Kaiser rolls

Weigh or measure out all of the Kaiser dough ingredients into a large bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer. 

If using a stand mixer, mix on medium speed for 8 minutes. If you are kneading by hand, you will want to knead for at least 10 minutes until you have a smooth, soft dough. 

Form the dough into a ball shape and place in a lightly oiled bowl to rise for at least one hour and up to one and a half hours. 

After an hour or so, your dough should have doubled in size. At this point you can either divide your dough into six equal pieces or you can measure out the sizes that you want for your rolls. I personally like to measure and I shoot for somewhere between 85 and 100 grams per roll. 90 or 95 grams is probably around the sweet spot for me, but feel free to try different sizes. 

If you have a Kaiser roll stamp:
Once you have your dough portioned into 6 or more dough portions, on a lightly floured surface roll all of your dough portions into balls. At this point I like to cut out a small 5 x 5 inch piece of parchment paper for each dough ball that I have. You should roll each ball as tight as you can to make sure the top is smooth. Using your Kaiser roll stamp: lightly dust it with flour and then press down directly in the middle of your dough ball. Do not press all the way through the dough, but get pretty close to the other side. Then carefully flip the dough ball upside down onto one of your 5x5 pieces of parchment. You want to let each roll rise upside down so that it keeps the shape of the stamp. Repeat until all dough balls are stamped and placed on a small sheet of parchment. Carefully place each piece of dough and parchment onto a sheet pan.

If you do not have a Kaiser roll stamp: 
Roll each of your dough portions into a snake like log. You will want each log to be 10 to 12 inches long. After you have a log of dough, you will want to make a loop and circle the dough back in through the loop twice and then tuck in the ends. This is a lot easier to watch than to explain in text. I suggest this Kaiser roll shaping video for an easy, quick example. 

Cover the sheet pan with another sheet pan or plastic wrap and let the rolls rise for another hour. 

Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees F. 

While the oven is pre-heating, if you used the Kaiser roll stamp, you will need to very, very carefully flip your risen rolls back over so that the Kaiser stamps are on the top. This is why I suggested using 5x5 cut squares of parchment. The parchment should help you flip without deflating each roll. 

If you want poppy seed or sesame seed topped Kaiser rolls, pour 1 to 2 tablespoons of milk in a small bowl. With a pastry brush, very lightly brush each roll with milk. If you are planning to use poppy seeds or sesame seeds on your rolls, sprinkle those on after the roll is painted with milk. 

Bake for 15 to 17 minutes. I like to rotate my sheet pan 180 degrees from front to back about half way through the baking process to ensure even baking and color on the rolls. 

Allow to cool fully before slicing and sandwiching.