Hoagie Rolls

One nice thing about knowing how to cook and bake is that if you can't get what you want at the store or at a restaurant, you can make it! The problem with rural Iowa is that you can't get good hoagie buns. Problem solved. This recipe comes from the website Pizza Maker's Quarterly.

Hoagie Rolls

1-1/8 cup water
1-5/8 tsp Salt
3-3/8 tsp Sugar
1-2/3 Tbl Olive Oil
16 oz Strong Bread Flour or Hi-Gluten Flour
2-1/2 tsp Yeast

Adjust water temperature to approximately 70F and add to the mixing bowl. Add the flour and all of the remaining ingredients. Using a dough hook, mix at low speed for four minutes, then at medium speed for about 15 minutes, or until the dough is smooth and fairly well developed. Target dough temperature is 80F. After mixing, scale the dough into 3.5 ounce pieces and form into balls, allow the dough balls to rest on a floured bench top for 20 to 30 minutes, then roll out to form a thin sheet about 1/4 inch thick. Roll the sheeted dough piece (jelly roll fashion) to form a small loaf about seven inches long. Place each formed loaf/roll onto a lightly oiled sheet pan with the seam side down to prevent the dough from becoming unwrapped during proofing. Be sure to separate the individual dough pieces by about 2 inches to prevent them from baking together
Place the rolls on a baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to proof for 45 to 60 minutes. Using a razor blade, make a slit along the entire top of each roll about 3/16 to 1/4 inch deep, lightly mist the rolls with water and bake at 425F for about 20 minutes, or until the rolls are lightly browned. Remove the rolls from the pans soon after baking and allow to cool on wire screens or racks. As soon as the rolls have cooled to an internal temperature of 100F they can be placed into cardboard boxes lined with an approved, polyethylene bag and sealed closed for storage. The rolls can be kept for 3 to 4 days at room temperature.

You can always make bigger or smaller rolls if you need to. For those who are interested, here is the baker's formula:

Flour 100%
Salt 2.0%
Sugar 3.0%
Oil 5.0%
Yeast 3.5%
Water 57%

They go great in cheese steaks!