Trader Joe's Half-Baked Idea French Rolls

Generally speaking, half-baked ideas are no good. If you're going to do something, commit! Go big or go home! But if you're a lover of good food, too lazy to feed a starter yeast and bake your own bread, and a TJ's aficionado - half-baked is good news y'all. 

Buzz words: French, hand crafted, artisan -- OOOOOOOO. They're dinner rolls pretending to be fancy. Which is fine because pretending to be fancy can be fun. 

I was craving some crusty bread to sop up some homemade soup. Too lazy to drive to an artisanal bakery and I just wasn't feeling the baguettes or ciabattas that had been sitting out all day. I rested them on a wire rack for even air circulation per package instructions. 10-12 minutes later in a 425F oven and you've got yourself bread begging to be buttered and dipped. 

You could just heat up a regular old baguette or whatever until it was warmed and crusty and you'd get a similar result (for marginally less - $1-2 for an entire baguette vs. $2.29 for 6 rolls), because I'm fairly certain that these dinner rolls come fully cooked. But then I'd probably eat the entire baguette with soup, with brie and jam, or whatever. Pre-portioned stuff helps with self-control and makes finishing the bread while it's still good much easier. They are very simple rolls but definitely better than your average dinner rolls. They don't have any flavor of their own, but I'm sure you could get creative. Brush with olive oil, sprinkle with some herbs, maybe garlic and sea salt before baking, and you've got a bread that makes Olive Garden run for her money. 

TL;DR: Trader Joe's Half-Baked Idea French Rolls. Par-baked bread to finish at home. For lazy people that can't be bothered to slice their own bread. :D 7 out of 10.