Roll expertise needed - order of operations

I'm thinking about making Parker House rolls ahead of time. The recipe says: "The fully formed unbaked rolls can be frozen for up to 1 month. Bake from frozen." Without freezing, the directions are to bake at 375 degrees for about 18 minutes, but there's nothing about time/temp from frozen. Advice from any roll baking mavens?

Also, I usually freeze homemade rolls after baking, defrost and reheat - but despite trying various methods, I'm never thrilled with the reheated results (just not quite as moist/fresh tasting.) Does freezing the rolls before baking work well, and yield a better result?

amysarah
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6 Comments

amysarah
amysarah October 22, 2014
Overnight thaw in the fridge sounds promising - good to know for the future. But par baking may be the ticket this time, as this is for Thanksgiving, i.e., our fridge will be stuffed beyond capacity by the night before. As always, great info - thanks all!
 
Susan W.
Susan W. October 22, 2014
The only time our family eats bread is at Thanksgiving, so my experience is once a year. I use the technique that Posie uses, but I really like the idea of Suzanne's method too. I may try that this year.
 
Posie (.
Posie (. October 22, 2014
I've had the most success with freezing bread & rolls if I take them out of the freezer and let them thaw overnight in the fridge. When you're shaping them before freezing, don't let them rise quite as much as you otherwise would before shaping. They'll finish that last bit of rising in the overnight thaw. (**Most people recommend 1 month as the max because after that, the yeast is hard to revive.**) I've also baked them straight from the freezer and that works fine too! But if you have the time, overnight thaw is the way to go in my opinion.
 
sdebrango
sdebrango October 22, 2014
Yes I have frozen the unbaked rolls and baked with great success. I don't adjust the temp when baking frozen rolls and they always turn out fine, Sometimes I par bake the rolls and freeze and I get a good result that way also.
 
amysarah
amysarah October 22, 2014
Thanks! I guess I should assume a couple of minutes longer in the oven from frozen. Not to be a nudge, but par baking is an interesting idea too - do you bake them about 1/2 way before freezing then?
 
sdebrango
sdebrango October 22, 2014
I actually really like par baking, I bake them about half the time, they are not browned still very blonde and I freeze them after cooling. I do this every year at Thanksgiving. When you touch them they will feel like a roll thats baked but not look like it. I don't thaw, bake them frozen to finish them off.
 
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