Homemade Slider Rolls Made Simple

I have been trying bread recipes for a long while now but I especially wanted a recipe I could use without fail for tiny slider rolls.  I’m hooked on sliders because they are so easy to make up for a party in various concoctions (see my slider hub) and they are also easier to eat instead of a large burger.  You can justify eating 2 or 3 of these that may in fact be the same in the end as eating a whole burger, but the nice thing about sliders is that you can eat one of several kinds – and take your time in between!

My son Jonathan sent me this recipe a few years ago and I have searched and searched for the source of it but have yet to find it to give credit where credit is due.  This is actually a recipe called Classic Sandwich Bread but I adapted it a tiny bit.  I first made it as sandwich bread and then as I sat admiring my perfect loaves, I got the idea to try and make sliders with the same recipe.  Much to my satisfaction, it worked wonderfully!

 

Photo by Audrey Kirchner

Slider Dough Recipe

INGREDIENTS

2-1/4 teaspoons or 1 envelope of active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water (105-115 degrees)
1 cup warm milk (105-115 degrees)
1 cup warm water (105-115 degrees)
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon honey
1/4 cup vegetable or olive oil
2 to 2-1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 cups of unbleached flour
3-4 cups bread flour or 3 cups white wheat flour and 3/4-1 cup wheat flour
Glaze (recipe to follow)

New Big City Slider Station Mini Burger Maker Camping Parties RV Boat
Current Bid: $5.00
Kitchen Art Adjust A Burger Adjustable Hamburger Patty Maker Slider Burger
Current Bid: $6.95
Stuffed Burger Maker Press: Filled Patty Slider Shaper Mold – Norpro 508
Current Bid: $8.99
Kitchen Art Adjust A Burger Mini Adjustable Hamburger Patty Maker Slider Burger
Current Bid: $4.95
NEW NOSTALGIA ELECTRICS ALL LEAGUE SLIDER MINI BURGER MAKER
Current Bid: $12.95

PREPARATION:

Pour 1/2 cup of warm water into small bowl – sprinkle yeast over it. Add sugar and put aside to foam up – about 10 minutes.
Combine milk, 1 cup water, honey, oil and salt in a larger bowl
or place in mixing bowl of Kitchen Aid or other large mixer with
capability of mixing dough. When yeast has set for 10 minutes, add to
the bowl.
If using a Kitchen Aid or large mixer, add flour 1 cup at a
time. I put the collar on to avoid it puffing everywhere and just slide
in a 1/2 cup to 1 cup at a time and keep it on medium until all the
flour is added – dough should be pulling away from the sides of the
bowl.
If you do not have a mixer and are doing this by hand, add 1
cup of flour at a time to the mixture in your large bowl with a wooden
spoon until dough begins to leave sides of the bowl.
If you have a mixer or food processor with a dough hook or dough attachment, knead for about 7 minutes.
If you do not have a mixer or food processor, turn out onto lightly floured surface and knead for about 5-7 minutes.
Place the dough in a large, deep bowl sprayed with vegetable
spray, turn over so as to oil the top of the dough and place oiled side
up. Now cover this with a damp towel – set in a warm place (80 degrees
if you can get it) – and let rise until doubled in size – probably 1
hour or slightly longer.
You really don’t punch this dough down – just deflate it.
Divide into 2 equal pieces, shape into a ball, cover and let rest for 10
minutes.
Use vegetable spray or olive oil spray to coat insides of
muffin pans – I used silicone muffin pans because the sides are
straighter but any muffin (regular size) would do for sliders.
Next, I pinched off pieces of dough that would fill the muffin
slots about half full, rolled and placed into the pan. (Note – you could
take one of the halves of the dough and make the slider rolls and get
12 – and use the other half of the dough to make a sandwich loaf. This
is what I did). Or you could make as many slider rolls as you want from
the rest of the dough.
Once you have assembled your slider rolls, cover again, this
time with plastic wrap sprayed with some olive oil or vegetable spray
and let rise until double – about 30-35 minutes max should do it.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
You can leave your sliders as they are, or you can put a glaze
on (see below) and bake until browned and starting to pull away from the
sides – 25-30 minutes.
If they begin to brown too quickly, drape a piece of foil over top.
If you have made a loaf of bread with part of the dough, cook that for 40-45 minutes.
Turn any sliders or bread out onto rack and tap the bottom to
make sure it has a hollow sound and not a ‘thud’ – then set to cool.
I sliced my sliders before freezing after they had cooled and stored in freezer bags.

