I have never made these rolls without them having wrinkled tops. I always thought that was normal.

Think they needed about 4 more minutes in the oven...That's very close to the recipe I use....but I don't add potato and do add 2 eggs.....never wrinkled....always yummy.
My thoughts are that the interior isn't thoroughly cooked and caves in a bit when you remove from the oven...hence the wrinkle in the tops.

Your recipe sounds great. I'm going to have to try them.

I've occasionally had some wrinkled tops like that, I blamed it on slightly over proofing my dough, but I don't know if that's the real cause, I just noticed that if the dough "got away from me" a bit, that's when I had the issue.

Your recipe sounds good, much like Grandma's Farmhouse White but with the addition of potato. I'll keep this to try, right now I've got an overflow of eggs so all my baked goods must contain eggs, LOL.

Thanks for the recipe!

Annie

It might be the butter at the end while still hot. Rather than an egg wash or butter during the baking or mid baking. You are adding a liquid, meaning a butter that will melt on contact and not a part of the baking. Your butter is softening the crust, deflating it.

I also suspect it was caused by topping with butter when hot.

I often butter the tops of dinner rolls and loaves when they are hot from the oven, but it's never caused wrinkles like that. Now I'm going to have to pay more attention.

Annie

You did such a lovely job on the evenness of the size of the panned rolls, but I suspect they are over-proofed, as others have shared. Other less likely things can cause the wrinkles, such as cooling them in a draft, and the dough ball wasn't tight when you formed the rolls, or you used a proofing method that had too much humidity and too high a rising temperature (such as in the microwave after you heated water in it).

There is a LOT of milk in the recipe, so make sure you scald and cool your milk before adding it to this recipe. Too much dairy in a recipe can affect the volume, symmetry, cellular structure, and texture of the bread, and a wrinkled or roller-coaster like crust, due to a protein in the whey. You can treat this problem by holding the milk at about 180-190-degrees F. when you scald it.

Rising rule of thumb: The dough ball represents 1/3 of the finished size. You allow the ball to double (or just under) before you place it in the oven - which accounts for 2/3 of the finished size. The oven spring accounts for the last 1/3. If you allow your dough to rise to the size you want the finished roll, then you are over-proofing the dough.

As always, the rising time in the recipe is just a good (or bad) guess. Dough rises according to the strength of the yeast, hydration of the dough, ambient temperature and humidity.

-Grainlady

I suspect its an "over-proofed" issue. Does reducing the recipe to one pkg of yeast make sense?

Finally, other than wrinkled tops these rolls are great. Milk & butter gives them a good flavor, they have a good texture and WOW what great, crunchy toast.

Sam, I think you can get away with a single package of yeast, but rising will take longer and you will change the flavor of the rolls slightly. My girls always liked the slightly sweet, puffy and yeasty tasting rolls. Take away some of that yeast and you won't get the "yeasty" flavor as significantly.

And that's what causes them to proof so quickly, all that yeast. I watch carefully but sometimes it gets a bit out of hand anyway, LOL. Or I'm posting on the Cooking Forum and forget to jump up and check promptly...(grin)

Annie

Thanks for stating the amount of bread/rolls you made. Now I have an idea what to expect.

Over-proofing isn't about the amount of yeast, it's about letting the dough rise a bit too long. As Annie says, however, using that much yeast tends to make the dough rise very quickly which is why, if you're not paying close attention, you might have let it go a bit too long.

I very VERY often proof rolls and bread in a steamy microwave....never have wrinkles....and as I said my rolls are all milk for the liquid, and butter too.
How hot was your oven? How long did you preheat the oven before you put the rolls in? I think they were under baked. The fact that they looked fine until you "went over the tops with a stick of butter" tells me that. the crumb wasn't firm enough to stand the softening and chilling of the top>
I find that when rolls look "perfectly browned" they need a little more time in the oven to cook.

I always use an instant read thermometer to confirm when bread is done.

Thanks marymd7: "Over-proofing isn't about the amount of yeast, it's about letting the dough rise a bit too long"

On this warm day I was rising dough that was almost ready to shape ~5 minutes before I read your (and annie1992's above) post and immediately looked over to see that (oops) the dough was rising above my intended mark. So thanks folks, you helped me catch things almost just right.

Lars, I use an instant read thermometer on loaves, but not on rolls, and I don't know why. I usually cut my rolls with a cutter and place them far enough apart on the pan that they do not bake into one large piece, they are generally independent round rolls, just because I like crust all around. The kids like it when I place them closer together, because then there's very little crust. Too bad for them, LOL.

I agree, abundant yeast does not cause over proofing, too much time rising causes over proofing usually, but a lot of yeast will give you a rise much more quickly and you have to watch carefully to avoid over proofing as the rise may be faster than you expect.

Chas, I'm glad you caught that runaway dough!

Annie