Parker House Pull-Apart Dinner rolls, GF

By MaryEllen

There are few universally loved recipes that scream “DINNER!” more than pull apart rolls. You may think that heavenly soft, pillowy gluten free bread isn’t possible, but this gluten free pull apart dinner rolls recipe is here to prove you wrong — it’s quite possibly the best gluten free bread, ever.

Ingredients

• Ingredients
• 2 ¾ cups (371 grams) gfJules™ Gluten Free All Purpose Flour
• 2 packages (4 ½ tsp.) quick rise instant yeast (Red Star® Quick Rise or Fleischmann’s® Rapid Rise)
• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• ¼ tsp. baking soda
• ¼ cup (16 grams) instant gluten-free mashed potato flakes (Idahoan® Original Mashed Potatoes; Edward & Sons™ Organic)
• 1 ½ cups seltzer water, club soda, sparkling water or 7up
• 1 egg (room temperature)
• 3 Tbs. olive oil
• 1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
• 1 egg for egg wash or use milk of choice, oil or apricot preserves, thinned with water
• 2 Tbs. butter or non-dairy alternative (I like Earth Balance®) for rubbing on cooked rolls

Preparation

Step 1

Spray one 8″ or 9″ round cake pan or pie plate lightly with cooking spray then line with parchment (makes it easier to remove the rolls).

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together dry ingredients: gfJules Flour; yeast granules; sugar; potato flakes; baking powder; salt and baking soda.

In a separate bowl, stir egg to mix. Add to it seltzer water, olive oil and apple cider vinegar, then pour into the dry mixture while stirring or using the paddle attachment on a stand mixer at low speed.

Increase mixing speed to medium and continue stirring for 3 minutes. The dough will become fluffier but will still be thick.

While lining the pan with parchment isn’t necessary, having made them both ways, I like how easy they rolls are to remove when the pan is lined with parchment before baking.

Using a 2″ scoop, place 7-9 dough balls into the prepared pan: one or two in the middle of the pan and the others evenly spaced around it. I find it is easier to remove the dough smoothly if you first wet the scoop with water before filling with dough.

Dip your fingertips or a rubber spatula into warm water and smooth the tops of the rolls, continuing to re-wet as needed so the dough doesn’t stick to the spatula or your fingers.

Brush the tops of the rolls with an egg wash of one full egg mixed with 2 teaspoons water (you will not use the entire mixture for one recipe of rolls); or use or oil or apricot preserves.

Cover lightly with parchment paper or wax paper and allow to rise for 20-25 minutes, or until the rolls have risen to crowd one another but don’t have a lot of little pocks or holes showing from too quick of a rise. If your kitchen is cool, a good place to rise these is to turn your oven on to 200ºF and then turn it off when it has come to temperature. Place the rolls in the oven after it is turned off.

Remove the rolls after rising in order to preheat the oven to 450°F.

Once the oven has come to temperature, place the rolls (uncovered) into the oven and reduce the oven temperature to 350°F.

Bake for approximately 22 minutes. The tops of the rolls should be golden, a toothpick inserted into a roll should come out with only dry crumbs, and the internal temperature of the dough should be 195°F or higher. If the rolls are not browning enough during the bake, you can take a stick of butter or vegan butter and rub gently over the tops of the rolls before the bake time is through.

Once fully cooked, remove rolls to cool in the pan on a wire rack, and gently rub a stick of butter or vegan butter on the tops of the rolls for buttery flavor and color (you will use 1-2 tablespoons of butter with this method). Serve warm.

These rolls stay soft for at least 3 days if stored in a zip-top bag at room temperature. Recipe makes 8-9 rolls, depending on size.