Making Classic Sandwich Bread

This recipe truly is wonderful – if you make sure that the temperature of the water and the milk is accurate, you should have no troubles getting this bread to ‘rise to the occasion’.  It is one of the simplest recipes I’ve found lately and the end result where the sliders was concerned was impressive.  They were perfectly formed (I sometimes dust my hands with flour to roll them and get them to be not quite so sticky) – and when sliced after cooling, the texture was perfect! 

If you wanted to get fancy you could – cut an X pattern in the tops of the slider rolls right before popping in the oven.

For sandwich bread loaves, simply follow the above recipe – and when you divide it into 2 equal parts, set aside, cover with plastic wrap and let rest for the 10 minutes. 

Flatten out each piece of dough and with your hands simply roll, compress the dough into a rectangle that fits the bread pan squeezing out the air bubbles – or pat it out on a clean surface, and roll up into a cylinder to fit the pan.

Place into 2 olive or vegetable oiled bread pans and let rise for about 35 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. 

Leave the dough as is – or cut a slit down the center with a sharp knife or make diagonal slashes.  Conversely, you could also shape the loaves into french bread type loaves and place on cookie trays sprinkled with cornmeal and bake that way.

Glaze if you like – bake 40-45 minutes if baked in a pan – if the tops are darkening too quickly, simply drape a piece of foil over.

Turn out onto a rack and make sure again that there is a hollow sound rather than a thudding sound – let cool and ENJOY!

This is one bread that does NOT fall apart and is wonderful plain or toasted. 

To Glaze or Not to Glaze

Egg Glaze

1 egg yolk or 1 whole egg (or substitute egg substitute)
1 tablespoon water, milk or cream
1 teaspoon sugar if making sweet breads

Whisk all the ingredients together and just before popping in the oven, brush this on slider rolls or sandwich loaves.

As an alternative – use melted butter – use up to 3 tablespoons over bread or sliders just before baking.

I sometimes wait until the bread or rolls are out of the oven and take a small pat of butter in a paper towel and rub it over all the bread tops.

Other Ideas

Substitute 2 cups water for milk and water – add 1/2 cup nonfat dry milk to the flour
Use buttermilk instead of regular milk – it separates but smooths out in the end
Add 1/2 cup dried buttermilk to the dry ingredients
Brush the rolls or bread loaves with egg glaze and then coat with seeds such as poppy seeds or sesame seeds
During kneading phase, add 2 cups coarsely grated sharp Cheddar in with the flour – this is especially good with one of the buttermilk additions
Add 2 tablespoons dried dill weed and 1 tablespoon dill seed to the dry ingredients and sprinkle tops before baking with dill seeds
Experiment with flours and substitute some of the flour with graham or oat flour, etc.  It makes the bread more nutritious and also gives it a totally different taste
Rosemary is an excellent addition to bread – 1-2 tablespoons dried added to the dry ingredients – and adding 1/2 cup of sliced olives
Be creative – anything you can think of will probably be delicious in this bread!

Summing It Up

Sliders are the new burgers! They are smaller and lighter overall and the nice thing about sliders is that you can make just about any kind – Kobe beef, salmon, chicken, BBQ beef, pulled pork, lamb or veggie – just some ideas. My particular favorite is the salmon slider. It is just small enough to enjoy maybe 2 and feel totally satisfied that you had your ‘burger’ and you can sample several if you have more than one type of burger.

Add condiments as appropriate and cut to size – cheeze, coleslaw, lettuce, tomatoes, etc.  The sky is the limit!

In short, this bread recipe stands up to the task and was so easy to make, I was totally shocked. I have improvised and used potato dinner rolls from Costco for instance – but these were even too big for what I had in mind. Using a muffin pan turned out to be just the right size – I feel like Goldilocks and found what I needed!

