First Recipe: Bread Rolls

So as some of you may know, I've applied for the Great British Bake Off for the last few years and have applied again this year. As preparation, I've been trying to get my skills up on a few things that I don't bake often, namely bread and pastry.

Now previously, I've tried making bread in a bread maker at my mum and dad's. And for the most part it came out so dense and chewy it was barely edible. So I decided that I'd go back to basics and make it by hand. After a few goes I'd gone as far as I could with the basic flour and water white loaf. Here's the recipe for the bread rolls I made for the Thanksgiving dinner (see last post).

BREAD ROLLS 

500g strong bread flour
30g butter, in small cubes
1 sachet dried yeast
150ml milk
150ml hand hot water
2 tsp salt
3 tsp sugar
1 egg

Warm the flour in the microwave for 1 minute on high. This will encourage the gluten to stretch further.

Make a well in the centre and pour in the yeast.

Mix together the milk, water,sugar, salt and butter and microwave for 30-40 seconds until the butter has melted. Stir together with a spoon. The mixture should still be "hand hot", any hotter and it can kill the yeast. If it's too hot, let it cool for a few minutes.

Pour the milk mixture over the flour and yeast and mix together with a wooden spoon. It will seem very liquid at first but will come together to form a ball.

Take the dough out and knead it on a warm surface (I use a large wooden chopping board). This should take somewhere between 5-10 minutes. You'll know when it's done as the dough will take on a shiny, blistered appearance.

Put the dough back in the bowl and cover with cling film, place in the fridge. Usually doughs are proven at room temperature or above which makes the yeast work very quickly. Proving at the much lower fridge temperature slows the yeast down and keeps the bubbles very small and develops the flavour. The dough needs a minimum of 8 hours at this temperature to rise to double the size. It works quite well as a last minute before bed or first thing before heading out to work thing.

Once the dough has risen, take it out of the fridge and knock it back down so that the air is squeezed out. Don't overknead it, it will be more than elastic. Shape it into rolls (it will make 8 regular sized round rolls) and using a sharp knife, cut a slit across the top of the dough. Brush with the egg and leave to rise again for another hour at room temperature.

When they've risen again, bake them in a preheated oven at 230C for 30 mins. You may need to cover the rolls with foil after 15 mins to prevent them getting too dark on the top.