Wherein Madam Chow Attempts Kaiser Rolls

I’ll cut to the chase here:  TASTE – very good.  LOOKS – what the?!

In my latest entry to the BBA, I baked Peter Reinhart’s kaiser rolls from The Bread Baker’s Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread.  My thoughts on the recipe are that it produces tasty rolls, especially if you sprinkle them with sesame seeds, but the texture is not as soft and fluffy as those that are commercially available.  And the shaping instructions are uncharacteristically poor.

Like most of the recipes in the book, you make a preferment that you refrigerate overnight, then use the next day to make the rolls.  No problem there.  When it came to actually using the kaiser roll cutter, however, Reinhart’s instructions, such as they are, do not result in the characteristic kaiser roll pattern.  Another failing:  the picture in the book shows glossy , well-shaped rolls.  Well, you can’t get that glossy look without using an egg wash (which I did), but that does not show up anywhere in the instructions that I could see.

So, while the recipe is very good, you are going to have to look elsewhere for better shaping and baking instructions.  I have to say that this is my first big disappointment in the book; in other instances, poor visual results were the consequence of my learning a technique.  In this case, the instructions for using the kaiser roll cutter just weren’t there.

And, as always, you can see what everyone is making this week at our Flickr group , on Twitter (#BBA), or check out the challenge page. To see what others have made in their kitchens this week, be sure to check out Susan’s weekly YeastSpotting!