Dinner Hosted by Baking Bites: BBQ Pork on Yogurt Rolls

For dinner on Tuesday, when GYM came over to meet Gabby, I wanted something that would use up the pork shoulder that Uncle took out of the freezer and then didn't have time to cook as we instead decided to buy a dog. Naturally, my first thought was pulled pork, knowing that GYM loves sammies and loves BBQ. A google search brought me, not to a southern cooking site or to food network, but rather a blog that, surprisingly, I hadn't heard of: Baking Bites. There, I not only found a delicious BBQ recipe (but make sure to add the tomato paste; I had none and it definitely would have helped)but also found a recipe for Soft Yogurt Sandwich Rolls. Despite my adventures in baking with LiLi (and I hope to have a pizza and bread story up once I get those recipes) I was still nervous about trying to bake bread. But every sammie needs a roll and really, have you ever bought tasty rolls at a supermarket?
Soft Yogurt Sandwich Rolls
3 1/2 - 4 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp active dry yeast
3 tbsp honey
1 cup water, warm (100-110F)
1 cup yogurt (nonfat/lowfat is fine; I used Greek-style)
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 1/2 tsp salt

In a large mixing bowl, combine 1/2 cup flour, the active dry yeast, the honey and the warm water. Stir well and let sit for 10 minutes, until slightly foamy.
Stir in yogurt, vegetable oil, salt and 2 cups of the remaining flour. Gradually stir in more flour until you have a soft dough that sticks together pulls away from the sides of the bowl (This can all be done in a stand mixer with the dough-hook attached, as well).
Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead, adding additional flour if necessary to prevent sticking, until dough is smooth and elastic, or about 5 minutes. Place in a lightly greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 1 hour or until doubled in size.
Preheat oven to 375F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Turn risen dough out of bowl and onto a lightly floured surface. Gently deflate, pressing into a rectangle. Divide dough into 10 even pieces with a board scraper or a pizza cutter. Shape each piece into a round roll. To do this, take all the corners of one of the squarish pieces you just cut and pull them together, pinching them to create a seal. This will pull the rest of the dough “tight” across the top of your roll, giving you a smooth top. Place on prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough.
Once all rolls have been formed, press down firmly on each one to flatten. Cover with a clean dish towel and let rise for 25 minutes.
Bake for about 20 minutes, until rolls are deep golden on the top and the bottom.
Cool on a wire rack.
Store in an airtight container.

So I stopped thinking about it and just started putting together the pieces. I used farmer's market fresh-made yogurt for the yogurt, which required more flour rather than less, as the yogurt was rather runny. Turns out this was the least of my problems. I tried to use the dough hook to do all my kneading. I guess bread doesn't work that way. An hour later and the dough hadn't risen. Well, with a 4.30 wake up call, I don't stay up past nine, and it was already 8:15. Now what? At this time, Uncle came home and said, "dough doesn't rise in this house."
Rather than crying, I simply hand-kneaded the dough (it's a wonderful feeling, actually) and then put it in the bowl, covered with plastic wrap, for the night. Yep, the night. It wasn't really a problem. The next morning, I popped it out, formed the rolls and slid them in the oven. Five am baking smells, and I had a hot roll for my breakfast!


This is tonight's dinner--the leftover pork in the still-amazing rolls, accompanied by fresh-braised carrots and the one beer I had in the fridge, a Kona Pipeline made with Kona coffee. There's not much I could do to make it better.