Soft, Fluffy Gluten-Free Lemon Rolls
yields: 9 Lemon Rolls
These gluten-free lemon rolls are packed with zesty lemon flavor. They're tender and fluffy with a generous slather of lemon cream cheese icing on top! With only one rise, you can easily make them the night before and pop them in the oven when you wake for a warm brunch treat.
Ingredients
Gluten-Free Lemon Rolls
- 1 cup (240 g) warm whole milk, between 105-115°F
- 1½ tablespoons active dry yeast
- ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons (75 g) granulated sugar,, divided
- ¾ cup + 2 tablespoons (140 g) Bob's Red Mill brown rice flour
- 1 cup (112 g) Bob’s Red Mill tapioca flour
- ½ cup + 2 tablespoons (80 g) Bob's Red Mill sorghum flour
- ½ cup (78 g) Bob's Red Mill potato starch
- ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons (60 g) sweet rice flour, also called mochiko; do not substitute white or brown rice flour
- 1½ teaspoons xanthan gum
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 egg white, room temperature
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
Lemon Filling
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons (75 g) granulated sugar
- ¼ cup (50 g) light brown sugar
- 1½ tablespoon lemon zest, from 1-2 lemons
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Lemon Cream Cheese Icing
- 1 batch 5-Minute Lemon Icing
INSTRUCTIONS
- Line a 9x9 baking pan with parchment paper. Prepare the filling mixture by mixing together the softened butter, sugars, lemon juice, lemon zest, and vanilla. Set aside
- Activate the yeast. Combine the warmed milk with 2 tablespoons of the sugar. Slowly sprinkle the yeast over the warm milk and use a spoon to mix completely. Let set aside for 10 minutes while the yeast activates and foams. If your yeast hasn't foamed up after 10 minutes, you may have bad yeast and you should try again with a fresh packet.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whisk together the remaining ¼ cup sugar, brown rice flour, tapioca starch, sorghum flour, potato starch, sweet rice flour, xanthan gum, salt, baking powder, and cream of tartar.
- When the milk has foamed, add it to the stand mixer along with eggs, egg white, and lemon juice. Begin to mix, then add in the softened butter and mix the dough until completely incorporated, scraping down the sides as needed. Change to the dough hook and knead the dough on low for 1 minute. Let it rest for 1 minute. Knead again for 1 minute. Repeat. (This resting method keeps the dough from getting too warm and thus too sticky to work with). The dough will be very sticky (more so than gluten yeast dough), but if you pinch a tablespoon of dough off and set it on the surface, it should hold its shape. If it doesn't, add 2-4 more tablespoons of tapioca starch until it's a little less soft and holds its shape.
- Sprinkle your surface very well with tapioca starch. Using tapioca starch-covered hands or a spatula, scrape the dough out onto the surface and sprinkle it well with tapioca starch on top too. Use a rolling pin to roll your dough out to an 11x16 rectangle, dusting with more tapioca starch as needed.
- Spread the filling out over the dough with a silicone or offset spatula.
- Starting with the long edge, tightly roll up the dough into a spiral. Use a bench scraper to help roll it to make sure it doesn't stick to the surface. If you need to add more tapioca starch on the spiral as you roll, that's fine! It will just make your filling a little gooier, which, in my opinion, is good.
- Tap in the edges so they're flat or cut the edges off and use a ruler to divide your log into 9 equal pieces (about 1.75 inches long). Cut into spirals using one of two methods: 1. Use uncoated dental floss or 2. A serrated knife with very gentle back-and-forth movements and no downward pressure. Place your cut rolls face up in the prepared pan.
- Cover the pan with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm draft-free place for 1 hour until it has doubled in size and the lemons rolls are kissing each other. I let mine rise in the "proof" setting of my oven. If making ahead, you can also put them in the fridge to rise overnight instead of the 1 hour rise.
- If you chilled your lemon rolls overnight, remove them from the fridge the next morning and allow them to sit on the counter for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Bake the rolls for 30-35 minutes, until they're golden brown and the bottom third of the rolls reads at least 195°F.
- While the rolls bake, prepare the glossy 5-minute lemon icing according to these instructions. For these lemon rolls, make the icing halfway between thick frosting and drizzle-able icing.
- When the rolls come out of the oven, cover them in icing and serve warm! Lemon rolls are best served warm fresh out of the oven and will become a bit more dense the longer you wait. If you don't eat them right away, you can reheat in the oven at 375°F for 5-10 minutes or microwave for 30-45 seconds.
Notes
Flour substitutions for gluten-free lemon rolls
- Brown Rice Flour: To substitute the brown rice flour, I recommend using either millet flour or white rice flour by weight.
- Sorghum Flour: To substitute the sorghum flour, I recommend gluten-free oat flour by weight.
- Tapioca Flour: I do not recommend substituting the tapioca flour in this recipe as it's essential to keeping the rolls light and chewy.
- Potato Starch: If you can't find or don't have potato starch, you can substitute in additional tapioca flour by weight, but your results will be a bit less tender and flavorful.
- Sweet Rice Flour: I do not recommend substituting the sweet rice flour in this recipe. While I haven't tested it, you could *try* subbing the sweet rice flour for additional tapioca flour, but your results will vary and I can't promise it will turn out as delicious!
