I have said it before and I will say it again, I am not a baker in any sense of the word. I would rather buy high quality ready-made baked goods vs. slaving in the kitchen trying to get it right. I do however follow instructions well so will sometimes utilize gluten-free mixes to make me feel like a baker. There are some great mixes out there but I recently received a sample of Soft ‘n Hearty Easy Roll Mix from Homestead Gluten Free here in the New York Tri-State area and figured why not give it a go. The instructions seemed easy enough – after mixing and letting rise they just go in the oven – I mean even I could handle that.
So the other day I cracked out a mixing bowl and got to work. All you need from an ingredient standpoint is: eggs, oil, and water. So, I combined the included yeast packed with the warm water as instructed, waited six minutes and then added the oil, eggs, and dry mix. A little elbow grease to stir and I divided the mixture into small rolls shapes on a foil-lined greased baking sheet (the instructions called for parchment but the foil worked just as well). The recipe yields twelve rolls but I opted to make slightly larger rolls and the mix yielded eight. Once on the pan it was time to let the rolls rise – which they did beautifully and then popped them into a hot oven for 25 minutes.
When I tell you that the smell was amazing that is an understatement. The sweet aroma of fresh baking bread quickly filled the kitchen. I really wasn’t holding out that much hope but when I opened the oven to check on them I could not believe my eyes – they were wonderfully crisp and golden and, well, looked like REAL rolls. I removed them to cool and was still apprehensive because while they looked good – how would they taste?
Let me tell you know that these are quite possibly the best rolls I have come across and the fact that they live up to their Easy name makes them even more fabulous. I could not contain my excitement and quickly cut one of the rolls – what’s this, this looks like soft and airy gluten-filled bread? I smeared a dollop of butter on the still warm roll and took a bite. Crispy and soft with an amazing subtle sweetness – in a word, perfection.
It has been one day since I made these and only one lone roll remains. I will be placing an order this week for some additional mix because I have truly fallen in love with this mix. I do not usually gush over products that often but these are definitely one of my new favorite things. Do yourself a favor and check out their Web site to learn more about their mix and to order some yourself. At just $5.50 per bag of mix my eight rolls only cost $.68 per roll (excluding ingredient cost, but even I already had them in my kitchen) – I mean if that is not value, I do not know what is.
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