Egg White Dinner Rolls

You know I love bread:

I never expected bread without egg yolks in it to come out spongey and rich, but this was pretty good. The dough rose very high, which is a big bonus for a novice bread maker like myself. Getting dough to rise properly is a tricky tricky task.

The recipe is simple and straightforward:

Proof two tablespoons of yeast in a quarter cup of warm water for 10 minutes.

Whisk together one tablespoon of olive oil, 1 1/2 cups warm water, a teaspoon of salt, two egg whites, and the proofed yeast.

Add flour until the dough just pulls away from the side of the bowl (using paddle attachment on a stand mixer or a wooden spoon). You'll use about 5 cups of bread flour.

Knead for several minutes until springy and elastic. The dough should bounce back when poked.

Put in a lightly greased bowl, turn over once to coat, and cover loosely. Let rise for an hour. Meanwhile, line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Deflate the dough gently. When they say "punch" your bread down, it's just an expression! Actually punching it will make your dough dough. Gently divide your dough into twelve pieces. Using what I call the "tighten and tuck under" method, form each piece of dough into a tight ball. Basically, you tuck the outer edges of the dough underneath as you smooth the top surface, repeating until you have a perfectly smooth dough on top. You don't want cracks on top because as the dough rises the dough will be most likely to crack along the already weakened part of the dough. When the top looks smooth to you, pinch the bottom of the dough closed and place the formed ball on the covered baking sheet. Form six balls for each baking sheet, at least two inches apart. Press them down a little if you're making rolls for sandwiches, and leave them spherical if you want dinner rolls. Dust with flour. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise for 25 minutes.

In the last five minutes of the rise, begin preheating your oven to 400 degrees. when the 25 minutes are up, slash the rolls in a cross (as I've done) here, or in a spoke pattern. Or make two parallel slashes. The slashes just give the dough a set place to rise. Cover loosely and let rise for just 15 minutes. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes, or until golden. These are best fresh out of the oven with some Plugra butter and preserves, but a bag of them has also gone into my freezer as emergency bread.