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Chewy Italian Rolls

Yield: 8 rolls
Prep Time: 15 hours 30 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 15 hours 45 minutes

Ingredients

Biga:

  • 1 ½ cups (213 g) unbleached all-purpose flour
  • ¼ cup (36 g) whole wheat flour, preferably white whole wheat
  • 1 cup water
  • ⅛ teaspoon instant yeast

Dough:

  • Biga, from above
  • 2 ½ cups (355 g) unbleached all-purpose flour
  • ½ cup water
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • ½ teaspoon instant yeast

Instructions 

  • For the biga, mix all of the ingredients together in a medium bowl until combined. Cover the bowl with greased plastic wrap and let it rest at room temperature for 12-20 hours until it is puffed and very bubbly (as long as it is really bubbly, don't stress if it hasn't puffed much).
  • For the dough, scrape the biga into the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with dough hook. Add the flour, water, salt and instant yeast. Mix until combined. Continue mixing/kneading for 4-5 minutes, the dough will pull away from the sides of the bowl. The dough will be soft and slightly sticky but shouldn't leave a lot of residue on your fingers if you grab a bit of it. If it seems overly sticky and isn't pulling away from the sides of the bowl, add a couple tablespoons extra flour at a time until the texture looks and feels right.
  • Place the dough into a greased bowl and cover with greased plastic wrap. Let rise for 1-2 hours until doubled in size.
  • Turn the dough onto a lightly greased countertop and press it into a 6 X 12-inch rectangle. Using a pizza cutter or bench scraper, cut the dough in half lengthwise (see pictures below). Then cut into 8 rectangular or square-ish rolls.
  • Place the rolls onto a lined baking sheet, spacing 1-2 inches apart. Cover the rolls with greased plastic wrap and let them rise for 45 minutes or so until puffy.
  • Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Optional: put a baking stone in the oven while the oven preheats.
  • Bake the rolls (placing the pan on the baking stone, if using) for 13-15 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the oven and let them cool completely on a cooling rack.

Notes

Yeast: you really need instant yeast (not active dry) for this recipe since the yeast isn't proofing in any water before using it in the recipe.
Flour: also, you can use bleached all-purpose flour but since I only ever use unbleached and that's what King Arthur recommends, I put it that way in the recipe.
Plan Ahead: don't forget to plan ahead for this recipe since the biga needs to rest for 12-20 hours!