It isn't as easy as one might suppose. When this is done
commercially, they are baked about 75 to 80% of the usual time. So,
if they normally take 12 minutes, they would be baked around 9 minutes.
However, commercial enterprises have blast freezers that can freeze
the rolls in a very, very short period of time. Quick freezing helps
minimize texture and taste chances. And, you don't have a blast
freezer. The best you could do to emulate this would be to turn your
freezer to a lower temperature than usual. Ideally, around
-40. (Either F or C. They are the same. Work out the conversion
for yourself.) I'd be torn between pre-freezing a baking sheet and
using its thermal mass to help freeze the rolls more quickly or
having an empty rack in the freezer so the rolls would be surrounded
by cold air.
In any case, I would put the rolls in the freezer directly from the
oven. You want to trap as much of the roll's moisture in the roll as
possible. Otherwise, when you reheat the roll it will really dry out.
Once frozen, I'd bag the rolls, and then allow the freezer to return
to its usual temperature.
When you need them, finish baking them. I'd bake them at the usual
temperature and play with how long to bake them before serving them.
All in all, its a lot of trouble to go to in order to serve a roll
that still won't be quite as good as a fresh roll.
If you try it, I hope you'll share your experiences with the group.
-Mike
*Bake With Mike <http://www.bakewithmike.com>*
Mike Avery
Email to:mavery at mail dot otherwhen dot com
A Randomly Selected Bread Saying Of The Day:
Make do with bread and butter till God brings the jam.
- Berber Saying