If your making your own burgers, going on a pick nick or like some soft bread rolls with diner, this recipe gives you the perfect bread rolls in under 3 hours. Going to the shops might be quicker, but it’s half the fun.

You can make them in any size, use your own creativity with toppings like sesame or poppy seeds or sprinkle some cheese on top before baking.

Makes: 6 rolls | Preparation: 2 x 10 min | Proving: 1,5 + 1 hours | Baking: 20 minutes

Who connected us?! Compare this recipe with my basic home made bread recipe, and you notice that there are only a few slight adjustments.

Ingredients:

• 500g strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting
• 15g fresh yeast or 10g dried yeast
• 15g honey (or sugar)
• 10g table salt
• 320ml tepid water

Method:

1. Add the honey and yeast to the 320 ml tepid water, stir and leave for a few minutes until the mixture develops some bubbles on top.
2. For the next 2 steps I use a stand mixer with a dough hook.
3. Mixing; Put the flour in your mixing bowl and add the yeast & water mixture to the flour while the mixer is on low speed. Once all is incorporated you add the salt.
4. Kneading; Knead the dough for about 5 minutes to activate the gluten in the dough. The dough should get smooth and soft and will have some elasticity.
5. After this I usually knead the dough for a few more minutes by hand, folding and stretching the dough. Kneading the dough is an important step because it develops the gluten that ensures the bread gets airy light and develops it shape. If any of the dough sticks to your hands, just rub them together with a little extra flour.
   • If you like you can mix and knead the dough by hand. On a large clean surface, make a pile of all the flour and make a well in the centre. Pour half of the dissolved yeast mixture into the centre and with four fingers of one hand make circular movements, from the centre working outwards, slowly bringing in the dry ingredients until all the yeast mixture is soaked up. Pour the rest of the yeast mixture and the 20g salt into the centre and gradually incorporate all the flour to make a dough. (Certain flours may need a little more water, so don’t be afraid to adjust the quantities.)
6. Make the dough into a roundish shape and place it in a bowl that is big enough to let the dough double in size. Cover with a damp towel and leave the bread to prove for the first time. Basically we want it to double in size. You want a warm, draught-free place for the quickest prove, for example near the cooker, in an airing cupboard, in the plate warmer of a cooker or just in a warm room. This proving process matures the flour flavour and should take approximately 40 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes, depending on the conditions.
7. Once it is double the size it’s time to knock it back. Knead and punch the dough, knocking all the air out of it, for about a minute.
8. Divide the dough in 6 equal pieces, or more if you like smaller rolls.
9. Shape each of the dough pieces and put them on a baking tray lined with baking paper and leave to prove a second time in a warm place until the dough is doubled in size. Preheat the oven to 220°C/425°F/gas 7.

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Baking:

Now it’s time to cook your rolls. After all your hard work, don’t spoil your efforts. You want to keep the air inside the rolls, so don’t knock it, put it very gently into the oven and don’t slam the door.

Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, or until they are cooked. If you think they look golden and you think they are cooked, carefully take them out of the tin, not to burn your hands. You can tell if bread is cooked by tapping the bottom, if it sounds hollow it’s cooked, if it doesn’t, pop it back in for a little longer.

Place the bread rolls on a wire rack to cool.

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Notes:

• Say NO to all purpose flour; you could take a short cut and use all purpose flour, but you lose in taste and bread-structure.
• Honey or Sugar; a bit of sugar or honey helps to activate the yeast. For the process both sugar or honey will do the job. I choose honey because it is a natural product.
• Tepid water; we use lukewarm water to activate the yeast. Yeast needs a bit of warmed to do its job.
• Salt; 10 grams of salt looks like a lot, but you definitely need it otherwise the bread taste bland. We put in the salt after the yeast mixture is combined with the flour, otherwise the salt might kill the yeast and your bread will not rise.
• Kneading, the fun part; kneading yeast based bread allows the gluten to develop which makes bread airy and light. Without well-developed gluten, your bread would be flat and densed.
• When the bread is proving, the yeast is feeding on the honey in the warmth of the tepid water. In theory the three things that all bacteria need to grow are heat, moisture and food. Any excess of these three things will kill the yeast (as well as salt, which seasons the bread – it’s not half so nice without it, but it does slow down the proving to some extent).

Try some Ciabatta or Focaccia next!

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