SOFT BREAD ROLLS

Let's talk about baking for a minute (and I don't mean baking cakes or cupcakes or anything like that). I mean serious baking, using yeast and strong flour and kneading and basically making bread.
Yep... it petrifies me... I have absolutely no clue how long to knead or leave stuff to rise and often end up with dry hard breads. 

Maybe I am a little intimidated by the fact that my mum bakes the most amazing breads ever. Literally high class bakery stuff. But she is pretty strong and she can knead that dough for hours if must be. I on the other hand, more often than not, get tired after five minutes and give up. 

But, because I like a challenge and because I now have a kitchen machine who can do all the nasty kneading work for me I have decided to give this whole thing another go and make soft bread rolls for my beloved bacon butties and beef burgers. Oh boy was I successful this time... these bread rolls were fluffy, floury, light...perfect. They take a little time to prep but you can easily make loads and just freeze them. Seriously they make supermarket bought buns looks soooo sad.

So here it goes. :)

MAKES 12 rolls

PREPARATION 2-3hrs

COOKS 20mins  

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INGREDIENTS

• 600g strong bread flour
• 120ml hot water
• 300ml cold semi-skimmed milk
  (you want the water and milk to be warm once combined. Approximately 37˚C)
• 1½ tsp salt
• 4tbsp vegetable or rapeseed oil
• 1 sachet fast action dried yeast (7g)

PREPARATION METHOD

1. Put the flour in the bowl, add the salt and mix with a spoon, then add the yeast and mix again. Pour in the oil and water/milk mix and combine with the spoon until the ingredients are mixed together roughly. (The only reason why it's better to combine everything with a spoon first is that it prevents the flour going everywhere when using a mixer)
2. Mix with the food mixer on a low setting using the dough hook for 5 minutes. Then give your dough a rest for a few minutes and mix for a further 5 minutes. Scrape it out of the bowl and bring together into a ball on a floured board. Make sure you don't add too much flour.
3. Add about 1tsp of oil into the now empty mixer bowl, put the dough back and rub with the oil. Cover the bowl with a tea towel or plastic bag, put it in a warm place and forget about it for 1 hour or so. Rising your dough can take more or less time, depending on the temperature of your room. An hour is a general guideline. You want your dough to double in size.
   TIP: If you don't have a mixer you can, of course, make this all by hand. To start off with, your dough will be a sticky mess, but it is important you persevere and continue scraping and kneading for a good 10 minutes (and no less) until your dough has turned into a nice silky texture.
4. After your mixture has risen to double, take it out of the bowl and knead on a floured surface for approximately 30 seconds. Roll the dough into a long sausage shape and divide into 12 equal sized portions, using a scraper or knife. Flatten and shape the rolls to approximately 12mm diameter and 10mm thickness. 
5. Place your rolls on a lightly floured baking tray and dust with a small amount of flour. Set aside and leave to rise to double. This will take between 30mins - 1 hour.
6. Pre-heat your oven to 180˚C. Once risen bake the rolls in the hot oven for 20 minutes until light golden and hollow sounding.
7. Leave to cool and enjoy with crispy bacon or a lovely burger patty and pop any remaining rolls into a freezer bag and freeze for whenever needed.

I know it's a fairly lengthy process but soooo worth it.

Love,

This lovely recipe was taken from Local Food Heroes and adapted by Etta.