Pumpkin Dinner Rolls

Name: Pumpkin Dinner Rolls
Total time: 15 min
Ingredients: 1 (.25-ounce) package active dry yeast, 2 ¼ teaspoons; 4 tablespoons granulated sugar; ½ cup canned pumpkin puree; 3 tablespoons butter, room temperature; 2 large eggs, slightly beaten; 1 teaspoon coarse salt; 3 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour

The Estate Bakery

Pumpkin Dinner Rolls

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The Strategy:

This recipe elegantly transforms the utilitarian dinner roll into a wildly vibrant, deeply flavorful estate bakery staple. By heavily enriching the yeast dough with dense pumpkin puree and soft butter, the rolls develop a staggeringly soft crumb and a brilliantly saturated, deeply golden-orange hue. Baking them tightly packed in heavy ceramic dishes forces them to dramatically expand upward, creating tall, violently soft rolls with incredibly tender sides that demand to be torn apart by hand.

Makes: 16 rolls | Total Time: 15 minutes to prep, 1 ½ hour to rise, and another 20 minutes to bake

Ingredients

1 (.25-ounce) package active dry yeast, 2 ¼ teaspoons
4 tablespoons granulated sugar
½ cup canned pumpkin puree
3 tablespoons butter, room temperature
2 large eggs, slightly beaten
1 teaspoon coarse salt
3 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour

Instructions

Make the dough

Add the yeast, 1 tablespoon of the sugar, and ½ cup warm water into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook. Let sit until the liquid is foamy, about 10 minutes.
Add the remaining sugar, pumpkin, butter, eggs, and salt. Stir to combine. Stir in 3 cups of flour. Mix the ingredients to form a smooth dough that pulls away from the side of the bowl. You can increase the speed as the flour works itself into the dough.
When the dough wraps around the hook, increase the speed to high and knead for 5 minutes. If the dough is too sticky, add more flour.
Transfer the dough to a floured surface. Knead the dough and form it into a ball.
Transfer the dough to a bowl that has been lightly coated with vegetable oil spray.
Cover with a clean dish towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
Punch down the dough, cover again, and rest for 10 minutes more.

Shape and rise

Cut the dough in half and then in half again and each piece in half again. You will have 8 pieces.
Form each piece into 2 balls so that you have 16 rolls.
Add these rolls to a baking dish (you might need 2) coated with vegetable oil spray.
Cover with a clean dish towel and let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes more. (You can also put the rolls in the fridge to rise overnight.)

Bake the rolls

Preheat your oven to 375°.
Bake until the tops are golden and the sound is hollow, about 15 to 20 minutes.

A cook's hands tearing apart a massive, soft, intensely orange pumpkin dinner roll directly out of a tightly packed, heavy white ceramic baking dish. Thick steam rises from the brilliantly colored, staggeringly tender torn crumb.

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The Heart of the Table

Dropping two heavy, screaming-hot ceramic baking dishes completely packed with sixteen deeply vibrant, intensely golden-orange pumpkin rolls directly onto a festive table instantly dominates the spread. The wildly soft, heavily buttered aroma of the warm yeast and earthy pumpkin forces guests to eagerly reach out, aggressively pulling apart the massive, pillowy rolls from the tightly packed pan.

8 guests gathered tightly around a laden, sun-drenched rustic dining table, laughing loudly, tearing soft, brightly orange pumpkin rolls directly out of a large ceramic dish, and smearing them with honey butter while drinking Pinot Noir from large crystal glasses in a Palm Beach Estate. A massive dish of steaming pumpkin rolls anchors the lively coastal holiday party.

Neighborly Grace

THE PRESENTATION: Do not serve these individually in a bread basket. Present the massive, tightly packed rolls completely whole, still radiating heat within the heavy, deeply scarred ceramic baking dishes. Aggressively brush the wildly golden, steaming tops with melted butter right before serving, providing huge crocks of whipped honey butter for immediate, heavy smearing.
THE POUR: The deeply earthy, faintly sweet notes of the pumpkin crumb demand an elegant, widely appealing pairing. A lightly chilled, wildly crisp Pinot Noir or a fiercely cold, sharply dry hard apple cider perfectly cuts through the rich butter while deeply enhancing the vibrant autumnal tones.
THE VIBE: Deeply festive, highly energetic holiday gatherings. This is the wildly satisfying project you execute for a massive, loud family dinner, served directly from the hot oven to the heavily laden dining table, demanding an atmosphere of incredibly relaxed, deeply nostalgic, and fiercely unpretentious indulgence.

Chef’s Recommendations

The Holiday Table: Sausage & Raisin Cornbread Stuffing
The Green on the Table: Super Soft Green Beans with Caramelized Onions
The Main They Sit Beside: Lemon Caper Chicken in Buttery Sauce
The Glass on the Table: Festive Pomegranate Sparkler

The Estate Table

Build tonight’s menu around this dish.

✦ Set the Table

Pumpkin Dinner Rolls

Pumpkin Dinner Rolls

The full recipe lives in the Vault

The Heart of the Table

Neighborly Grace

✨ The Gilded Swaps