One of the most frustrating things you can try to tackle in the kitchen is baking a perfect loaf of bread. Sure, there are harder feats out there, but no matter how much experience you have, sometimes bread can just get the better of you. It doesn’t matter if you use a no-knead recipe or try to eliminate certain ingredients and rise times; things can just go wrong. That’s where this easy frozen pull-apart loaf comes into play.
You may not have heard about this hack yet, but once you try it, it’s going to change your last-minute dinner prep forever. All you need to do to create a perfect loaf of warm, freshly baked bread is squish a packet of frozen, ready-to-bake dinner rolls into your favorite loaf pan before proofing them. As they rise, the rolls will mesh together into an even loaf that holds the rectangular shape beautifully.
The crust will only develop along the outsides of the rolls where the exteriors are hitting the pan, so the inside of the loaf will resemble a normal sandwich bread that you can slice evenly. The top of the bread will also have a golden, bubbly appearance that’s sure to impress your guests, and depending on how many rolls you use, you can even serve this as a fun, pull-apart appetizer.
Turning dinner rolls into focaccia
Just spray a loaf pan, stack it with about 10 or so rolls, and cover with sprayed plastic wrap. You want to make sure the pan is full, so stack the rolls side by side and layer some in the middle if needed. Let rise until doubled in size or towering at least one inch over the top of the loaf. This could take over three hours, so be patient. Then bake according to the instructions on the package. About 25 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheight should do it.
Brush with some melted butter before serving or experiment with a three-ingredient garlic butter. Some grated parmesan would also taste amazing, as would a sweeter combo like cinnamon sugar or honey butter. You can even use frozen dinner rolls to make a last-minute focaccia. If you want to try it, just arrange the rolls in a larger rectangular pan before proofing and dimple the dough with your fingers once it’s risen. Drizzle with a hefty amount of olive oil and sprinkle with salt and herbs before baking.
There are a lot of other clever hacks to elevate dinner rolls out there, too, like transforming them into monkey bread or rolling them into breadsticks. You can even turn them into buttery garlic knots or s’mores. Once you wrap your head around it, you’ll never have to worry about all those failed bread attempts again.
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