Kummelweck Rolls

Photo: flickr user nickgraywfu

Ingredients

3/4 cup water

1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast

1 1/2 teaspoons sugar

1 teaspoon salt

cups high-gluten flour

cups bread flour

2 tablespoons non-instant nonfat dried milk powder

2 tablespoons potato flour

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 egg

Preparation

Combine all of the ingredients except the topping, and mix, knead and raise the dough as instructed in the recipe for Golden Semolina Bread.** Divide the dough into six 3 1/4-ounce pieces, and shape them into smooth, slightly flattened rounds. Place them on a baking sheet, covered, to rise for 1 hour, or until they're good and puffy.

Brush the rolls with a bit of melted butter, and sprinkle lightly with the topping. Use more or less topping, according to your taste tolerance for salt.

Bake them in a preheated 425 F oven for 15 to 18 minutes or until they're golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack; they're best served the same day they're made, though they do reheat nicely.

Yield: six large rolls.

**In a large mixing bowl, or in the bowl of an electric mixer, combine all of the ingredients, mixing to form a shaggy dough. Knead the dough by hand or by machine, for 10 minutes. Allow it to rest for 10 minutes, then knead for an additional 10 minutes, till it's smooth and supple. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, and allow it to rest for 1 hour; it'll become quite puffy, though it may not double in bulk. You may also use your bread machine, set on the Dough cycle, to prepare the dough to this point.

NOTES : Before Buffalo chicken wings there was Beef on Weck, a great upstate New York tradition involving hot, juicy roast beef on a salt-and caraway-encrusted hard roll. There's the recipe for the rolls; the hot roast beef is up to you.