Bread Rolls

My oven and I just became best of friends so I have been experimenting a lot these days. I decided to try out bread rolls and I must confess…there’s nothing like fresh bread. When I saw the result after 3hrs of bread making…I had to give myself a pat on the shoulder. Yea! I praised myself very well. Now I know what's in the bread i'm eating and its fresh...nothing can beat that.

Ingredients:

·         1 ½ teaspoon of rapid dry yeast
·         1/3 cup of granulated sugar
·         1 teaspoon salt
·         4 cups of all purpose flour
·         1 cup of slightly warm milk
·         1/3 cup of softened unsalted butter
·         3 egg yolks
·         3 tablespoon of melted butter
·         Egg wash (1 egg and 2 tablespoons milk whisked )

Method:

• Warm up the milk and butter over low heat till the butter melts completely. Set aside to cool till its warm then sprinkle yeast on top and let it sit for 5mins to activate the yeast. If the milk is too hot...the yeast will not work...so it should be WARM.

melted milk and butter

sprinkled yeast on the milk and butter

Active yeast

• In a bowl, add flour, sugar, egg yolks, salt and slowly add the milk mixture and mix with your hand for a few minutes, then transfer to a work surface and knead the dough...This should take about 15mins. Yes! Your kitchen is a gym too. Make sure you keep sprinkling flour on the surface so the dough doesn't stick to the work surface. When the dough doesn't stick to your fingers again..then you know the dough is ready...my dough wasn't so smooth but it still came out fine. If you have a stand mixer, just let it mix with a dough hook till the dough doesn't stick to the bowl.
• Then roll the dough into a ball and place it into an oiled bowl and and brush oil all over the dough so it doesn't get dry. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth or foil paper or clean film or even a nylon bag and store in a warm place for an hour or till it has risen to about twice its size.

Risen dough

• After one hour, bring out the dough and deflate it and cut it into about 8 pieces and roll each one into your greased pan ( try to be fast so as not to dry out the dough), cover with a cloth and let it rise again for another hour. The second time it will rise and take the shape of the pan. If you would like to have separate bread rolls...make sure you use a wide pan and leave enough space between each roll. 

deflated dough

 

Risen Dough

 

• Preheat oven for about 15mins before you bake the bread. Apply a layer of egg wash on the risen dough before putting it in the oven to bake for about 20 - 25 mins or until golden brown. 

• As soon as the bread is out of the oven, brush with melted butter.