Walnut Cranberry Rolls

Remember my quest to recreate the walnut rolls of my youth? These came very, very close to the right texture and sweetness! I think I would just need to omit the cranberries, substitute in a little bit of whole wheat flour, and knot up the rolls, and I'd be dang close to the original. 

But enough about my nostalgic quest, these rolls were awesome in their own right. The walnuts and cranberries are always a great flavor combo, and the softness and stretchiness of the bread made these some of the best rolls to come out of my oven. They made a really welcome and enjoyable addition to Thanksgiving dinner and next-day breakfast, both by themselves or slathered with butter.

Walnut Cranberry Rolls (adapted from Brown Eyed Baker, original source Bon Appetit magazine)

Ingredients:

3 & 1/2 cups bread flour (more may be needed later)

1 tablespoon light brown sugar

1 & 1/2 teaspoons dry active yeast 

1 & 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 & 1/2 cups milk (whole milk if possible), warmed to about 95 degrees F

2 tablespoons vegetable oil, plus more for oiling the bowl

1 large egg

1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped, toasted in oven or on stove and allowed to cool

1 cup dried cranberries

1 egg, beaten

large-grain sugar (e.g. turbinado)

Instructions:

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the 3 & 1/2 cups of flour, sugar, and salt. In a separate bowl, combine the warm milk, yeast, and 2 tablespoons oil. Wait 5-10 minutes until the yeast starts to bubble and rehydrate. If you are using instant yeast, you can add the yeast directly to the flour without activation step. 

Add the milk mixture and 1 egg to the flour mixture and mix on low using the paddle attachment on the mixer until a loose dough begins to form. Add the cranberries and walnuts and replace the paddle attachment with a dough hook. Mix on low speed until the dough forms a smooth, elastic, and slightly tacky dough, adding more flour by the tablespoon as needed until the dough starts to ball up and stick less to the walls of the bowl. It should take about 4 minutes of mixing. I use the windowpane method to decide whether the dough is done mixing, stopping when I have at least achieved medium gluten development.

Transfer the dough to a flour surface and knead for 2 minutes. Place dough ball into a large lightly oiled bowl, flipping the dough over once to coat both sides with oil. Cover bowl with plastic wrap or a damp towel and allow to rise until doubled, ~2 hours depending on your room temperature.

After the dough has risen, gently deflate and transfer to a clean working surface (doesn't need to be floured at this point). Divide the dough into 12-16 equal pieces, depending on how big you would like your rolls. Shape into round balls or roll out into long strips to make a simple knot. Place the shaped rolls on a lined baking sheet, spaced a tiny bit apart. Loosely cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise to 1.5 times the original size, approximately another 1 & 1/2 hours. 

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Brush rolls with beaten egg gently, sprinkle with some coarse-grain sugar, and let sit another 15 minutes while oven preheats.

Place rolls in oven and immediately reduce temperature to 400 degrees. Bake for 7 minutes, rotate the pan, and bake for another 8 minutes, or until the rolls are nice deep golden brown and appear firm and well-set. Let cool to warm for serving immediately, or cool completely for freezing/storage. Rewarm in 350 degree oven for ~10 min wrapped in foil.

NOTE: This recipe is easily doubled, but bake in two batches spaced 15-20 minutes apart, as you will likely not get adequate browning and air circulation in the oven for such a short baking time if you try to bake a doubled recipe at one time. I learned this from personal experience--nearly burnt bottoms and pale tops!