High Altitude Waterford Blaas (Soft Irish Bread Rolls)
These classic Waterford blaas are soft floury white buns or rolls. They're wonderful spread with salted Irish butter and honey, or used for sandwiches.
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Stand Mixer with Dough Hook
- 9x13 Baking Dish
Ingredients
- 2 cups hot water (between 110-115 degrees F)
- 1 tbsp instant or rapid rise yeast
- 2 tsp granulated sugar
- 1 ½ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- 3 tbsp unsalted butter, very soft
- 5 - 5 ½ cups (26 oz) bread flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
Instructions
Kneading the Dough
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine the water, yeast, sugar, salt, butter, and all but 1/2 cup of the flour.
- On medium low speed, knead the dough for 5 minutes until smooth, gradually adding the remaining 1/2 cup of flour if needed. The dough should form a torpedo around the dough hook, but may still stick to the bottom of the bowl.
- If you don't have a stand mixer, you can also knead the dough by hand on a lightly floured counter top.
First Rise
- Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl or container. I like these lidded 4-qt storage containers, which are ideal for rising dough, since the marked sides let you easily see how much the dough has increased in volume.
- Cover the container with a lid or plastic wrap, and set in a warm place to rise until doubled in volume. If your oven has a "bread proof" setting, use that.
- My dough rose very quickly, and doubled in volume within about 45 minutes. The higher your elevation, the faster your dough will rise.
Second Rise
- Gently punch down the dough to deflate it, then replace the lid.
- Set in a warm place to rise again for 30 minutes.
Shaping the Rolls
- Scrape the dough out onto a lightly floured counter. Gently press the dough into a circle, then use a sharp knife or bench scraper to cut the dough into 12 equal portions.
- Shape each portion of dough into a roll by cupping it in your hand and pinching the dough together on the bottom.
- Place the rolls, smooth side up, in a lightly greased or buttered 9x13 inch baking dish.
- Cover with a clean towel, and set aside to rest for about 30 minutes, until the rolls are puffing against each other.
Baking
- Preheat the oven to 425 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven.
- Just before baking, lightly dust the top of the rolls with flour.
- Bake for about 20-25 minutes, until puffed and a digital instant read thermometer inserted into the center of the rolls reads 195F.
- Let cool for several minutes, then serve warm or at room temperature with butter and honey or jam.
Notes
Let the rolls cool completely, then store them in an airtight container or freezer bag at room temperature for up to 3 days, or in the freezer for up to 3-6 months.
Leftover rolls can be split and lightly toasted, or warmed in the microwave for 20-30 seconds on 50% power.
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