This formula called for a pre-ferment to be made the day before and stored in the refrigerator. The day of baking looked like it would be a long one. I needed to let the pre-ferment sit at room temperature for an hour, mix and knead the dough, allow the dough two hours to rise to double its size, punch it down, let it rise again, shape the rolls, let them proof for 90 minutes, and finally bake. According to the formula, the whole process should have taken about 8 hours. However, room temperature in my house in the summer is 79F, so bread rises much faster in my kitchen than in most. A slower rise aids in flavor development, so there's a possibility I may be sacrificing flavor, but on this particular day it sure was convenient.
I really liked shaping these rolls. They aren't technically shaped like kaiser rolls; there is a tool called a kaiser cutter for those who wish to do it properly, but I don't have one. PR demonstrates a shaping method in which you roll the dough into a snake, tie it in a knot, and loop the ends through the knot again. I thought it was fun to do, and the rolls look enough like kaiser rolls for me.
We really enjoyed eating these. They had a hard crust and soft interior, and they were quite flavorful. We found that we liked them even better on the second day, which is something I've never been able to say before about a bread I've made.
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