This Artisan Bread Rolls Recipe was originally described to me as ‘French Bread Rolls’, However, having tried the recipe this week in our 4th week of lockdown, I can confirm that they are delicious, but not really like French bread. My husband said that the smell and texture reminded him of old-school ‘Scotch Rolls’ or Scottish Morning Rolls.
Baked in an incredibly useful adjustable baking tin. I wouldn’t be without it. It would definitely go on my list of things to save from the house in a fire, along with my children. And maybe my husband!
Ingredients
- 375ml warm water
- 10g active dry yeast
- 2 tbsp granulated sugar or honey
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil, canola oil, or other neutral-flavoured oil
- 1 tsp salt
- 550-600g bread flour (best you can find)
Method
In an ideal world you can use a stand mixer with the dough hook for this artisan bread rolls recipe. Or give your arms a workout and mix and knead by hand… I was lucky to be gifted a stand mixer for a ‘big’ birthday a couple of years ago!
- In the mixer bowl let the yeast prove in the warm water and sugar for around 3-5 minutes. It should be foamy, after which you can add the oil, salt and flour (adding it gradually on a low speed so flour doesn’t fly out of the machine!).
- Continue mixing, increasing the speed slightly to medium, adding the enough of the rest of the flour until the dough has come away from the bowl. The mixer should continue kneading the bread dough for about another 5 minutes.
- If you want to get these bread rolls off to a strong start you’re looking for a soft and smooth dough. It should be slightly tacky to the touch – just enough wetness to stick to your fingers.
- After a few minutes’ kneading, stop the mixer and test a small piece of dough. Does it need more flour? If you can roll it into a small ball without it sticking all over your hands you’re off and running. If it is gloopy and sticks to your fingers, add some more flour. Repeat.
- Take a large bowl or container, and lightly grease with cooking spray. Place the dough in the container and cover with a large tea towel (classic, old-school choice) or lightly-greased plastic wrap/cling. You want to then adopt the Bake-Off pose and wait for it to rise; you want it to double in size. Depending on how warm your kitchen is, on average it should take about an hour or so. Don’t open the wrap or take the tea towel off. Don’t be tempted – just let it do its thing.
- When you’re happy with the size, turn it out onto a lightly-greased worktop.
- If you’re going ‘au naturel’ at this point, divide the dough into 12 roughly equal sized pieces (they should be about 80g-85g each, to give you an idea). Form into round balls, place onto a baking tray.
- As mentioned above, I used my adjustable tin divided to the size 10 x 12 inches. Grease and line the tin with greaseproof paper. Space the rolls about an inch apart – when they prove and cook they join together beautifully and tear apart perfectly. If you don’t have an adjustable tin then these rolls can also bake on any similarly sized high sided tray – whatever you have to hand!
- Cover the tin with lightly greased cling film taking care not to pin the plastic wrap under the baking sheet or else the rolls will flatten while rising. Let the plastic wrap gently hang over the sides of the pan to fully cover the rolls but not press them down.
- Let the rolls rise until very puffy and doubled, about 45 minutes to 1 hour. Preheat the oven to 400/200 degrees while the rolls are rising.
- Bake for 17 minutes until lightly browned and cooked through. Take out and place out on a cooling rack… when cool, do the “tear and share” thing and break off one of the corner bread rolls and get your nose in there and smell – amazing!