Great Miniburger Recipe

Hamburger America: Completely Revised and Updated Edition: A State-by-State Guide to 150 Great Burger Joints
Amazon Price: $9.35
List Price: $20.00
Hamburger America: Completely Revised and Updated Edition: A State-by-State Guide to 150 Great Burger Joints
Amazon Price: $20.00
Wicked Good Burgers: Fearless Recipes and Uncompromising Techniques for the Ultimate Patty
Amazon Price: $12.68
List Price: $22.99
Omaha Steaks 12 (4 oz.) Omaha Steaks Burgers
Amazon Price: $19.49
Weston Hamburger Patty Paper -1000 pieces
Amazon Price: $9.30
List Price: $14.99
Bobby Flay’s Burgers, Fries, and Shakes
Amazon Price: $6.99
List Price: $25.95
The Book of Burger
Amazon Price: $3.79
List Price: $24.99
Burger Bar: Build Your Own Ultimate Burgers
Amazon Price: $11.57
List Price: $22.95
The Sneaky Chef to the Rescue: 101 All-New Recipes and “Sneaky” Tricks for Creating Healthy Meals Kids Will Love
Amazon Price: $4.00
List Price: $19.95
Recipe of the Week: Burgers: 52 Easy Recipes for Year-round Cooking
Amazon Price: $12.77
List Price: $16.95
Burger Parties: Recipes from Sutter Home Winery’s Build a Better Burger Contest
Amazon Price: $3.81
List Price: $19.99
Nostalgia Electrics SM-500 All League Sliders Electric Mini Burger Maker
Amazon Price: $29.99
Big City BS011106 Slider Station for Mini Hamburgers
Amazon Price: $7.73
List Price: $22.15
Norpro Mini Burger Press
Amazon Price: $13.60
List Price: $21.99

Try These Delicious Burger Recipes

Super Bowl Fare – Sliders
Super Bowl Sunday would not be complete at our house without sliders or as some folks call them mini-burgers. I make a variety and usually have 3 crock-pots going with pulled pork, shredded or sliced beef and…
Super Bowl Winners, by Year
Super Bowl I-Green Bay 35, Kansas City 10-The beginning of a new era was highlighted by the combo of Packers QB Bart Starr and WR Max McGee, who connected for two touchdowns. McGee had 138 yards receiving and…
How To Make A Great Cheese Burger
Over the years I have eaten more than a few hamburgers and of those a significant number have been cheeseburgers. There is something about the combination of beef and cheese that is almost primal. …
Cook Your Hamburgers Rare! Grind Your Own Meat and F…
Forget about hamburgers cooked well done dry. Grind your own meat and make a better rare burger, without worrying about food safety or e-coli bacteria!
How to BBQ a better burger. Easy steps to hamburger …
Make better hamburgers. A few easy tips and tricks to improving your skills as a burger-master! Whatever recipe you like, you can improve the taste of your BBQ.
Vegan Friendly Veggie Burger- My Recipe of the Blue …
Excellent vegan friendly veggie burger recipe adapted from the Blue Plate Diner Classic. This is a bean-based burger that is big and filling. Try it out, then put your own spin on it!
Vegetarian Burger Recipes- #25, Italian Vegetarian P…
My modifications for Italian Vegetarian Burger. I used leftover lentils and rice, along with bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, and Italian spices. Burgers are fried until crispy, about 6 minutes per side. Serve up with favorite vegetables and condiments
Vegetarian Burgers Index and Overview to 32 Vegeta…
Vegetarian burgers recipe summaries. Links to 32 recipes with ingredient summaries and comments. All different. None with texturized vegetable protein.
Copycat Burger King Recipes
Copycat recipes for some of the most delicious sandwiches on the Burger King menu. Learn how you can make them less greasy, less fattening and more nutritious.
Healthy Burger Recipes
Great recipes for burgers by Judy DeVore – convert these to sliders!
Southern Cuisine: Buttermilk Biscuit Secrets
I come from a long family of biscuit cooks and biscuit eaters. My grandfather liked the tasty bread so much that he had my grandmother make a big pan with almost every meal. He always said there was no such…
Buttermilk Biscuits – My Favorite Recipe
The Best Light Recipe cookbook from Cook’s Illustrated has done it again! I have tried biscuit recipes from every source and this is by far my favorite. It is a bit unconventional but well worth the effort,…
French Bread Made Easy
Making bread is not that difficult to do from scratch. I know a lot of people think that there is a science to it but I can honestly say the only science to it is being able to get the temperature right! …
French Bread
Hot French bread – crusty and golden brown on the outside, light and chewy on the inside, with perfect little holes that just beg for a little butter. It’s easy. I swear. It really is. For years I didn’t…
Yummy Gluten Free Sandwich Bread
Gluten Free Sandwich Bread *Note-To see more gluten and dairy free recipes click on
Wheat French Bread Recipe
I recently did a recipe on French bread but I have since adapted that and this is the recipe I am sticking to as I love being able to combine whole wheat flour with it. I had to tweak it a bit from the…