Recipe: Puffy Italian Sub Rolls

Puffy Italian sub rolls!

At last! The puffy, yielding, open-crumb Italian sub rolls of my dreams. This has been a journey. We have published recipes for hoagie rolls, sub rolls and po’ boy rolls but none were truly the open crumb puffy submarine rolls you find in almost any Italian deli in the northeast. I know they are using dough enhancers and we finally gave in to a couple of them. Success. This recipe began with this King Arthur recipe but we have gone very far beyond that. Makes six puffy Italian sub rolls approximately 10″ each. (You could also divide the dough and make more, smaller rolls of course.)

Ingredients:

For overnight starter:
180g all purpose flour
225g spring water (non chlorinated)
¼ t active dry yeast

For the dough:
660g all purpose flour
1 T active dry yeast
1 T vital wheat gluten*
1 T diastatic malt powder
4 t Kosher salt
300g spring water (non chlorinated)

Method: mix ingredients of overnight starter and let it rest overnight; in the morning it should be lively and bubbly. Combine dry ingredients in an orbital mixer and process a bit with the dough hook until well combined. Add overnight starter and water and mix at first speed for a couple of minutes; the dough should clear the bowl. Increase to second speed and knead 7 minutes. Transfer to a large oiled (maybe 1 T olive oil) bowl; cover and proof 45 minutes until doubled.

Submarine Rolls Crumb.

Punch down dough then form into 6 balls of roughly equal size (around 220 g). Rest a few minutes then form into rolls: stretch the dough into a rectangle and fold the top down, then bottom up (letter fold). Pinch the edges and using your palms roll into a shape that meets your preferences. (This is the procedure for forming a baguette but with much more forgiving dough.) Transfer to a baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone pad; cover and proof until doubled, maybe 45 minutes. Meanwhile, heat oven to 400 degrees.

Add toppings if you like; we tried an egg white wash and sesame seeds and didn’t particularly care for either. Bake for 40 minutes, possibly rotating the position of trays in the oven, until lightly browned. Cool and serve.