Soft White Dinner Rolls With Hard Crust

Our answer

Nigella's Soft White Dinner Rolls (from Feast and on the Nigella website) are small rolls that are baked in a batch. Batch baked rolls should be touching each other when they go into the oven so that the sides join up on baking and this gives them a softer crust on the sides. When the rolls have been shaped place them on a greased baking sheet very slightly apart (about 1/2 cm/1/4 inch) so that as they prove they expand and start to touch. It could also be that when the rolls are proving they are drying out a little on the surface so it may help to cover the rolls with a lightly damp tea towel.

As the rolls are glazed with beaten egg they should turn a golden brown colour, particularly given the oven temperature. Make sure it is a whole egg as a glaze of only egg white will give them a hard and paler crust. All ovens can vary so you may prefer to turn your oven down to 200c/400F and bake the rolls for slightly (about 5 minutes) longer.