In Connecticut, where I was born and raised, we call the long sandwiches you might get from a deli or Italian takeout place grinders. My wife tells me that in upstate New York, they call them wedges. I believe that in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, they call them hoagies. Just about everywhere else, they call them subs, thanks in part probably to Subway, which started in, of all places, Bridgeport, CT, just like me. My uncle worked at the first one, and supposedly routinely stole lunch meat to help feed his mom and brothers. This is the type of legacy I come from.
I. Love. Grinders. What would a cheesesteak be, if it was served on a Kaiser roll? Who would want an Italian combo on a couple of slices of rye? The grinder roll is the perfect container for everything from the hot-and-gooey meatball parm, to the cool-and-tangy Italian. What’s better than grinder roll? A homemade sourdough grinder roll!
I started my homemade sourdough grinder rolls dough the way I always start my sourdough: 300g of sourdough starter, 600g of water, and 900g of flour. I brought this together in my KitchenAid with the paddle attachment and then let the flour hydrate for about an hour, covered. I then added a table spoon of oil and switched to my dough hook, and kneaded for five minutes on medium. This probably would have been a good time to add a tablespoon of salt as well, but I totally forgot it this time around!
After kneading, I let my dough rise on the counter, covered, overnight. In the morning it was at least doubled in size and ready to go! I scraped the dough out into my floured bread board, and divided it into eight, roughly equal hunks. I preshaped each hunk into an oblong, similar to a baguette or batard (technique coming soon).
I have this cool nonstick baguette pan that I use to hold the shape of my rolls. It is also common to use a kitchen towel with a pleat pulled up between each loaf. I’m sorry to say that if you plop a bunch of loaves down on a flat pan on a warm day, you will come back to a flat mess of wasted time.
I let my rolls rest for an hour while I preheat my oven to 500F. I place a sheet pan on the bottom rack, ready for the hot water I will add to crest a steamy, moist baking environment for my bread.
When my grinder rolls are rested and my oven hot, I rub some more light olive oil on the tops of my rolls and quickly snip each one a couple of times. I pop them into the oven and pour about a cup of hot water from my kettle into that sheet pan I mentioned. Fifteen minutes later and it’s party time!
This was my first mobile blog post so I hope it came out okay. Do you notice I’m not selling anything? Peculiar. If you liked my post why don’t you smash me a like and drop me a comment? Or leave me a suggestion of a topic you’d like to see me cover? Or tell me about how you first learned about grief and loss? Love ya. Peace!
