness of one of the friends, so the dough sat in the already full freezer. When it was time to prepare for our Boxing Day open house I decided that this would be a good time to use 2 pounds of the dough to make some rolls to go with the meat/cheese platter. It would have taken far longer to make these from scratch, time I didn't have, plus frozen bread dough has a light texture that makes good rolls.

First you thaw out the dough. I put the two lumps, still in their plastic bag, into the fridge for a couple of days. (Had meant to only thaw them for one day, but Christmas prep took over, so it ended up being two days.) By then the dough was not only thawed, but puffy.

I turned it out on a large floured board and used my hands to spread the dough, little by little, into a large rectangle. If you only want to make one pan of rolls, you can do the same thing with one pound of dough...the rectangle will be smaller, but otherwise the directions are the same.


Next I drizzled 2 tablespoons of olive oil over the dough and brushed it fairly evenly over the dough with a pastry brush.


1/4 cup mixed freshly minced herbs (I used the Simon & Garfunkle quartet of parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme) are sprinkled evenly over the dough. You could also add salt or garlic salt if you like, or even finely minced garlic.


The dough is then rolled up jelly-roll fashion from the long side of the rectangle, and the edges pinched together once the roll is fully rolled. The rolls are then cut into pieces about one inch to 1 1/2 inches wide.


I used a piece of clean dental floss which gives a nice smooth top edge, but you can use a bench scraper or sharp knife.


Lay the rolls, cut side to the pan, in two greased 9-inch cake pans, leaving some room between the rolls for rising. Cover the pans with oiled plastic wrap and then a tea towel and let rise in a warm, draft-free place until doubled in bulk.

When rolls are almost ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Uncover the rolls and mist with olive oil or brush with melted butter or milk, or leave plain as I did.

Bake in the preheated oven about 15 minutes, or until baked and tops are beginning to be browned. Remove from oven and let cool 10 minutes on a rack, then turn out of the pans and separate into rolls. Serve at once for best flavor and texture.

These rolls can also be cooled and packed into gallon storage bags and put in the fridge for a day or two. Reheat in a 325 degree F oven for 10 minutes. Best served warm.

Makes about 16 rolls

Themes and Variations and Dinner Rolls

Some spaces of time are for questions…others are for answers. There was a while, perhaps imperceptible, perhaps not, when many of the usual pastimes lost their sparkle. It wasn’t that I was depressed, just pausing, perhaps questioning the ways I had been spending time. Now I feel like I’m more in an answer part, but it includes some repeats of old songs, with variations.

Jazz players can jam together for hours, riffing, weaving their way around a tune, a rhythm; finding variations on the theme. This playfulness seems to be the essence of creativity. The willingness to try things brings a new perspective.

This week I took a good but simple roll and changed it with fresh herbs and a little whole wheat flour to something memorable.

Today when there were no fresh cherries for a recipe I made last year, I found dried cherries and soaked them in kirschwasser. The chocolate zucchini bread with cherries was different this way, but delicious. I took it to a musical afternoon and book release party so there are no photos. I can, however, show you the book cover I designed.


Don’t be afraid to play around with recipes yourself. Sometimes it will not work out, but you learn something from that, too. I had that experience this week, as well. Leftover Hollandaise sauce seemed to me to be a great starting place for making a drop cookie. I added sugar and almond meal, colored bits of the dough in Easter egg colors.

When the dough lumps hit the heat of the oven they melted down to discs. Perhaps I didn’t have the courage of my convictions and took them out of the oven too soon, but it is just as likely that I should have added egg white and/or flour to the batter. They did taste great but were flat and tore easily.

If I make Hollandaise again I’ll try another shot at Hollandaise cookies. Maybe I’ll create a good cookie next time, but I’m still glad I tried this time, even if the results didn’t match my aspirations.

Here is changed up recipe for the rolls I shared with Sparkle Plenty and Arcadia:

Herbed Pull Apart Dinner Rolls
based on a recipe from Amanda’s Cookin’
makes 12 rolls

1 package quick-acting active dry yeast
1 1/3 cup milk (105 – 115 degrees F)
3 to 3 ½ cups flour (I used 2 cups bread flour, 1 cup whole wheat flour, and about another ½ cup all-purpose flour)
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup minced fresh mixed herbs – I used a combination of parsley, basil and rosemary with a bit of dry oregano and dry thyme)
1 tablespoon melted butter
coarse salt for the tops

Dissolve yeast in warm milk with sugar in electric mixer bowl. Let stand 5 minutes.

Stir the flours together in another bowl or large mixing cup if you are using mixed flours.
Stir in 1 cup flour mixture, the oil and the salt into the milk/yeast mixture. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour until soft dough forms. Cover and let rise in warm place until double, about 45 minutes.

Punch dough down and turn out onto a lightly floured board. Press down on dough to create a rectangle, roughly 8 inches by 10 inches in size. Spread half of the herb mixture over the dough, leaving edges free of the herbs.

Roll up jelly roll fashion, pinching the edges together. Fold in the ends. Press down on the dough to create another rectangle, roughly the same size. Spread the second half of the herb mixture over the dough in the same way, roll up and pinch to seal the same way, and then knead for a few minutes to distribute the herbs throughout the dough.

Prepare a 12 cup muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray. Pinch off 1 inch balls of herbed dough and quickly roll in the palm of your hands. Put 3 balls into each muffin cup, repeating until all dough is used.

If baking right away, brush with melted butter and sprinkle with coarse salt. If not baking right away, brush with melted butter and refrigerate up to a few hours. When read to bake, preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Sprinkle rolls with coarse salt if not already done.

Bake until crust is light golden brown, about 15 minutes. Immediately remove from oven and from pan. Store loosely covered. Serve warm.