Gluten Free French Sandwich Rolls

Gluten Free French Sandwich Roll
I'm still amazed at how beautiful it looks inside.

It's about the size of a hamburger bun.

I started making Gluten Free French Rolls about midway through last school year. I've been serving them to my son in the morning sliced, buttered, sprinkled with garlic salt, and toasted in the oven. We finally realized around May that these rolls are good for turkey sandwiches too. Now my son doesn't have to eat plain rolled up turkey meat for lunch like he has for the past six years--he can have the turkey on a roll. One roll wasn't quite enough,  though, and two rolls was just too much for his lunch, so I decided to start making them bigger and slicing them before freezing. The freezing step is important for these, because it dries them out a bit. They're a little too gummy right out of the oven, although, they are still quite enjoyable that way.
Unfortunately for me, I'm realizing that I will probably have to double the recipe from now on because my son goes through about two rolls a day, and although these are super easy to make, I don't want to have to make these more than once a week. Maybe I need the kid to eat a more varied diet... hmmm... interesting concept.
In the meantime, I'm probably going to keep on baking these. I really only changed the size from my previous Gluten Free French Roll recipe, but since I've got the food blog here, and because the freezing step is important, I decided to go ahead and post this recipe.
I have not tried this recipe with any other type of gf flour, so I don't know if substituting will work. I do know, though, that I love, love, love my Better Batter Gluten Free Flour. It's almost time to purchase my third 25 pound bag. Yep, I bake a LOT. In the end, though, I'm saving not only my son's sanity, but I'm also some money by making my own rolls. Plus, they're delicious. Not a bad combo. Not bad at all.

Gluten Free French Sandwich Rolls
     --adapted from BetterBatter.org

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups warm water
• 1 package (2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 3 1/2 cups Better Batter Gluten Free Flour
• 2 tablespoons cornmeal (optional)
• Ice cubes

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper (or grease it) and sprinkle with the cornmeal. Set aside. (You may need two pans, but can probably just use one.)
In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the water and the yeast. Allow to sit for five minutes to soften the yeast. 
Add the flour and the salt. Beat on low until flour is all wet, and then beat on high for 5 minutes.
Using a 1/2 cup measuring cup, scoop a slightly less than level half cup of batter and then scrape out with a silicone/rubber spatula. Space blobs about 2 inches apart. 
With wet fingers, gently smoosh and smooth out the dough blobs until they are as round as you can make them, and about 3/4 inch thick. They don't have to be perfect, just not jagged (see pic below) 
Allow to rise for about 35-40 minutes. 
Place in the preheated oven and throw four ice cubes into the bottom of the oven to produce some steam. After 6-7 minutes, put in four more ice cubes and bake for another 12-15 minutes, or until rolls are nicely browned.
Remove from oven and cool rolls completely on a wire rack.
When rolls are completely cool, use a very sharp serrated knife to slice them open. The rolls are pretty gummy at this point, so you may need to actually wash your knife between cutting rolls. It's a hassle, but it's worth the effort. When rolls are all cut, place them on a cooling rack or baking sheet and place in the freezer to freeze overnight. Then you can place the frozen rolls in zip top freezer bags in the freezer for storage. 
To thaw, microwave for about 40 seconds at 70% power, give or take 15 seconds, depending on your microwave.

Makes about 9 rolls

This is how they look before rising.
Finger marks disappear after rising and baking.

The gluten free garlic roll (aka breakfast)

These rolls are great for a quick gf pizza. My gluten-limited
son just loves them.

Because I have been making a recipe and a half of these lately, and I've been converting the measurements each time, I am putting the ingredients list here for a recipe and a half. I'm tired of doing the same math over and over.

1 1/2 Recipe Ingredients:

• 3 3/4 cups warm water
• 1 1/2 packages (3 and a scant 1/2 teaspoons) active dry yeast
• 3 teaspoons salt
• 5 1/4 cups Better Batter Gluten Free Flour
• 2 tablespoons optional corn meal
• Ice cubes

Follow the directions above. 

Makes about 15 rolls

Oh, and I just went to make a batch and a half of these and realized that I'd already written the above list of measurements on a Post-It and placed it on the cover of my Better Batter Flour bin. Duh.