Ingredients

Directions

• Place the flour, yeast, and sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer, and use a handheld whisk to combine well. Add the salt, and whisk to combine. Add the butter, egg, pineapple juice, and vanilla, and mix on low speed with the dough hook until combined. Raise the mixer speed to medium and knead for about 5 minutes. The dough will be quite sticky, but should be smooth and stretchy. Spray a silicone spatula lightly with cooking oil spray, and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl or proofing bucket large enough for the dough to rise to double its size, and cover with an oiled piece of plastic wrap (or the oiled top to your proofing bucket). Place the dough in the refrigerator for at least 12 hours and up to 5 days.

• On baking day, grease an 8-inch round baking pan and set it aside. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead until smoother as described in the General Shaping Tips below. With a floured bench scraper, divide the dough into twelve pieces of equal size. Shape one piece into a round by following the Directions for Shaping Small, Round Rolls below. Place the first roll in the prepared baking pan. Repeat with the remaining pieces of dough, placing the rolls less than an inch apart from one another. Cover the baking pan with oiled plastic wrap and set it aside in a warm, draft-free location to rise for 30 minutes. Uncover the pan and brush the rolls generously with the egg wash. Allow the rolls to finish rising, uncovered, until fully doubled in size (about 20 minutes more).

• About 20 minutes before the rolls have completed their final rise, preheat your oven to 350°F. Place the baking pan on the lower rack of the preheated oven and bake until lightly golden brown, and the inside of the rolls registers about 185°F on an instant-read thermometer (about 20 minutes). Allow to cool briefly in the pan before serving.

• GENERAL SHAPING TIPS
  Unless otherwise noted, always begin on a well-floured surface with floured hands.
  

  1. With the help of an oiled bench scraper, keep moving the dough as you shape it, particularly if it begins to stick to the surface or your hands. The process of kneading the dough in this book will be done using the scrape-and-fold method: Scrape the dough off the floured surface with the bench scraper, then fold the dough over itself. Sprinkle the dough lightly with flour, scrape the dough up again, and fold it over itself again. Repeat scraping and folding in this manner until the dough has become smoother.
  2. Keep the outside of the dough and the surface covered in a light coating of flour as you shape the dough. Handle the dough with a light touch to avoid kneading the flour into the dough, which might dry it out and result in a tight, unpleasant crumb.
  3. It bears repeating: A light touch is the key. Repeat that to yourself as a mantra as you first learn to shape this bread dough. It’s the most important rule in shaping. More technique, less muscle.
  4. You’ll notice that the recipes do not include instructions to allow dough that has been rising in the refrigerator to come to room temperature before shaping. Always begin with cold dough when shaping the dough in this book. It is much easier to shape.

• SHAPING SMALL ROUND ROLLS

  1. On a well-floured surface, flatten the dough into a disk, then pull the edges toward the center of the disk and secure the edges together by pressing them between your thumb and forefinger.
  2. Turn the dough over so that the gathered edges are on the bottom and cup your whole hands around the dough, to coax it into a round shape.
  3. Place the round of dough on a lightly floured surface and cup only one palm around the dough with the side of your hand resting on the counter (the side of your hand nearest your pinkie). Maintaining contact between the side of your hand and the surface, begin to move your hand in a circular motion while gently coaxing the edges of the dough upward (toward the top of the round) with the tips of your fingers.
  4. Slash the dough with a sharp knife or lame held at a 45 degree angle to the dough.

• From the book Gluten-Free on a Shoestring Bakes Bread: Biscuits, Bagels, Buns, and More by Nicole Hunn. Excerpted by arrangement with Da Capo Lifelong, a member of the Perseus Books Group.  Copyright © 2013.