Food Tips,  Recipes

French Onion Soup Rolls

A package of dried French Onion soup mix finds its home in most kitchens, but doesn’t anyone actually use it for making soup? Well, I must admit, I do not, I much prefer my own. Many make a chip or vegetable dip with it, or mix with hamburger, chicken, turkey or pork for a meatloaf, layer it throughout thin sliced potatoes for a tasty Potato Anna bake, slow cook chicken drums with tomatoes and spices for a Cacciatore to serve over rice or pasta, or, try it as a flavoring in a Chicken Tetrazzini, Pulled Pork BBQ sauce for sandwiches, Lasagna, Meat Balls, Cornish Pasty’s, Tacos or Fajitas, and on, and on, and on. Why, you could write an entire 100 page cookbook of various dishes with just this packet of ingredients, and not even make it as a soup, (hmm, maybe I should.)

So when I received a packet of this mix, I decided I would make something a little different as well, soup, well, never crossed my mind. I decided on making some hamburger buns, I was planning hamburgers for dinner at any rate, what could be better than a Weck style bun for my juicy burgers.

First get a fine sieve and separate the powder from the onion pieces. Mix the powder with 3 cups of water in a sauce pot, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 2 minutes, cool to room temperature, use as the ingredient required in the recipe below.

For the rolls,

4 cups   All purpose flour

1 tbsp    Instant or Quick Rise yeast

2 tbsp    Sugar

½ tsp     Salt

2 cups   Onion soup broth

1 tbsp    Vegetable oil, or, melted butter

2              Egg

Mix the dry ingredients  thoroughly together, sifting them three times works well. Place in the mixing bowl of your mixer equipped with a dough hook.

Blend the broth with the oil and one egg, stir well.

With the mixer running on slow, pour the liquid into the dry ingredients. Increase the mixer speed and knead the dough for 5-7 minutes.

Turn the dough out into a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise to double in size. Punch the dough down, turn out onto a lightly flour dusted work area. Flatten the dough and then roll together. Divide into 8-12 equal pieces, depending on how large you want your rolls to be, I use 8 for burger buns, and 12 for dinner rolls.

Preheat your oven to 375°F.

Allow your rolls to double in size once again.

Mix the remaining egg with a tablespoon of water, brush the egg wash over the rolls, sprinkle the rolls with the onion pieces that you sifted.

Bake for 15-18 minutes until nicely browned, use as required.

Yields 8-12 rolls.