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    Home » Recipes » Breads

    Home » Recipes » Breads

    Homemade Crusty French Bread Rolls (Bread Machine)

    By Chula King · March 13, 2022 · Updated March 21, 2022 2 Comments

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    Homemade Crusty French Bread Rolls

    Homemade Crusty French Bread Rolls are super easy to make in your bread machine. This recipe requires only five ingredients and produces the most amazing rolls you’ve ever tried.

    Homemade crusty French bread rolls.

    I’ve been making these amazing French Bread Rolls for years and they never disappoint. One of the benefits of these rolls is their versatility.

    The Master Taste Tester uses them to make me a breakfast sandwich with scrambled eggs and ham. I like to use them for sandwiches using nothing but mayonnaise and ham.

    They’re equally amazing with just butter.

    Contents show
    1 Why You Should Make This Recipe
    2 These Are The Ingredients That I Used
    3 Here’s How I Made the Dough
    4 Here’s How I Used the Dough
    5 Frequently Asked Questions
    6 Other Recipes for Rolls
    7 Watch How I Made These Amazing Rolls
    8 Homemade Crusty French Bread Rolls (Bread Machine)
    8.1 Equipment
    8.2 Ingredients
    8.3 Instructions
    8.4 Chula’s Expert Tips
    8.5 Nutrition

    Why You Should Make This Recipe

    • I’ve already mentioned that these rolls are quite versatile. They can be used as dinner rolls, slathered with butter, or for sandwiches.
    • With a bread machine doing most of the work, these rolls are easy to make.
    • There is nothing exotic about these rolls. They use only five ingredients and don’t require any fancy techniques.
    • If you weigh your ingredients as I always do, these rolls are fool proof.

    These Are The Ingredients That I Used

    Ingredients for French Bread Rolls
    • Flour: I always use bread flour for these buns.
    • Liquid: The only liquid needed is filtered water.
    • Flavorings and Enhancers: I use Kosher salt for flavoring and granulated sugar to help feed the yeast.
    • Yeast: The yeast that I use is either instant yeast or bread machine yeast.

    Here’s How I Made the Dough

    I started by adding the water, salt, sugar, bread flour and yeast to the pan of my bread machine in the order listed. Then, I selected the dough cycle and walked away.

    The bread machine did all the work!

    Adding yeast to bread machine with other ingredients.

    Here’s How I Used the Dough

    1. Once the dough cycle finished, I transferred the dough to a floured surface.
    Dough on floured surface.
    1. Next, I cut the dough into 12 pieces and formed each piece into a ball.

    Being the nerd that I am, I actually weighed each of the pieces of dough – 2.12 ounces each! This way, I knew that each of the rolls would be the same size.

    Forming dough into balls.
    1. I placed the 6 balls of dough on a parchment lined baking sheet and placed the remaining balls on another parchment lined baking sheet. Then, I took my hand and flattened each of the dough balls.

    I covered the baking sheets and placed them in my electric oven that I had heated for 1 minute and 45 seconds. This is a trick that I learned from Julia Child. It took several hours for the rolls to rise.

    Rolls ready to rise.
    1. Once the dough had risen, I removed the cover and baked the rolls in a preheated 400°F oven for 20 minutes.
    Rolls ready for the oven.
    1. After 20 minutes, the rolls were crusty golden brown on the outside and soft on the inside. I transferred the French Bread Rolls to a wire rack to cool.
    French Bread Rolls cooling on wire rack.

    The Crusty French Bread Rolls were perfect. Yum!

    French Bread Rolls

    Frequently Asked Questions

    What is used to cover the baking sheet during the rise?

    Some years back, my daughter bought me a sheet pan extender that put inside the rimmed half sheet pan. Then, I invert another sheet pan on to of the extender. This works perfectly!

    What kind of parchment paper is used?

    I line the baking sheets with reusable parchment paper. Other than my rounding the corners it fits perfectly in the baking sheets.

    What about heating the oven for 1 minute and 45 seconds?

    I turn my electric oven on for 1 minute and 45 seconds. It doesn’t matter what temperature is set. The 1 minute and 45 seconds is all that is needed to heat the oven and produce a perfect environment for rising.

    Is it necessary to use an egg wash on the rolls?

    For these rolls, I never bother using an egg wash. However, you could certainly use an egg wash if you wanted to.

    Is active dry yeast the same as instant or bread machine yeast?

