Roadhouse Rolls

You know those rolls you get when you go to the steak houses? The hostess shows you to your table and drops off a basket with about 4 rolls and a little container of cinnamon butter for you to munch on while you wait for your server to take your order.  And if you're anything like me you come in to the restaurant so hungry you gobble up the rolls and when the server comes to take your order you ask for another basket of rolls, then when your steak arrives you take a few bites and ask for a box to take the steak home, along with any rolls that happen to be left in the basket.

The steak house rolls are always warm, soft, and buttery, and they don't taste like something that comes out of a restaurant supply package. They are not all identical like they've been pressed out of a machine. The steak house may have a packaged mix, but the rolls look and taste like they've been baked on the premises. 

One day I saw a recipe for Texas Roadhouse Copycat Rolls on a blog called Eat Cake For Dinner. That blogger said although she was trying to copy Texas Roadhouse rolls, her recipe "did NOT taste anything like Texas Roadhouse's." But. her rolls were gorgeous, and she said they were soft, light and fluffy, so I decided to try them myself. You should hop over to her site and take a peek. I adapted her recipe just slightly, and my rolls intentionally don't look perfect. I wanted mine to seem more like the ones at my favorite steak house. Let me show you how I made mine. 

I mixed 1/4 cup of yeast, 1/2 cup warm water, and 1 teaspoon of sugar in my mixing bowl and let it sit for about 5 minutes until it got foamy. While the yeast was doing its thing, I warmed 2 cups of milk in the microwave until it was just a little warmer than lukewarm (not hot), and melted a half a stick of butter. Then I mixed the warm milk and melted butter, 1/2 cup of sugar, 2 eggs, 2 teaspoons of salt and enough flour in with the yeast mixture to make a batter about as thick as pancake batter. I started with my dough hook, but decided to change to my paddle so I could mix the batter enough to remove the lumps. When the lumps were gone I changed back to the dough hook and started adding flour.

I added flour about 1/2 cup at a time until the dough pulled away from the sides of the bowl. That took a total of about 8 1/2 cups of flour. Then I left my mixer kneading on low for about 5 minutes. 


I didn't take pictures of this, but when the kneading was done I put the dough in a greased bowl and covered it with a towel and set it aside for an hour to rise. 

When the dough had doubled in size I divided it into two pieces and put one piece on a floured counter and rolled it out to a large rectangle. 

I used my pizza cutter to cut the dough into uneven pieces...that's easy! Making each piece perfectly squared would have been much harder, and I wanted this to be easy and imperfect.

I put my uniquely uneven pieces on a silicone lined baking sheet. If you don't have silicone you can spray it with PAM. Then I covered the tray with a towel and set it aside for about another hour to rise again. I did the same thing with the other half of the dough so I ended up with two baking sheets full of funky shaped rolls.

When the rolls had raised for a second time I baked them in a 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes. As soon as they came out of the oven I brushed them with melted butter. Aren't these funky? And kinda cute? I really like the way they don't look like I pressed them out of a machine.

This recipe made 24 large rolls. I served them with whipped cinnamon honey spread. 


This is the official recipe
(adapted from the one on Eat Cake For Dinner)
1/4 cup yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 cup plus 1 teaspoon sugar, divided
2 cups milk
1/4 cup butter (1/2 stick)
2 eggs
2 teaspoons salt
8 - 9 cups all-purpose flour


Combine yeast, warm water and 1 teaspoon sugar in mixing bowl. Leave for about 5 minutes, until foamy.
Warm milk in microwave until approximately 110 degrees. Warmer than lukewarm, but not hot. Melt butter.
Add warm milk, melted butter, remaining sugar, eggs, salt, and about 3 cups of flour to the yeast mixture. Beat until all lumps are gone.
Begin adding remaining flour about 1/2 cup at a time until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl 
Knead with dough hook for about 5 minutes.
Put dough in a greased bowl and cover until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
Punch down dough, divide dough in half, roll out one half on a floured circle making a large rectangle.
Cut dough into 12 or more pieces. Put the pieces on a greased (or silicone lined) baking sheet. Do the same thing with the remaining half of the dough. Cover baking sheets of dough and set aside for dough to rise a second time - about 1 hour.
Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes.
Brush with melted butter immediately after removing from the oven.




What was the taste tester's bottom line?
We really loved these rolls! They are different than the garlic breadsticks I make ~ we like them both, but they are very different from each other. These rolls are soft and fluffy with a delicate sweetness. The breadsticks are chewy and a little salty. My littlest taste testers liked these rolls so much it was hard to get them to eat anything else for dinner...I guess they take after me! I had to send them home with doggy bags for their remaining dinner...kinda like me at the steak house!


The bottom line: These may not be a true copy of Texas Roadhouse Dinner Rolls, but they taste good enough for me to avoid roadhouse cravings.