Whip up these easy no knead German rolls, with their crunchy crust and their airy crumb, with almost no effort.
In fact, my friend Ralph of Breadworks Workshops, and the creator of this recipe, dubs these rolls "Do Nothing German Crusty Rolls." I am sharing this recipe with Ralph's permission.
These incredible rolls are crunchy and crusty on the outside and super airy on the inside. They are the kind of rolls that, when they appear on your table in the bread basket, you will slather with butter and devour. You might not even leave room for dinner.
These rolls are delicious with dinner, perfect for meaty and dipped sandwiches, and even awesome as crusty burger buns. They hold up incredibly to juicy ingredients and are perfect for sopping up juices from stews and dipped in soups.
Ingredients? All you need are flour, water, salt, and yeast! It's all in the technique.
Tips for Making No Knead German Rolls:
First, to mix the dough, you just stir together the ingredients briefly, cover them in a bowl, and then let them ferment for about 12 to 14 hours. Because there is only a tiny bit of yeast, the dough can handle this very long rise at room temperature.
Speaking of the yeast, you will need only 0.2 grams. More will throw off the timing. How do you measure 0.2 grams of yeast? I use a tiny pocket scale. It's pretty inexpensive and is great for measuring small amounts of ingredients such as yeast and salt. I'm on my second one.
I also use these tiny prep bowls for weighing the ingredients on the scale.
Once you shape the rolls, I recomment letting them proof in a floured couche, which is a stiff linen cloth made specifically for raising baguettes or rolls. If you don't have a couche, it's okay. You can use floured dish towels, or even just a parchment lined baking sheet.
I baked these rolls on a hot stone covered with two stacked upside down foil roasting pans to trap some steam for the first 10 to 15 minutes. If you don't have the roasting pans, you can set your oven up with a steam pan under the baking stone.
Tip from Ralph: To get a good clean ear when scoring the rolls, chill them in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes just before slashing them. I'm trying that next time.
Why are these called German rolls?
Ralph calls them German rolls because he has had them every time he vacations in Germany.
These rolls are wonderful for sandwiches or just slathered in butter while still warm. Just let the butter melt into the wonderful open crumb and enjoy.
How to store these German crusty rolls:
These rolls will remain fresh kept in a paper bag for a day or two. After that, I recommend freezing them in a freezer bag, and then reheating them in a hot oven for about 10 minutes to recrisp.
This recipe makes 18 rolls. I halved the recipe and made nine rolls.
Thanks Ralph for the amazing recipe!
My friend Ralph holds bread baking classes in the Netherlands. His creations include crusty baguettes, amazing laminated dough, gorgeous pretzels, panettone, and traditional tiger rolls, just to name a few. He's also a sourdough master.
Ralph is also a frequent contributor and advice giver in the Facebook group, Artisan Bread Bakers.
This month, the Bread Bakers are sharing recipes for no knead breads.
For more no knead bread recipes, be sure to check out the Bread Bakers!
- Chocolate Chestnut Bread from A Messy Kitchen
- Easy No Knead German Crusty Rolls from Karen's Kitchen Stories
- Mixed Grain Sourdough Soda Bread from Food Lust People Love
- No Knead Marbled Brioche from Passion Kneaded
- No Knead Tomato Basil Bread from Magical Ingredients
- Pide Ekmek (Turkish Flatbread) from A Day in the Life on the Farm
- Rustic Homemade No Knead Bread from Sneha's Recipe
Easy No Knead German Crusty Rolls
Ingredients
- 1000 grams bread flour
- .2 grams instant yeast
- 680 grams water
- 22 grams salt
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour and yeast.
- In another bowl, mix the water salt
- Add the water and salt mixture to the flour mixture and mix with your hand until everything is moistened.
- Cover the bowl and let ferment for 12 to 14 hours.
- Divide the dough into 18 pieces (about 94 grams each), and preshape into rounds. Let the rounds rest for 25 minutes.
- Shape the rounds tightly into rounded oblongs, and place them onto a floured couche or onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Cover and let rise for one hour.
- Heat your oven to 450 degrees F with a baking stone on the middle rack.
- Score and bake the rolls, 9 at a time, with steam (see note in the post regarding steam) for 15 to 20 minutes.
- Cool on a wire rack.
Notes
This recipe can be easily halved.
Nutrition Facts
Calories
200.6Fat (grams)
0.92Sat. Fat (grams)
0.14Carbs (grams)
40.29Fiber (grams)
1.33Net carbs
38.96Sugar (grams)
0.17Protein (grams)
6.66Sodium (milligrams)
476.72Cholesterol (grams)
0
These are my type of breads, love crusty ones. I need to give this a try.
ReplyDeleteTotally in love with these!!!!! I have way too much bread in the freezer, but might squeeze this bake very soon.... they look just amazing, Karen!
