Soft Pull-Apart Rolls with Gruyère Butter

Soft, buttery, cheesy pull-apart rolls with a golden crust and fluffy center. These tangzhong-based rolls make the most irresistible bread for your holiday table.

Course Bread

Cuisine American, Japanese

Servings 18

Ingredients

Tangzhong:

1 cup water
1/3 cup all-purpose flour

Dough:

2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast 10 grams
1 cup warm whole milk 220 grams
1/3 cup sugar 80 grams
2 large eggs
Tangzhong about 220 grams
2 cups all-purpose flour 270 grams. Or 540g total weight of all purpose flour if not using freshly milled.
2 cups freshly milled hard white wheat flour 240 grams. It's ok to sub this out and use 270 grams of all purpose flour instead.
1 1/2 tsp salt 10 grams
4 tbsp unsalted butter softened

For Brushing:

Melted butter
Gruyère shredded
Fresh thyme or sage chopped

Instructions

Make tangzhong by heating flour and water over medium heat until thick. Spread on a plate to cool.
In a mixer bowl, combine warm milk, sugar, and yeast. Let sit 5 to 10 minutes.
Add eggs, tangzhong, flour, and salt. Mix until combined.
Knead 5 to 10 minutes, then slowly add butter and knead 10 to 15 more minutes until smooth.
Let dough rise in a greased bowl for 1 hour.
Divide into 18 balls and cover with a towel and let rest for 15 minutes. see note.
Now shape the rolls into tight dough balls by rolling it out into an oval, folding up the bottom half way, folding down the top to meet the bottom, flip it over, roll it flat, flip it over so the seam is facing up now, and roll it up like cinnamon rolls, then take each end and meet them together to make a tight dough ball. See video and blog post for visual examples. Arrange in two parchment-lined 9 x 9 or 8 x 8 baking pans.
Cover and rise 45 minutes (or refrigerate overnight).
Bake at 350°F for 20 to 25 minutes until golden.
Brush with butter and sprinkle Gruyère and herbs for the last 5 minutes of baking.

Video

Notes

I chose to shape my dough balls into 20 sections because they do turn out pretty large and I wanted them to stretch further to feed a crowd. This makes filling those pans less uniform, but it can be done. Typically 9 dough balls per 8x8 square pan is a perfect fit, I just stuffed an extra one in there : ) A 9x9 pan would have worked better for me for the 20 rolls.