Bread is so easily available everywhere – so many bakeries even inside grocery shops that have freshly baked bread and so one may think why go to this trouble of baking breads since it seems so incredibly complicated anyways? I agree that some of the bread recipes do seem complicated plus they require a lot of advance planning etc. But then there are some pluses to baking your own bread too (even if it is only occasionally!) Well for one, nothing like getting your fresh bread for dinner right out of your own oven!. Few culinary experiences would match the experience of holding and tasting freshly baked bread right out of the oven! And believe me , its not that complicated either! Its just getting the consistency of the dough right and for that you have to sometimes end up adding a little more flour than the recipe may actually state. Here I am sharing a bread rolls recipe that is pretty easy to follow and best thing is it does not need a lot of preparation time in advance. You also do not need complicated gadgets for this recipe. I just used my hand mixer.
This recipe makes about 15 bread rolls Ingredients: Warm water-3/4 cup Dried Yeast 1 sachet (about 7 grams) Sugar 2 tbsp Melted butter- 5 tbsp Egg-1 Milk- ¾ cup All purpose flour 3 cups Whole wheat flour between 3/4 and 1 cup Salt- 1 tsp olive oil about 1 tsp Milk 2 tbsp(for brushing) Sesame seeds 1 tbsp
Method:
Pre-heat oven to 375 deg F.
Take the warm water in a medium size bowl (one in which you will mix the dough) and add sugar and the yeast. Cover and keep for about 10-15 minutes till the yeast rises. Add the melted butter and the milk to the bowl with the yeast. Whisk the egg in a small bowl and add this to the mixture in the bowl as well. Mix well. (You can use a hand mixer or a stand mixer to do the mixing)
Now slowly add all the flour the salt to this and with a spatula or hands, mix everything to get a loose and sticky dough. Now slowly add the whole wheat flour little bit at a time and start kneading the dough with your hands till the dough is no longer sticky. You can add little bit of oil (about 1 tsp) at this point to make the dough workable. This will take around 10-12 mins. Now cover the dough with a wet cloth and cover the bowl also with a lid and leave this in a warm place for about 1 hour. The dough should be double in volume by then.
Now take the dough out onto the counter or a wooden cutting board and cut it into small pieces (about 12-15) using a knife. Make balls out of each of the portions and place them on a baking tray lined with Al foil. Keep them covered for about half an hour till they rise a little bit.
After 30 minutes, Uncover the balls and brush them with milk and sprinkle sesame seeds on top and bake them in the pre-heated oven at 375 deg F for about 15-20 mins till they turn golden brown on the outside.
Notes:
The most important part is to get the consistency right. I find it just better to use my hands for the final kneading because then you can really feel the stickiness and so easier to decide how much more flour is needed.
These bread rolls will stay nicely for up to 2-3 days but better to store them in the refrigerator and warm them before serving.