ReplyDeleteThanks! This was a huge hit when Ralph posted it in Artisan Bread Bakers. They're pretty magical.
DeleteThose couldn't look any more perfect! The little ears, and that crumb... squeee!
ReplyDeleteThanks Kelly! They made me very happy!
DeleteYou definitely got perfect ears! I was originally looking at spoon scales but a pocket scales seems to be a better option. No washing of the spoon in between ingredients.
ReplyDeleteI've heard good things about spoon scales but I've never tried them.
Deleteinstant yeast from teaspoon to gram Conversion Results:
ReplyDeleteAmount : 1/16 teaspoons (tsp of instant yeast)
Equals : 0.20 grams (g / instant yeast)
Very helpful for those without a scale.
DeleteHoly Samoly Karen, that photo of the inside makes me want to reach through my computer screen and gobble it up.
ReplyDeleteHa ha! They were pretty miraculous.
DeleteGorgeous loaves!I Love the texture of this bread, this is so amazing! Love this recipe!
ReplyDeleteI've made these beautiful crusty rolls twice now. The first time, I didn't have any bread flour on hand, just used all purpose, and they were excellent! I just made a batch with the bread flour, and while there is a little difference in texture, it's still very much worthwhile to make, regardless what kind of flour is in your pantry. I may never make "dinner rolls" again! By the way, say I wanted to make this into a loaf or two, what would I need to adjust as far as bake time goes? Anyway, thanks Karen! Thanks Ralph!
ReplyDeleteI haven't tried it, but to make a loaf, you could probably add another 10 minutes, and then take its temp. Or, you could make a longer baguette type loaf. Thanks for letting me know that you like these!
DeleteHow do you transfer the tolls from the sheet pan to the hot stone in the oven without ruining the shape?
ReplyDeleteI use a pizza peel with parchment and slide them, parchment and all, onto the hot stone.
DeleteDo you take the foil pan off for them to brown?
ReplyDeleteYes, I remove it halfway through. I should probably mention that!
DeleteDo you think it would be possible to mix this and let it rise in the fridge?
ReplyDeleteNot the first rise. there's so little yeast that it probably wouldn't rise at all.
DeleteThese look like brochen. We loved these during my years in Germany. Especially since most towns had a bakery in them and we could get fresh ones any morning we wanted. Will be interesting to see how it goes if we try it... Thanks for the recipe.
ReplyDeleteLet me know!
DeleteThese look amazing Karen. One question, what do you mean shape the rounds tightly into rounded oblongs? Do you shape them with the same method as you would for shaping French baguettes or Bahn Mi buns?
ReplyDeleteKind of like mini batard.
DeleteHi Karen, I just look up Ralph's Do Nothing Crusty Rolls recipe. His recipe calls for .2 grams of yeast for 500 grams of flour and your recipe calls for .2 grams of yeast for 1000 grams of flour. Which amount is correct?
DeleteThis is the amount of flour I used. If you go to the Artisan Bread Bakers FB page, and use the magnifying glass to search for German Crusty Rolls, you will see Ralph's post with the recipe. He also used 1000 grams of flour in that version.
ReplyDeleteHi Karen, It is confusing, Ralph's recipe on Pinterest (Do Nothing German Crusty Rolls) calls for .2 grams of yeast per 500 grams of flour. So if I half the your recipe like you did, I should use .1 gram of yeast for 500 grams of flour? I just don't want to get it wrong and have the rolls not turn out right.
DeleteI'd stick with the .2 if that's what Ralph has on his Pinterest recipe. It's such a negligible amount anyway. Just watch the dough on the first rise. There are so many other variables, such as humidity, temperature, etc.
ReplyDeleteI have made 3 batches of these rolls the first two were halved and I used .2gram yeast. each batch had its own issues. After conferring with my family 4 chefs 2 CIA grads .2 grams is not enough. I believe that it is indeed a typo, where 2 grams was transposed from 2. 2grams of yeast to .2 grams when the ingredient number (2) numbering was removed. I switched to 2 grams for a full 18 roll batch and it was perfect .
DeleteNot enough yeast. Dough didn't rise at all.
ReplyDeleteMine didn’t rise either. I just woke up to the dough looking exactly like it did 12 hours ago. I wonder amount water temp. In so many other bread recipes the water needs to be a certain temp but this recipe doesn’t mention it.
DeleteCan you please tell me how I get from the couche to the refigerator to the hot stone?
ReplyDeleteI leave them on the baking sheet and transfer to the baking stone in the pan. If you're transfering them from the couch, a thin board is a great way to do it. .
DeleteI would love to make these rolls. I don’t have a scale, so can you please post the amounts in measures? Thank you 😊
ReplyDeleteI highly recommend using a scale. It's so convenient and accurate. If you can't, the King Arthur Baking Ingredient Weight Chart on their site is fabulous for converting any baking recipe to volume.
Delete