America’s Test Kitchen Kaiser Rolls

I’ve never had or made kaiser rolls before, but I tried them out for the first time last summer. I used America’s Test Kitchen’s recipe for the kaiser rolls, and since it was my first time I didn’t make any up front adjustments – although you’ll see I add flour to my dough.

At the end of the video I mention trying a shorter baking time the next go round. Although the recipe says to bake for 30-35 minutes I left my rolls in around 40-45, waiting for the golden colour to appear. They never browned quite the way I wanted them to, or the way they looked in the picture, but I just took them out when I figured any longer and they’d be rocks.

I’ll be the first to say that this whole process was a challenge for me, between the wet dough, shaping the rolls and (foolishly) doing another major baking project the same day. It was great just to be in the kitchen and practice though, so I hope you all enjoy watching me flail around with this roll project anyway.

If you’d like to make some kaiser rolls yourself, here’s the recipe! If you’re new to shaping and manipulating dough like me, I’d say be patient with yourself and don’t schedule anything major to do on the same day. 😉

Print Recipe

Kaiser Rolls

Prep Time2 hrs

Cook Time30 mins

Servings: 12

Ingredients

Dough

• 5 cups bread flour
• 4 tsps instant or rapid rise yeast
• 1 tbsp salt
• 2 cups* water, room temperature
• 3 tbsps vegetable oil
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• 4 tsps sugar

Egg Wash

• 1 large egg, lightly beaten with 1 tbsp of water and a pinch of salt
• 1 tbsp poppy seeds (optional)

Instructions

• Put bread flour into a stand mixer, and add yeast and salt. Stir to combine.
• Whisk water, sugar, vegetable oil and egg together in a large measuring cup, until the sugar is dissolved.
• Add the wet ingredients to the dry a little at a time and stir everything on low, until no dry flour remains.
• Increase the speed to medium low and continue mixing until the dough clears the sides of the bowl but sticks to the bottom, 8-12 minutes.
• Empty the dough onto a well floured counter. Knead for 30 seconds.
• Lightly grease a large bowl and turn the dough around inside. Let the dough rest, covered, until it doubles in size, about an hour to an hour and a half. 
• Deflate the dough and press it out onto the counter into a large rectangle, about 12×6 inches.
• Use a pizza cutter to slice the dough into 12 even pieces. If you don’t have a pizza cutter, a butcher’s knife would work too. 
• Take a strip and drape it into a U-shape in front of you. 
• Tie the two ends together into a knot, as if tying your shoes. 
• Fold one of the tails over the knot and the other tail under, so they meet in the middle in front of the knot, inside of the loop. Press the ends together and place on a parchment-lined cookie sheet.
• Repeat the knotting process with all of your strips. 
• Let the rolls rest, covered, until doubled in size, 30 mins to an hour.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Brush the knots gently with an egg wash and sprinkle with poppyseeds.
• Bake the rolls for 30 – 35 minutes in the oven, until golden. 

Notes

• Two cups of water was too much for my dough. Making this again I would start with 1 3/4 cups. 
• From Bread Illustrated by America’s Test Kitchen.