The Sweet Roll From High School

These rolls reminded me of a sweet roll I made back in high school — soft, a little sweet, brushed with butter. I didn't think I'd get that roll back without the salt. Then I made them — and there it was. Some recipes you just don't make anymore. But this one came home.

The original version runs about 200mg of sodium a roll. Mine run about 18mg — and nobody at the table would ever guess.

Three quiet swaps do the work. The salt becomes potassium chloride, just a teaspoon and optional — bread is one place it earns its keep, because it helps keep the yeast in line. The butter is unsalted. And the honey becomes date syrup, one for one — it feeds the yeast just fine, gives the tops a deeper golden color, and it makes the rolls shareable at my table, where honey isn't safe for everybody. (If the tops brown fast, tent them loosely with foil near the end.)

I make the dough in the bread machine — liquids first, yeast last, dough cycle — because it kneads better than my hands want to. A batch makes 12 rolls. Freeze the extras, if there are extras.

And the dough isn't only rolls. One night I shaped the batch a little longer, into mini subs, and they were perfect for French dips — a sandwich roll of my own at about 18mg, when a store-bought hoagie roll runs 390mg or more before anything goes in it. One dough, two dinners.

One honest note: potassium chloride isn't for everybody. If you restrict potassium, check with your doctor first. We're cooks, not doctors!

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