These were my contributions to the slider party.
1 pack chicken breasts
1 box Japanese style Panko bread crumbs
4 Tablespoons flour
milk
baking soda
salt
pepper
oil
1 pack Hawaiian Sweet King rolls
Hamburger style dill pickles
A handful of stolen Polynesian Sauce packets from Chick-fil-A
With the chicken breasts, I cut each into 4 chunks; however, this made for very large sliders. I would recommend slicing some of the thicker cuts in half horizontally to make them more manageable. I then salted the chicken and made the dredge and breading
For the dredge, I mixed about 4 Tablespoons of flour with about a Tablespoon of baking soda in a bowl. I then added milk while stirring briskly until it was the right consistency. Just enough to coat a dipped finger.
I poured the box of panko into a bowl and added some more salt and a good dose of black pepper.
I dipped the chicken in the dredge, then sat them in panko. In order to get as much breading on as possible, I let them set covered in panko for about a minute before pulling them out of the second bowl.
I only had vegetable oil on hand to cook with, but peanut oil is always best for frying. I used a smallish put with about 3 inches of oil heated until it was about 350 F. This is a hard number to hit when you don't have a thermometer or stand alone deep fryer. The first few pieces I tossed in got too brown on the outside while the inside was still raw. Once I got the temp right, it took about 3 minutes to cook the chicken all the way through and at 350 F, the panko was just able to get nice and golden.
To keep the chicken crispy, it is important to not but them in an air tight container. Just set them on some paper towel to let the oil drain off and as they cool they will stay crispy.
I split the Hawaiian King rolls in half, placed a single dill pickle slice on each, set down the chicken, and drizzled on some Polynesian sauce. I found that each packet would cover about 2 1/2 sliders.
Check these out.
Dough:
1 package (2 1/2 teaspoon) active dry yeast or 2 teaspoons instant yeast
3/4 cup water
3 1/2 cup all-purpose unbleached flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 Tablespoons powdered milk
4 tablespoons sugar
3 eggs
6 tablespoons butter, softened
Filling:
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup raisins
Glaze:
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract
1. Mix all the dry ingredients except for the yeast.
2. Add the yeast, water, and eggs and mix until combined.
3. Mix or knead in the softened butter, until it forms a smooth, satiny dough. It will be sticky.
4. Place it in a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise until double in volume. This will be roughly 1 to 1.5 hours.
5. Once it's doubled, punch the dough down, cover it back up, and stick it in the fridge overnight.
6. The next day divide the dough into two halves. Working quickly while it's still cold, roll each half out into a roughly 8" x 10" rectangle. Brush this with an egg wash made from whisking together one whole egg and 1 tablespoon of milk, then spread the filling out over it.
7. Roll the sheet up into a log, then slice into 8 discs. Place each disc on a greased baking sheet and press it flat with your hand, like this:
8. Repeat with the other half of the dough, then brush them all with more of the egg wash. Leave them to rise for 45 minutes to an hour, or until they're "puffy".
9. Preheat the oven to 385ยบ.
10. Bake the rolls for 15-17 minutes, until golden brown. Immediately brush with the glaze once when they come out of the oven.
Once they cool the final product should look something like this:
11. Eat them, which looks something like this:
