These caramelized onion and gruyere rolls have the same flavor as French Onion Soup, but are served in an easier to eat bread roll!
I went to bed craving French Onion Soup. Naturally, that’s what I ended up dreaming up.
The following morning, I was intent on creating a recipe that combined my two favorites: bread and soup!
CARAMELIZED ONION AND GRUYERE BREAD ROLLS
These caramelized onion and gruyere rolls have the same flavor as French Onion Soup, but are served in an easier to eat bread roll.
While these bake in the oven, your kitchen fills with the familiar sweet and savory aroma of French Onion Soup.
You get that same stringy gruyere cheese as you eat the warm rolls. However, unlike the soup, no utensils are needed here. It’s a grab and go snack!
I was out of sandwich bread yesterday, so I split one of the rolls in half. I filled it with some on ham and placed it on the panini press. Needless to say, I had an amazing sandwich.
Lesson of these rolls: don’t be restricted or bound by tradition. Use your imagination and have fun in the kitchen!
Caramelizing onions takes time
Caramelizing onions is a lengthy process, but very necessary to get that nice sweet flavor.
I used four large onions for this recipe. The sliced onions filled my 7-quart pot. It’s best to heat the onions over medium (or medium-low) heat.
Caramelizing takes time and shouldn’t be rushed. Otherwise, you’ll likely end up with burnt onions. Stir the onions every 8 minutes or so to make sure it doesn’t burn at the sides or bottom of the pan.
Remember, be patient as it can take anywhere from 30 minutes to 1 hour to cook the onions. But as you can see from the photo above, the onions dramatically reduce in size.
I seasoned the onions with dried thyme once the onions have decreased in volume.
DO NOT ADD THE SALT until the onions are completely done.
Adding the salt during the cooking process will cause the onions to sweat more liquid than desired. You’ll end up with a large pool of liquid at the bottom of the pan that will slow down the cooking process. Instead, season the onions with salt once they’re done and caramelized.
How to Assemble Onion and Gruyere Rolls:
- On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to a 12×16-inch rectangle. Have your fillings ready.
- Spread 2 tablespoons room temperature butter all over the dough. Spread cooled onion filling evenly over dough, leaving a 1/2-inch border around around all the sides. Sprinkle 1 1/2 cups shredded gruyere over the onion filling.
- With the long end facing you, begin rolling up dough.
- Continue to roll dough into a tight log.
- Once dough is rolled, arrange it so that the seam is at the bottom.
- Use a sharp knife to slice the log into 12 equal portions.
- Place slices in a butter greased parchment paper lined 9×13-inch baking sheet with sheet pan extenders.
- Sprinkle remaining 1/2 cup cheese over slices. Cover with plastic wrap and let the rolls rise until they reach the top of the pan.
Caramelized Onion and Gruyere Bread Rolls
Yield: 1 dozen bread rolls
Ingredients
Dough:
- 2 1/4 teaspoon dry active yeast
- 3 Tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 cup whole milk, warmed to 105-110 degrees F
- 1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
- 3 large eggs, room temp, lightly beaten
- 5 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
Caramelized Onion Filling:
- 4 large onions, sliced
- 2 Tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Additional Filling:
- 2 cup gruyere, shredded
- 2 Tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
Instructions
Dough and Assembly:
- Sprinkle yeast over warm milk. Add 2 tsp of granulated sugar and stir to combine. Let sit for 5-10 minutes to allow mixture to bubble and expand.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a hook attachment, combine dissolved yeast, remaining 2 Tbsp + 1 tsp sugar, melted butter, and whisked eggs. Mix with a whisk to combine.
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, salt, black pepper, and thyme. With the mixer on low speed, add flour mixture one cup at a time. Once all the flour has been added, increase mixer speed to medium and knead until dough is smooth and cleans the sides of the bowl. If dough is too sticky, add flour one tablespoon at a time.
- Transfer dough to a lightly greased large bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 60-90 minutes until dough has doubled in size. While dough is resting, caramelize onions.
