Gluten-Free Dinner Rolls

You might think a fluffy dinner roll is impossible without gluten. It’s not, of course — and it’s easy. And if someone you love can’t eat dairy, you could use melted coconut oil in place of the butter here. The key here is the psyllium husk. This natural insoluble fiber absorbs water in a way you won’t believe the first time you use it. The dough here will be wet, thickly wet, and it will dribble off the whisk. After you have let the dough rise and the flours hydrate for 90 minutes, the dough will be still tacky, but much closer to bread dough. Tuck those dough balls into each other in a pie plate and you have soft, fluffy dinner rolls for Thanksgiving.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup warm water
• 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 200 grams almond flour
• 100 grams arrowroot flour
• 100 grams potato starch
• 50 grams tapioca flour
• 2 tablespoons psyllium husk
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1 large egg (optional)

Instructions:

1. Whisk together the warm water, yeast, and honey in a large bowl. Let the yeasty water sit for a few moments. When you see a bubbly foam on the surface of the water, you know that the yeast is still alive and ready to use.
2. Whisk together the almond flour, arrowroot flour, potato starch, tapioca flour, psyllium husk, and salt.
3. Slowly, add the dry ingredients to the yeasty water, whisking continuously.
4. Pour in the melted butter and stir until everything is evenly combined. The texture of the dough will be a little like paint spackle —  there are a lot of starches in there, after all — but it should be wet. It should drip off the whisk when you lift it, not quickly, but in slow motion.
5. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit in a warm place in the kitchen for 90 minutes.
6. When the dough has risen, it should still be a little tacky to the touch. Remember that you don’t want to aim for the texture of gluten bread dough. Let it be itself.
7. Heat the oven to 425° F. Grease a 9-inch pie pan.
8. If you have a 2-inch ice cream scoop, use it here to scoop up a ball of dough. (If you don’t have one, wet your hands and grab a big ball of dough.) Plop it in the middle of the pie pan. Repeat until you have filled the pie pan. Wet your hands and smooth the tops of the dough balls.
9. Whisk the egg and brush it over the tops of the dough balls. (If you can’t tolerate eggs, brush olive oil over the tops of the dough balls instead.)
10. Bake until the tops of the rolls are browned and firm to the touch, about 15 to 20 minutes. (If you want to take the temperature of the rolls, you’re aiming for 200° F.) Remove the rolls from the oven and let them cool in the pie pan.
11. Eat! Share!

Read More