Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Bread Rolls

Like with the bread, making bread rolls is very easy. They take less time to make, and come in natural portions. You can for instance freeze them, and thaw 1-2 for breakfast every day for the entire week. Or if you're getting company, they come in handy as a side dish to dinner.


Read on for recipe and pictures!
The recipe for bread rolls are very similar to the bread. Actually, if we really wanted to, we could just make bread rolls out of the bread recipe. But I make some changes to separate it completely: First of all, I use margarine instead of olive oil. This gives a slightly crisper bread. If I were to make hamburger bread, I would probably use oil. I also use exclusively wheat flour, no other flour and no bran. As you can imagine, these bread rolls have more in common with white loaf than the bread I showed a few weeks back.
Finally, it's worth mentioning that the dough is even more sticky than my bread dough.


If I were to write down the recipe, it would look like this:
- 500 ml water (heated up to body temp)
- A tiny bit of salt
- A large spoon of margarine (or olive oil if you want softer bread)
- Yeast
- Wheat flour (add until the dough is compact, but still sticky)

This recipe should be enough to fill two pans of bread rolls.


Now, let the dough sit some place warm to make it rise. When the dough has doubled (or more) in size, you can roll out the pieces. The leavening process is very important for both taste and texture, and should be repeated after you have rolled out the pieces.
This takes some practice, specially if the dough is properly sticky. Use additional flour if you need to. I usually split the dough in two pieces - one of each pan. Then each of those in four, then each of those in three.
Optional: Rub some water on each piece, add seeds. I used sesame and linseeds, as you can see.


Let the pieces rise even more. I let them rise in the oven, with only the oven light on. After around 30 minutes, I turn the heat on to 200 degrees Celsius (~400 in American temperature).
Expect the bread rolls to be finished in 15-20 minutes, but it may take shorter, and it may also very well be longer. The reason I'm unclear on this is because I always use hot air and bake both the pans at the same time.


Enjoy your bread rolls!

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