Rolls, hot pockets, calzones and sweet rolls from bread dough, how to freeze these baked goods

Note to self: ALWAYS make sure you when you're editing, you don't accidentally highlight part of the blog you want to keep. Sometime the blog gets ideas of it's own on what you meant to highlight. Once you've hit delete, it can't be undone and you will spend the next 2 hrs retyping what you had just spent the previous 2 hours typing!

This post is about how to make dinner rolls, hot pockets, calzones and sweet rolls from the previously posted bread recipes here and here. Also, how to freeze the rolls/breads either before or after baking. You can also use biscuit dough and shape it the same way as loaves or rolls. Because biscuit dough is a quick bread, your baked goods will have a different texture than the same shape ones made of bread dough.

With all these recipes you will need to allow the shaped dough to rise after shaping it. Cover dough loosely with damp towel or greased plastic wrap. Let rise in warm spot until almost doubled. Bake rolls at 375-400 degrees for 8-20 mins (until browned), bake full loaves at 375 - 400 degrees 30-45 mins (until browned and sounding hollow when tapped on bottom.)

Loaves and rolls can be "glazed" by brushing dough with an egg/water wash then sprinkled with seeds, herbs, salts or finely chopped vegies; or baked plain. You can brush on butter after the bread is done.

"Brown & Serve" rolls are nothing more than rolls that were undercooked by about 5 mins. Your homemade ones can't be kept on the shelf - they won't have preservatives in them to "keep them fresh". But you can do the same thing by preparing and baking the dough like the recipe calls for, but then under cooking them by about 5 mins (they'll still be pale), cooling them, flash freezing them (place on a cookie sheet, place sheet in freezer for about 2 hrs), then placing in Ziplock type bags. Using a straw to suck the air out of the bag will keep them safer longer. When you are ready to heat and eat, remove the number of rolls you want to serve from the freezer, place on a baking sheet and bake at 375 for about 10 - 20 mins or until the rolls are browned.

Loaves and Mini-loaves:

Peasant Loaf:
You can divide the dough or keep it all together. Shape dough into ball and place in one or two greased 8"-9" round cake pans, 1 1/2 qt. casseroles or one baking sheet. Allow to rise. Can make 1-3 diagonal slits, 3/4" deep, in center of loaf with sharp knife. Bake. Makes 1-2 loaves

Coil:
You can divide the dough in half. Roll dough into rope(s) about 26" long. Coil rope in circle in the bottom of one or two 8"-9"round cake pan, 1 1/2 qt. casserole(s) or on a cookie sheet. Let rise. Makes 1-2 loaves

Twist:
Divide dough into 2 or 4 pieces. Roll into one or two ropes 26" long. Cut rope in half to make 2 or 4, 13" ropes. Twist the two pieces together and seal ends. Place in greased 9x5 or 8x4 loaf pans or on greased baking sheet. Let rise. Makes 1-2 loaves

Figure eight:
Can divide dough in two or leave whole. Make a 26" rope. Seal ends into a circle. Twist the circle once to make an 8. Place in greased loaf pan or baking sheet. Let rise. Makes 1-2 loaves.

Dinner Rolls:
Round:
Form dough into twelve 2" balls. Place on greased baking sheet. Let rise. Makes 12 rolls.

Vienna:
Form Dough into eight 6" oval rolls, flatten a little. Place on greased baking sheets. Let rise. Makes 8 rolls.

Cloaverleaf:
Break off walnut sized pieces of dough (about 3/4"-1" in dia.). Roll into balls and place 3 each in 18 greased muffin tins. Let rise. Makes 18 rolls.

Bowknots:
Divide dough into two pieces. Roll each piece into 20" rope. Cut each rope into eighths. Then roll each piece 8" long. Tie in loose knot. Place 1"-2" apart on greased baking sheet. Let rise. Makes 16 rolls.

Crescent rolls:
Divide the dough into 4 pieces. Roll each piece out to about an 8" circle. Cut into 6 wedges. Starting at fat side, roll dough up toward the point. Place 1"-2" apart on greased baking sheet. Curl edges slightly to center to make crescent. Let rise. makes 24 rolls.

Fantail rolls:
Divide dough into two pieces. Roll each piece out into a 15x8 rectangle. Cut each rectangle longways into 5 strips, each about 1 1/2" wide. (1 1/2" x 15") Stack the 5 on top of each other. Cut each stack into 10 pieces about 1 1/2" wide. Place each stack in a greased muffin tin, with the cut ends up. (cut ends will be the tops and bottoms, long flat sides will be the sides of the roll.) Let rise. Makes 20 rolls.

Braided Rolls:
Divide the dough in half. Roll dough out into 14" x 12" rectangle. Cut the rectangle into 1" wide strips (12 strips 1" x 14" long). Braid in groups of 3 (you'll have 4 groups). You can leave each group14" long or cut each group into 3" lengths that will give you 20 pieces. Place on greased baking sheet and let rise. Makes 4-20 rolls.

