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How to make onion rolls

Good for dipping or eating alone, this bread tastes delicious with almost anything.
These onion rolls taste delicious with almost anything. (Photo: Miriam Kresh/Unpacked)

I baked an experimental batch of these rolls and watched Husband and the kids drifting around the kitchen, sniffing the smells of fresh bread baking and onion, and asking when the rolls would be ready. They disappeared almost as soon as I took them out of the oven. The rolls, that is.

Warm and tender, like mother love. Only mother love, I hope, doesn’t always taste like onions, as these rolls do. So delicious, eaten with a little butter. Alternately, they’d be incredibly good dipped into gravy from stewed chicken or boeuf bourguignon. I’m supposed to be baking more this evening, to freeze ahead…but I think I’d better bake a double batch, because there won’t be any left for freezing, if I know the gang.

Onion rolls

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Prep2 hours 20 minutes
Cook Time20 minutes
Yield15 rolls

Ingredients

  • ½ cup packaged dried onions
  • 1 tbsp poppy seeds
  • ½ ounce fresh yeast (or 1 ½ teaspoon dry)
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 ½ tsp salt
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 1 ½ tbsp vegetable oil (I used olive oil)
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 4 cups all-purpose flour
  • Sea salt for sprinkling

Instructions

  • Empty the dried onion package into a small bowl and just barely cover the onions with hot water. Add the poppy seeds. Leave them there for 10 minutes, stirring a couple of times in between.
  • Put the yeast into a large bowl. Drain the water from the onions into a 1 cup measure. Add water to make 1 cup liquid. Add to yeast and wait 5 minutes.
  • Stir the yeasty water up. Add salt, sugar, oil and egg. Mix well.
  • Add the flour, one cup at a time. After the second cup, add the moist onions. Add the final cup little by little, just enough to make a smooth, non-tacky dough. It will be stiff at first, but will loosen up when you add the onions.
  • Knead until the dough is resilient; about 10 minutes.
  • Dribble a little more oil over the dough and turn it over so that all its surface has a film of oil. Cover the bowl and allow the dough to rise 1 hour or until doubled.
  • Tear off pieces of dough of a size to fit in the palm of your hand. Stretch each one out and tuck the ends under. Do that twice more. Lightly roll the dough between your palms to shape a plump roll. Place the rolls on a lined baking sheet, 1″ apart. Alternately, place them together so you can pull the baked rolls apart.
  • Sprinkle rolls with flaky sea salt, if available – if not, any salt.
  • Allow to rise once more until doubled.
  • Preheat oven to 350° F (175° C).
  • Bake for 20 minutes. Wait 20 minutes to pull apart and eat. If you can wait.

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