- Remove plastic wrap. Punch dough down. Transfer to a lightly floured surface. Roll dough into a 12 x 16 inch rectangle. Spread 2 tablespoons room temperature butter evenly over dough. Spread cooled onion filling evenly over dough, leaving a 1/2-inch border around all the sides. Sprinkle 1 1/2 cups shredded gruyere over onion filling.
- Roll dough into a tight log, starting at the long side. Once dough is rolled, arrange it so that the seam is at the bottom. Slice the log into 12 equal portions. Place slices in a butter greased, parchment lined 9x13-inch baking sheet with sheet pan extenders. Sprinkle remaining 1/2 cup of cheese over slices.
- Cover with plastic wrap and let the rolls rise for 45- 60 minutes until rolls reach the top of the pan.**
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Remove plastic wrap and bake rolls for 30-35 minutes until the cheese is golden and the internal temperature of the bread rolls hit 185 degrees F.
- Let rolls sit in pan for 5-10 minutes before running a knife or mini offset spatula around the edges to loosen from the pan. Serve warm.
Caramelized Onion Filling:
- In a large pot, add 2 tablespoons butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil. Set over medium heat. Once butter has melted, add all the sliced onions. Stir to coat onions in butter-oil mixture.
- Check on the onions every 5-8 minutes to stir the onions. Make sure none of the onions end up burning at the bottom of the pot. Once the onions have reduced by 1/3, add thyme. Stir to combine.
- As you cook the onions, they will expel lots of liquids. Continue to cook until all the liquid is gone and the onions are very soft. Eventually after about an hour, the onions will start to caramelize and brown. During the entire cooking process, keep an eye on the onions and stir every 8 minutes or so. Once onions have been cooked down, remove form heat. Add salt to taste (I added 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt.) Cool onions until ready to fill bread rolls.
Notes
This looks sooooo good Maryanne! I love ‘fusion’ recipes, this one is perfect, can’t wait to try it :-D
Thanks Ellen! It’s sooo yummy and it makes the kitchen smell so good!
These look Heavenly. I can’t wait to try your recipe with my cherished Vidalia onions. Thanks so much for sharing. –Rocquie
Thanks Rocquie! Happy baking! :)
YUM!! Why have I never had these before? This looks amazing! I am going to try a gluten free version this weekend!
Hi Annie! Which brand of gluten-free flour do you like using? I’ve been meaning to start testing some gluten-free recipes…
oh wow these sound amazing!
Thanks! I sure enjoyed them :)
gruyere and caramelized onion? now, that’s a roll I can get behind!
Yay! :)
Oh my LORD! I am in need of these rolls, so original and so delicious-looking!
If we were neighbors, I’d happily bring them over! They’re so yummy and meant to be shared!
Well this just jumped to the top of my list of things to do. Did you know Julie & Julia was also a book? It’s a fairly entertaining read for the summer. If I recall there is an intro to the book where a reporter asked Julia if she knew about Julie’s blog (in 2004 so right before she died I think) and she sort of just shrugged and said, “So?” I found that somewhat hilarious.
Oh yeah, it was mentioned in the movie. There was one scene when a reporter tells Julie that Julia didn’t approve of her blog. I’ll have to add the book to my summer reading list! :)
Can you make this luscious dough in a bread maker? If so, do you have steps for that? Thank you in advance!
Hi Susan, sorry I’ve never used a bread maker. I’m not sure how to adapt the steps for the bread maker.
I made these last weekend and they were amazing! Thank you for sharing this recipe.
That’s awesome to hear! Thank you for trying out the recipe :)
Hi, can we substitute the gruyere with other cheese?
Yes you can. I chose to use gruyere because I wanted it to taste like French Onion Soup.
This look scrumptious! I absolutely love the idea of having a french onion soup taste in a roll form — I would love to try them out, particularly to serve with some yummy tomato soup!
Just wondering, I know you use a quarter size sheet pan here, but would it be okay to use a 9×13 Pyrex type pan or similar casserole/lasagna pan, one that has higher sides (probably 2″)?
Hi Janey! Yes, you can definitely use a 9×13 Pyrex/casserole pan. You might have to add a couple minutes to the baking time if you are using glass because it heats up slower.
Bookmarked this recipe :)