Pan Rolls:
Divide dough into 3 pieces. Divide each piece into 6 parts. Roll each part into balls and place 9 balls each in two greased 8"-9" round cake pans. Let rise. Makes 18 rolls.

Knots:
Divide dough into 4 pieces. Divide pieces into 6 parts. Roll each part into 9" ropes. Tie loose knot in rope. Place 1"-2" apart on greased baking sheet. Let rise. Makes 24 rolls.

Rosette:
Divide like Knots above. But roll each piece to 12". Tie loose knot, then bring bottom end up and tuck it into center of roll. Take top piece and wrap around and then tuck it under. Place 1"-2" apart on greased cookie sheet. Let rise. Makes 24 rolls.

Mini-Coils:
Divide dough into 4 pieces. Divide each piece into 6 parts. Roll each part into 9" rope. Coil on greased baking sheet 1"-2" apart. Let rise. Makes 24 rolls.

Mini-Twists:
Divide dough into 4 pieces. Divide each piece into 6 parts. Roll each part into 12" rope. Fold rope in half and twist 3-4 times. Seal ends. Place 1"-2" apart on greased baking sheet. Let rise. Makes 24 rolls.

Flower rolls:
Divide dough into 4 pieces. Divide each piece into 6 parts. Roll each part into a ball. Place 2" apart on greased baking sheet. Let rise. Before baking use scissors to snip 6 slits, 3/4" deep around outside of rolls. Bake. Makes 24 rolls

Mini-Figure Eight rolls:
Divide dough into 4 pieces. Divide each piece into 6 parts. Roll each part into 12" rope. Pinch ends together to form circle. Twist once to make an 8. Place 1"-2" apart on greased baking sheet. Let rise. Makes 24 rolls.

Mini-Subs:
Divide dough into 4 parts. Divide each part into 6 pieces. Roll dough out with rolling pin, use tortilla press, or a small heavy pan, covered with a floured, non-terry cloth towel to smash each piece to a 3" circle. Roll circle like you would a jelly-roll or crescent roll. Taper ends. Place 2" apart on greased baking sheet. Let rise. Right before baking make 2-3 diagonal slashes 1/2" - 3/4" deep in top of rolls. Makes 24 rolls.

Parker House Rolls:
Divide dough into 2 pieces. Roll into log and cut into 8 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball. Roll dough out with rolling pin, use tortilla press, or a small heavy pan, covered with a floured towel to smash each piece to a 3" circle. Brush with melted butter. Then using the handle of a wooden spoon you will press the handle firmly into the buttered side of the dough, down the center of the circle - so that it divides the dough almost in half. Then take the top half and fold it over the bottom half - it will look like a flattened taco shell - with no place to put the meat. Place 1"-2" apart on greased baking sheet. Let rise. Makes 16 rolls.

Butterfly rolls:
Divide dough into two pieces. Roll each piece out into a 10" square. Brush square with melted butter. Roll up, jelly-roll fashion. With cut side down, divide each piece into 8 pieces. Take a wooden spoon handle and in center of long side, press down firmly, hard enough to cause the dough to start to fold over the spoon handle. Place 1"-2" apart on greased baking sheet. Let rise. Makes 16 rolls.

BREAD STICKS:
Use 1/2 cup portions. You can either knead desired seasonings or ingredients into dough before making sticks; or go ahead and roll dough into 1/2" thick ropes and cut to the desired length, then brush with melted butter, then sprinkle with desired topping(s): Parmesan cheese, cheddar cheese, garlic salt, garlic powder, onion powder, Italian Seasonings, sesame seeds, kosher salt, etc. Place the sticks onto a lightly greased baking sheet, about 2 inches apart. Let rise 10-15 minutes. Bake at 375 degrees for 18 minutes.

Bread Stick Twists:
Do bread sticks as above, but instead of making straight sticks out of them, make your rope, fold into a U shape and twist the dough. I would add flavors to the dough before twisting or top after twisting. You can then cut the twists into smaller pieces or leave longer. Place about 1" apart on greased baking sheet and let rise.

Hot pockets/calzones (that's Italian for hot pockets, giggle):
Divide the dough into 6-10 pieces. The number of pieces you choose will determine the size of the finished product. Roll each piece into a ball. For "Hot Pockets", roll dough into a rectangle 1/4 - 1/2" thick. For "Calzones", flatten balls in tortilla maker or roll out to 1/4 - 1/2" thick. Put the filling on 1/2 of the dough, NOT near any of the 3 edges on the hot pockets or near the edges of the semi-circle for the calzones. You want this area clear for sealing purposes. Place filling of choice on dough, then lightly wet edges of the half you just filled. Bring the top, unfilled half over the filled bottom half, getting the edges to meet. Then seal the edges with a fork. You can either fill them on your greased baking sheet or use a large spatula to transfer the filled dough to your baking sheet. If I were doing large ones (6 pieces of dough) I would opt for filling them on the sheet. Then I don't have to worry about tearing the dough when I move them. Let them rise for 10 mins to an hour and bake at 375 for 10-20 mins, until they are lightly browned. Some people fry these instead of baking them. To fry you would take the filled, risen dough and slide each one, one or two at a time into a deep fryer. Fry at 375 degrees until lightly browned.

