Remember these buttermilk fantail rolls that I raved about a couple weeks ago? They are delicious. I did lament their prodigious reliance on butter, though, and reader UtopianFlower asked if olive oil could be substituted. Why yes! I thought. Why not? Here's a tweaked recipe, with a couple other changes of my own. And you know what? I actually like these better than the originals.
The primary change that I made to this recipe has to do with the olive oil. I substituted olive oil for the butter, which changes the flavor, of course, but also makes these a little flakier — almost like a brioche. I substituted yogurt for the buttermilk, to give these an even more pronounced tanginess to offset the golden flavor of the olive oil. I also added chives, for some herbed summer flavor, and my guests (who had tried the original fantails as well) raved about this change. They loved the light onion fragrance the chives added. I also want to try these with thyme or rosemary.
The other change I made (besides doubling the recipe!) is to the method. See, I like these rolls really flaky. Six layers of fantail wasn't enough for me. I changed the method to reflect this. Instead of stacking up six layers of dough, I stacked up twelve. This makes for a tall, teetery stack of dough layers, but if you prop them up against your rolling pin or canister it's not a big deal. In fact, it's rather fun: building bread! The increased number of layers makes these slightly less photogenic than the original, but people just love peeling away all those thin, flaky layers and eating them one by one!
This type of roll is probably my new favorite sort of bread for dinner parties. Yes, it takes a little while to put together, but if you are at home all day, it's so easy. There is very little hands-on time, and the payoff is just so worth it.

makes 2 dozen
4 teaspoons active dry yeast
3/4 cup warm water (warm to the touch, but not hot)
2 tablespoons sugar
4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for kneading
3 cups bread flour
3 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/4 cup yogurt
1 cup chives, finely chopped
1 cup olive oil, divided
Whisk together the yeast, warm water, and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Let it stand until the mixture looks foamy and bubbled up on top — about 5 minutes. (If the mixture doesn't foam, start over with new yeast.)
Stir the flour, salt, yogurt, chives, and 3/4 cup olive oil into the yeast mixture with a wooden spoon or the stand mixer paddle just until a soft dough forms. Switch to the dough hook and knead until the dough is smooth (or turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes). The dough will still look and feel slightly shaggy, from the oil; it won't have the perfectly smooth, taut feel of a more traditional yeast dough.
Form dough into a ball and coat lightly with olive oil. Turn it over in the bowl and cover the bowl with a towel. Let rise until doubled — 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
Oil the wells of two muffin tins lightly with olive oil and have them ready. Punch down the dough then separate it into four equal pieces with a sharp bench scraper. Keep the rest of the dough covered with a towel, while you roll out one of the pieces into a long, thin rectangle (about 12 inches by 18 inches). Brush the dough lightly with olive oil. Cut the dough crossways into 12 equal strips. Stack the strips, oiled side up, into a tall stack. (It is helpful to prop the stack against the rolling pin while doing this!) Cut the stack into 6 pieces. Turn each piece on its side, so the cut layers face up, and place in a prepared muffin cup. Separate the layers slightly so they fan outward. Repeat with the rest of the dough.
Cover the muffin tins with a kitchen towel and let the rolls rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until doubled and dough fills cups, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
Preheat oven to 350�F. Bake the rolls until barely golden brown, 18 to 20 minutes. Let cool for at least 10 minutes before serving.
Related: New Food Craze: Pretzel Rolls
(Images: Faith Durand)
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Comments (16)
How good should the olive oil be for this recipe?
@chiyo25, pretty much any olive oil would be fine. I used my regular extra-virgin oil from Trader Joe's.
I just probably wouldn't use my special, expensive finishing oil in this recipe; it would be a waste, as I don't think it would come through very clearly.
This looks amazing! I have been wanting to try to fantails for a while but I think I'll go with this recipe instead.
As far as the yogurt, the thickness of different kinds varies so much, I'm always curious as to which type people are using. I always keep bulgarian on hand which is usually very thin - what type did you use for the recipe or does it matter?
@azalea1700 I used plain whole milk yogurt. I don't think that it would matter too much here, as long as it is plain and free of thickeners or additives.
I gave up bread for the month but I can't stop staring at the photos of these. Darn you!!
yumm-MEEE!
How nerdy is it that I hardcore blushed and e-mailed this to my when I saw my internet handle?
Faith, I'm so excited you tried it with olive oil!! I actually had a crush on this recipe before you even featured it, but thought I would save it for a special occasion. I think I'll go ahead and make it this weekend for my dad's 4th of July birthday.
Thanks for saving me the trial and error. You do great work! ;)
*I e-mailed my loving and amazing boyfriend, Dave. He corrected me for leaving that part out.
i couldn't resist and made these last night! i was so impatient to try them that i didn't let them rise for the whole time during the 2nd round but they still turned out AMAZING. so flakey and delicious. love love love love love them!
WOW! I am so making these tonight ! I love texture and this is the perfect breadroll for me! But can I clarify? 4 cups of plain flour 3 cups of bread flour seems an awful lot.
Is this correct?
@avechoco, yep, that's right! You may even need a little more, if the dough isn't coming together well. This is a double batch of rolls, so that is the correct amount.
Gorgeous! You've got me gaping at my screen for a long time! Question: 1 cup chives seems like a lot to me.. especially since they look well distributed in the photos. And how would you measure a cup of chives since, they come packed as long strands (for lack of a better word). Maybe a eight approximate of the amount you used?
Thanks!
I mean weight* approximate
Can this work with just ALL regular flour? I have everything for this recipe in my pantry except the bread flour and I would love to make these, like, right now.
i made these and they are fantastic.
Have you tried these with garlic and rosemary?? I want to make them for an Italian-themed dinner party. I think they would go perfect with my Bolognese sauce!