Sleep In! How to Make Breakfast Rolls Ahead of Time

We love freshly-baked breakfast rolls in the morning, especially when we're on vacation and have the luxury of lounging in our bathrobes until noon. The only problem is that yeasted breads take so long to make, and we're not thrilled about the idea of getting up at dawn to knead dough. Here's what we do instead!

Yeast doughs do very well if chilled and can actually be kept for quite some time in the fridge. The yeast activity slows down in the cool environment but then picks up again once you take the dough out of the refrigerator, allowing you to essentially put your dough in a suspended state for as long as you need to.

To make our breakfast rolls ahead of time, we mix and knead the dough the night before and let it rise like normal. Before going to bed, we shape the dough into rolls, arrange them in their pan, and then stick them in the fridge. Don't forget to cover them with a lid or plastic wrap so the dough doesn't dry out.

The first thing we do the next morning is take the rolls out of the oven and let them warm up for about an hour on the counter. When they've risen a bit and are puffy, we put them in the oven to bake. It still takes a bit of time and planning, but at least we can still sleep in a little!

It also speeds things up if your kitchen is warm or if you can put the refrigerated rolls in a warm place. Otherwise, you can warm your oven, turn it off (don't forget!), and let your rolls warm up in there.

Try it with any yeasted bread recipe - like one of these!

• Spicy Sticky Cinnamon Rolls
• Rum Raisin Almond Brioche
• Fresh Bagels
• Beginner Sourdough Loaf

(Image: Flickr member whitneyinchicago licensed under Creative Commons)

Comments (5)

what a great idea! i got up at the crack of dawn last christmas to make cinnamon rolls. this is the way to go!

I make these cinnamon buns: http://www.quitecurious.com/cinnamon-buns. They're super fast and easy to make, taste great, and uses NO YEAST. Woo hoo.

The recipe I use, from River Road Recipes IV - the amazing cookbook from the Baton Rouge, LA, Junior League, calls for refrigerating the dough overnight. To make dinner rolls, give the dough two hours to rise. To make cinnamon rolls, just give it a little kneeding in the morning, shape and pop in the oven. Easiest way to make homemade rolls ever.

I use a recipe for cinnamon rolls where all the mixing and kneading is done by your bread machine. If you popped these in the fridge and baked them in the morning, I don't think it could get any easier!

http://www.jamies-recipes.com/2009/03/the-best-cinnamon-rolls-ever/

I've found that you don't necessarily have to let the rolls lay out to come to room temp... I just stick them in the cold oven, turn the temp up per recipe instructions, then bake... sometimes it takes a little bit longer than the time recipe calls for, but it's super easy and worth the wait!