Don't overfill or use a real runny filling , it will make the bread soggy. If your making 8 or 10 of these from the dough, don't use more than about 3-4 tbs total filling.
Don't over bake them, it will dry the bread out.
Don't get the crust too thick. Remember the crust will rise while it sits rising and in the oven. You can control how thick they get, in part by how long you let them rise as well as how thick/thin you rolled the out the dough. You don't want a little filling and two thick globs of bread. (Look under Fillings to find out how to salvage them if this happens.)

Also, you can also use biscuit dough or pie dough to make these. They will each have a different taste according to the type of dough you use.

Fillings: Look in the freezer section of the store and see what choices you like. Pizza ones are good - a Tbs or 2 of sauce, 1-2 Tbs of chopped pepperoni and 1-2Tbs of cheese, ham & cheese, vegies, sloppy joe mix, scrambled eggs, cheese & bacon/sausage - let your imagination go to work. (If you should get too much bread without enough filling and they taste dry, you can salvage them by using some dipping sauce that goes with the filling. Pizza sauce for the pizza ones, cheese sauce or mustard for the ham & cheese, white sauce for the egg, cheese and bacon one, etc.)

When done, they can be wrapped individually and frozen, then nuked or baked to reheat and eat. Most people nuke them, straight from the freezer for about 1 - 2 mins, but you lose some of the crispness when nuked. Baking keeps the crispness, but takes a lot longer to heat.

Cinnamon rolls
This is an extremely flexible recipe. Use the amounts of sweetener and butter that you feel are sufficient for your family. What is sweet to us, may be too sweet to you. What is buttery enough for you, may be too greasy for us. This is permission to eyeball it!

Up the sweetener in the dough to about 1/4 -1/3 cup total. Run it through the "dough" cycle on your machine. Roll the dough out in a rectangle to about 1/4" thick. Spread with softened butter or just dot the butter. Sprinkle with what ever amount/kind of sweetener you like on top of the butter, sprinkle some cinnamon on top of that. You can add some raisins if you like them. Then roll up one side. Cut it into 1"- 1 1/2" thick pinwheels. Place in greased, round cake pans, leaving a little room between the circles, and let rise until about double. Then bake at 350-375 until lightly browned on top. Bake about 10-20 mins depending on the temp and size of the rolls.

You can vary the size of the rolls by rolling either the long side or the short side. If you roll the long side, you will have less layers of dough, resulting in a smaller roll. If you roll the shorter side up - which is the traditional way of doing it, you will have a large cinnamon roll. Again, you can choose which way you want the rolls. If you're watching calories, diabetic or just want a smaller serving, roll it long way. You could probably place these small size rolls in a greased muffin tin instead of a round pan.
You can frost it with some powdered sugar and milk glaze, cream cheese glaze or what ever floats your family's boat.

Pecan rolls
Same as above, only substitute pecans for cinnamon. Place some brown sugar or honey and butter in the bottom of your round pans and place the cut rolls on top of the topping in the pans. When the rolls are done, take out and turn pan over so that the glaze will coat the rolls, not stick in the bottom of the pan. Again, sweeteners and butter are to your family's tastes.
I would probably use about 1/3 cup brown sugar and 3 tbs butter in the bottom of the pan. I would also put about 1/2 cup nuts in the bottom of the pan - before I placed the rolls in the pan to rise. If you choose to melt the butter before placing it in the pan, let it cool just a tad - so it doesn't kill the yeast in the section of the rolls that sit in the butter.

Honey buns
Same as for cinnamon rolls, but use honey instead of sugar in the recipe and use honey instead of brown sugar in the bottom of the pans.

Freezing these recipes
I've never frozen these particular recipes, but they are similar to other recipes that freeze well, so I see no reason they could not be frozen.
They can be frozen before baking. Just make sure you wrap them well so that they don't get freezer burn.

Freeze the bread dough either in a lump or shaped into bread (or pizza crust, etc.) and wrap. When you are ready to bake, take them out and place them in the appropriate size pan. You can thaw in the oven set to warm or let nature take it's course in the fridge overnight or on a counter top for a few hours. When double, bake at 350 until the item is done. (bread in a loaf pan takes longer than bread that is round, than rolls, than pizza dough. Usually, when it's lightly browned, it's done.)

Flash freeze cinnamon/honey/pecan/dinner rolls in slices on a cookie sheet - before they rise. When frozen, place in a Ziploc type bag and then you can take out however many you want, place in a pan and let rise until about double and then bake as usual.

Another of my tricks is to look at other recipes of the type I want to make and see how long it takes them to cook and at what temperature they are cooked at. Then when I make mine, it gives me a guideline for temp and times.