(Yes, I still owe you folks a Utah update. I’ve been writing it, I just haven’t finished it yet. It’s sitting in my Drafts folder. Only so many hours in the day.)

It was finally, finally, FINALLY cool enough to bake tonight. Which is a good thing, ’cause we just ran out of hamburger and hot dog buns, and once you make your own, you’ll never go back to storebought for those ever again except in dire emergencies. And also because we’re making smoked Italian sausage sandwiches for dinner tomorrow, so hot dog buns were kind of a necessity.

What wasn’t a necessity was the mesquite rolls. I’ve been having an attack of wanting to use the mesquite flour I have in the pantry. Mesquite is wonderful — rich and chocolaty and malty and just … MMM. I can’t believe it’s one of those foods that has been just totally ignored. So I took the recipe linked above, and made mesquite rolls out of it. These would be awesome as a base for pulled-pork sandwiches, but they’re equally terrific with butter and jam for breakfast.

Mesquite Rolls

Inspired by Sally’s Hamburger and Hot Dog Buns

  • 1 c. milk
  • 1/2 c. water
  • 1/4 c. butter (half a stick)
  • 2 c. white flour
  • 1 3/4 c. whole-wheat flour plus extra for dusting
  • scant 1/2 c. mesquite flour (I get mine from Kokopelli’s Kitchen.)
  • 2 1/4 tsp. instant yeast (1 package — but I always buy the jar and keep it in the fridge.)
  • 1 1/2 Tbsp. sugar (I bet these’d be good with brown sugar. Oughta try that next time.)
  • Generous pinch of salt
  • 1 egg

Heat the milk, water, and butter together in a saucepan over low heat, until the butter is just melted. The mixture shouldn’t be over 115°F — if it is, set it aside and let it cool so that you don’t kill the yeast.

Install the dough hook on your mixer. In the bowl of your mixer, combine 2 c. white flour, 1/4 c. mesquite flour, sugar, salt, and yeast, and mix it up thoroughly. Add the milk mixture, mix to combine, then add the egg and mix to combine. Gradually add the remaining mesquite flour and whole-wheat flour, about half a cup to a cup at a time. Knead it in the mixer for a minute or two, scraping as necessary, until the dough clears the sides of the bowl but doesn’t totally clear the bottom. Pull the dough out from the mixer, knead by hand briefly to make sure it’s nice and smooth and not sticky — if it is, work in a little more flour by hand.

Form the dough into twelve rolls — I usually divide in half, divide the halves in half, and then divide those into thirds. Make nice round rolls by pulling the dough edges down to the bottom and pinching them together, then rolling them on your palms a bit to smooth them out.

Lay out parchment paper on a baking sheet and place the rolls on the parchment paper. Cover with a damp towel and let rise in a nice warm place for 30-35 minutes. Preheat your oven to 400°F. When the rolls are risen, dust them lightly with whole-wheat flour as a pretty contrast to the milk-chocolate-colored rolls. Pop them in the oven and bake for 10-12 minutes until lightly browned. Remove from the oven and cool on a baking rack — if you can wait that long!

Mesquite Rolls