Changing the water to 60% helped a lot. But it's still not making hard
rolls. The rolls were delicious, but they weren't hard rolls. So I lowered
the sugar and fat content:

Water 60.00%
Instant yeast 1.50%
Bread flour 100.00%
Salt 2.25%
Sugar 1.13%
Butter 1.13%
Egg whites 2.25%
Yield 168.25%


I'll report back with the results.

Rich

"chembake" > wrote in message
ps.com...
> Hello Rich
> You did not give the timing for your dough make up., resting period
> after mixing, after scaling and rounding, etc.
>
> But anyway
> Your recipe appears underhydrated...if you are using a bread
> flour...and a lean dough.you need to use a water of at least 60%.
> The hard rolls I make for a certain restaurant is slightly similar to
> your recipe but has a hydration of 63%.
> Another thing is your dough might be warm so promoting the yeast to
> rise faster making the dough balls gassy...
> Did you ever rest the dough balls before rounding and molding...?
> A freshly divided firm dough is easy to round...but if overrested
> ...it becomes bucky...to mold that it does not form a ball easily...but
> deforms to an odd shape.
>
> Controlling the dough temperature is one way to prevent this from
> occurring; warm dough rise fast and difficult to mold...
> Another thing is if the dough was exposed to the ambient low humidity,
> the surface dries up fast making it difficult to round/mold as well.
> Cover your dough while resting with a damp cloth.
> Another way if the dough balls appear dry to the touch and difficult to
> mold
> In that condition...I wet my hands slightly with water before I round
> /mold the dough...and it helps...
>