Dinner Roll Odyssey: Texas Roadhouse Copycat Rolls

Every now and then, I like to do something I call a Food Odyssey. I’ve done a Pie Crust Odyssey previously, where I tried out several different pie crust recipes in order to find the ultimate in flaky, tasty piecrusts, and now, dear readers, I bring you the…DINNER ROLL ODYSSEY!

Yes, bread, delicious bread! That gluten-filled, yeasty yumminess that is never quite so good as fresh out of the oven and buttered and happily snacked on.

I didn’t grow up with dinner rolls, but I do like them. They’re such a perfect little serving size. And what, you think I serve them with dinner? Ha! Ha ha! Well, I have been known to do so, but really, I use them for snacks, for lunches, and to eat when I’m foraging for food at midnight.

Which recipe to start the odyssey with? Well, in the U.S. (and yes, I’m Canadian) apparently the restaurant chain called something like ‘Texas Roadhouse Grill’ or so, has mouth-watering dinner rolls. So, hey, why not start there?

I used this recipe from www.foodfanatic.com, but me being me (*cough*Queen of Substitutions*cough*) I used 1/2 c. of milk powder instead of honey. Why? I still have milk powder leftover from the Venezuelan milk candy that my mother-in-law made for my wedding. Which was a few years ago now. Waste not, want not, and all that jazz! I figure the milk powder will add extra nutrition, and it’s sweet, so that can replace the honey. Plus, as I learned when I made Schoolhouse Rolls, milk powder adds a special, indefinable taste to buns. It just makes buns taste better in my opinion.

The result? Yummeh! They tasted a bit like my Schoolhouse Rolls, I thought. Which makes sense given that I did used milk powder. I wonder how they would taste if I actually used the honey the recipe called for. Should I make the recipe again, and follow it to the letter? Meh, boooorrrrring. I want to move on to the next recipe already!

I would recommend mixing the yeast with the warm milk and letting that proof for a bit, i.e. let it sit until foamy, maybe 20 minutes or so, before adding in the flour. The original recipe says to mix the flour and yeast together, but I’ve never heard of a bread recipe that didn’t proof the yeast and I think it makes the bread fluffier if one does so. So I’d recommend it! It will turn out ok without the proofing, but…I think proofing it makes it better!

So this recipe was ok. I mean, I enjoyed the freshly made, warm, buttery bread (oh dear, now I want to eat another one!), but I think it could be better. So…on to the next dinner roll recipe! And the odyssey has begun. Stay tuned!

Next Post: A Memories of Meals Past Post! And then back to bread, delicious bread!