Review of Good Eats: Roll Call

Another Tuesday morning, another Good Eats review. Last night aired one of the most anticipated episodes of the season (at least for me). An entire show dedicated to delicious, soft, yeasty rolls! I have been waiting for Alton to do a roll show. I have gathered a great deal of my cooking knowledge from him, however when it came to rolls I had to turn elsewhere to the King Arthur Flour Company Cookbooks. Now I get a chance to see how his recipes match up to the ones I have in that flour company's books.

The name "roll" simply came from the fact that the dough is rolled to shape it. There are two categories of rolls: rich and lean. In America, we prefer the rich rolls, so that is what Alton made. The typical steps of making rolls are as follows: mix, rest, knead, rise, punch, shape, proof, bake, and cool. Alton decided to change the steps up, to what he thinks better describes what is going on. His steps are: integrate, hydrate, integrate 2, stretch, align, double, redistribute, portion, configure, double, bake, and cure. In order to help the viewers remember this he came up with this mnemonic deceive: I Have Imagined Seeing A Demented Rabid Playtpus Carelessly Drinking Blue Cocktails. I know I am not going to forget that! With these instructions, Alton makes two different types of rolls: Parker House Rolls and Butter Flake Rolls.

Parker House Rolls | Click here for the recipe
These rolls are named after a hotel in Boston. They were first made near the end of the 19th century. They are sometimes referred to as pocket rolls, as the dough is folded over forming a "pocket". Inside this pocket is a small pat of butter.

Butter Flake Rolls | Click here for my full recipe review
With these rolls, you roll the dough out into a square. Then the square is cut into 12 strips. The strips are then stack together in two bunches of 6. Then cut into 12 individual rolls. These rolls are baked in a lubed up muffin tin.

Lastly, Alton mentions how you can make these rolls into brown and serve rolls. By baking them at a low temperature just enough to set the outside of the rolls, you pull them out, let them cool, and freeze them to finish later. This is a great idea if you have a lot of food to prepare for a big meal. You can get the rolls ready before hand.