    Active dry yeast is different from instant or bread machine yeast in that it requires rehydration before being added to the dry ingredients. Instant or bread machine yeast can be added directly to the dry ingredients.

    Why is it important to use filtered water in this recipe?

    It’s important to use filtered water in any recipe using yeast. The reason is that tap water contains chlorine which can impede the growth of the yeast and/or actually kill the yeast.

    Other Recipes for Rolls

    I thoroughly enjoy making bread and rolls. Here are some of my favorite recipes for homemade rolls with the bread machine doing most of the work!

    • Oat Rolls
    • Amish Potato Rolls
    • Buttery Dinner Rolls
    • Milk Bread Rolls
    • Waterford Blaa (for St. Patrick’s Day)
    • New Orleans Po ‘Boy Rolls
    • Homemade Slider Buns
    • Honey Wheat Rolls
    • Homemade Hamburger Buns

    Watch How I Made These Amazing Rolls

    I hope you liked this recipe for Homemade Crusty French Bread Rolls as much as I do. If so, please consider rating it and leaving a comment. Also, if you’d like to receive notifications of new posts by email, enter your email address in the Subscribe box.

    Thank you so much for visiting Pudge Factor. I hope you’ll come back!

    Crust French Bread Rolls.

    Homemade Crusty French Bread Rolls (Bread Machine)

    Homemade Crusty French Bread Rolls are super easy to make in your bread machine. This recipe requires only five ingredients and produces the most amazing rolls you've ever tried.
    5 from 1 vote
    Print Pin Rate
    Course: Bread
    Cuisine: American
    Prep Time: 5 minutes
    Cook Time: 20 minutes
    Bread Machine Processing: 1 hour 50 minutes
    Total Time: 2 hours 15 minutes
    Servings: 12 Rolls
    Calories: 115kcal
    Author: Chula King

    Equipment

    • Bread Machine

    Ingredients

    • 1 cup plus 3 ½ Tablespoons (9.75-ounces, 276 grams) filtered water (See Tips 1 and 2)
    • ½ Tablespoon Kosher salt
    • ½ Tablespoon granulated sugar
    • 3 cups (15-ounces, 425 grams) bread flour
    • ½ Tablespoon instant or bread machine yeast (See Tip 3)

    Instructions

    • Add ingredients to bread machine pan in the order listed. Select Dough cycle, and press start.
    • When the Dough cycle has completed, transfer dough to a floured surface. Cut into 12 equal size pieces and form smooth balls. Place on parchment lined baking sheets and flatten with hand. (See Tip 4)
    • Cover and place in a warm location until nicely risen. (See Tips 5 and 6)
    • Bake in a preheated 400°F oven for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on wire rack.
    • Yield: 12 Crusty French Bread Rolls. (See Tip 7)

    Chula’s Expert Tips

    1. I always weigh my ingredients. The reason is that there is a lot of variability in different measures of ingredients. By weighing the ingredients, I’m assured of the recipe turning out the same time after time.
    2. Filtered water can either be bottled water or water from the refrigerator if the refrigerator has a filter.
    3. Active yeast is not the same as instant yeast. Active yeast needs to be rehydrated whereas instant yeast or bread machine yeast can be added directly to the dry ingredients.
    4. I weigh all of my ingredients and also weigh each of the cut pieces of dough. Each piece weighed 2.12 ounces).
    5. I use Julia Child’s suggestion of turning my electric oven on for exactly 1 minute and 45 seconds to produce the perfect environment.
    6. It takes around 3 hours for the rolls to rise to the size that I like which is more than the typical double in size. 
    7. I store these rolls in a Ziploc bag in the refrigerator. Before using the rolls, I slightly warm them in either the microwave (15 seconds) or in the toaster oven (5 minutes at 350°).

    Nutrition

    Calories: 115kcal | Carbohydrates: 23g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 292mg | Potassium: 33mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 1IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 6mg | Iron: 1mg
    Tried this recipe?Please leave a comment below and/or give this recipe a rating. On Instagram? Take a picture and tag @pudgefactor or #pudgefactor.

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    Filed Under: Breads

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Helen O says

      April 03, 2022 at 8:12 pm

      These rolls are delicious! I followed the directions exactly as directed and weighed all the ingredients. I proofed the dough with the oven light on for a bit of warmth and voila! A light crispy crust with a lovely soft.open crumb. 5 Stars out of 5!

    2. Chula King says

      April 04, 2022 at 7:54 am

      So glad the rolls turned out for you!

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