After popular demand, Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë Francois, the authors of Artisan Bread in 5 Mins a Day, created a variation on their white flour dough recipe to make German rolls, Brötchen. You can find their master recipe and their variation for Brötchen on their website.

I thought I'd try their Brötchen recipe to see how well it matched up to the delicious rolls I enjoyed for breakfast *almost* everyday in Germany. (I'll admit my staple was Müsli with soy milk). They came pretty close to the white rolls we had at the Zum ewigen Rath pension we stayed at in Mühlhausen, but King Arthur's Flour is not made with the same wheat flour as used by German bakers. 

Hertzberg and Francois' variation on their dough recipe for Brötchen includes keeping the liquid ratio the same when mixing the dough, but adding three egg whites to the warm water. I placed three egg whites into my measuring cup and added water until the level rose to 3 cups, and followed the rest of the dough recipe. The best part: there's no kneading required and everything is mixed in the same bowl.  I let it rise in the covered bowl on the kitchen table while I watched a movie and after, I placed the bowl in the refrigerator. This morning I cut off what I needed from the refrigerated dough, and shaped 6 rolls. Shaping took less than 5 minutes, and as the rolls rested for about a half hour on my prepared baking sheet, I preheated the oven to 425degrees. I brushed the rolls with egg white and made a small cut in the top of the roll with a serrated knife.  I filled a small Pyrex baking dish with hot water and set it on the bottom shelf before I set my baking sheet in the oven. As you've probably read from other bakers, you need steam to make a nice crust.  The rolls were baked for about 25 minutes. I rotated them halfway through.  

I had nice, warm crusty rolls before Matt was ready to run out the door this morning.  I have left over dough in the refrigerator and if I continue to work through the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes A Day book we'll be enjoying freshly baked bread all week. 

Their recipe for German style rolls can be found here. I followed it as directed.