Bagel Rolls
These bagel rolls are the perfect brunch dish - full of fresh dill and chives, tons of smoked salmon and the perfect amount of cream cheese all rolled up in a delicious and soft dough.
Servings: 12 rolls
Ingredients
- 1 cup plus 2 tbsp buttermilk warm, about 115F
- 2.25 tsp instant yeast (can also use active dry)
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter room temperature, cut into tbsp sized cubes
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 4.25 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup chopped fresh dill divided
- 2 tbsp minced chives
- 12 oz cream cheese block, such as Philadelphia room temperature
- 16 oz smoked salmon
- 1 whisked egg for egg wash (optional, for topping)
- Everything bagel seasoning or sesame seeds (optional, for topping)
Instructions
- In the bowl of your stand mixer, fitted with the beater attachment, combine the buttermilk, yeast, sugar, and salt. If you are using active dry yeast instead of instant yeast, let this mixture sit for a few minutes until the yeast activates and the mixture starts to bubble.
- Add the butter and eggs and beat on medium speed until mostly the butter is broken apart and the eggs are combined. The batter will look a little strange right now, but it will come together once you add the dry ingredients.
- Add the flour and 1/4 cup of the chopped dill and beat on medium speed until a dough begins to form.
- Remove the beater attachment and replace with the dough hook. Knead the dough until a smooth ball forms.
- Remove the dough hook and leave the ball of dough in the bowl. Cover the bowl of dough with a kitchen towel and set aside in a warm place to double in size. This will depend on several factors, including the temperature of your kitchen, the temperature of the milk you used, how you chose to knead your dough, etc. but this generally takes about an hour for me. But I keep our house pretty warm! So focus more on the dough doubling in size, and less on the timing. I like to take a picture of the dough before I set it aside so I can compare it to what it looks like later to make sure it has truly doubled.
- When you poke the dough and the imprint of your finger mostly remains, but springs back slightly, the dough is ready to be rolled. If the fingerprint fills in quickly and all of the way, let it continue rising. If the fingerprint doesn’t spring back at all, the dough is overproofed. You can still continue on with the recipe, but the dough may be a little tougher than you would want.
- While you wait for the dough to proof, prepare a 9x13 baking dish (I like to use a Pyrex for this so I can see through the dish as it bakes!) by spraying with cooking spray or greasing with butter.
- Once your dough has doubled, turn the dough out on a generously floured surface (if you have a nonstick pastry mat like a silpat, this is your moment to use it!)
- Flour the surface of the dough and rolling pin, and roll the dough out to a large rectangle. The larger the better, because it means more swirls!
- Spread the cream cheese into a thick even layer over the dough and sprinkle the remaining dill and all of the chives over top. Then top with the smoked salmon slices in an even layer.
- Roll the dough as tightly as you can from the wider end. Start off really slowly and work your way across the dough so you can keep your spirals tight.
- Then cut into 12 equal size pieces and place in a 9x13 baking dish that has been sprayed with cooking spray or greased with butter.
- Cover the rolls with a kitchen towel and allow to proof in a warm spot in your kitchen, until they are double in size, or at least noticeably larger than before. Don't be worried if they don't completely double in size, but you definitely want them to be noticeably larger. This will probably take about 30 minutes to an hour. I promise they will grow even more in the oven!
- While the rolls are proofing, preheat the oven to 350F and position a rack to the middle row of your oven.
- Once the rolls are finished proofing, you can add some toppings if you choose. If you want to add toppings, lightly brush the rolls with the egg wash and then sprinkle the toppings over the buns. Be careful with toppings - if your smoked salmong is a little salty, you won't want to add a salty topping. Things like poppy seeds and sesame seeds are safe choices if you want to add a topping, but they are great without them!
- Bake for about 40 minutes, until lightly golden brown on top and fully cooked through. You can also test that the buns are cooked through by inserting a digital thermometer into the dough of an interior roll - the temperature should be about 188F.
- Let the rolls fully cool in the baking dish and enjoy! They are also delicious warm out of the oven if you can't wait!