Soft white rolls

After my success making wholemeal bread rolls, I thought I would give soft white rolls a go and these turned out BEAUTIFULLY. I’ve really got into bread making recently – there’s something incredibly satisfying about it. Bread eluded me for so long and I think it was to do with the yeast – I didn’t properly understand activating it etc! Anyway, now that I’ve discovered the easy bake 7g sachets of fast active dried yeast, there’s no stopping me! And I’m totally fascinated by bread and dough etc, so this post has rather more photos than usual…

These rolls are definitely best eaten on the day you make them, as they don’t have any preservatives. You can either make them the night before and do the first prove in the fridge, or you can make them on the day. They’re best when warm and covered in butter, but they’re absolutely perfect for picnics! And bacon and egg sarnies, as you can see below! :D

Makes 8 large rolls or 12 small

• 500g strong white bread flour
• 7g (one sachet) fast-action yeast
• 2 tsp caster sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 300ml lukewarm water
• 3 tbsp rapeseed oil (plus a bit extra)

1. Put your flour, yeast, salt and caster sugar in a large bowl, keeping the salt and yeast on different sides of the bowl. Using your hand in a claw shape, stir the dry mixture until it’s well combined. Make a well in the middle and add the lukewarm water and oil.
2. Mix together with your claw hand until you’ve formed a dough. Smooth some oil onto a clean work surface, then pop your dough on it. Knead the dough for around 10 mins until it’s elastic and smooth. You may need to re-oil the surface. Do this sparingly. There are some good videos on YouTube with kneading techniques if you’re unsure. I tend to pound on the dough, stretch it out, fold it over and round… all sorts. You will find your groove.

   

3. When the dough is smooth and lovely, round it off into a ball. Add a drizzle of oil to a large bowl (I used the same one I started with) and swoosh the oil around so that it covers the whole of the bowl. Put your dough ball into the bowl and spin it around a bit until it’s got an even coating of oil.
4. Lay out some cling film on and spread a fine layer of oil over one side. Cover the bowl with this cling film (greasy side down) and put in a warm place (such as your airing cupboard) to rise for an hour OR place in the fridge to prove overnight. If you’re proving overnight, get it out of the fridge at least 2 hours before you plan to start forming the dough into balls. It’s best for it to come up to room temperature.

   

5. Once your dough has about doubled in size, knock back the dough and knead lightly for 5 minutes (you may need to re oil your surface), then roll into a sausage and divide into 8 roughly equal pieces. Mould them into small rounds and place on baking trays covered in baking parchment.
6. Cover in greased cling film again and place inside a large plastic bag, ensuring the bag doesn’t touch the dough. Leave for an hour in a warm place (I used my airing cupboard) until the dough balls are puffed up and looking lovely.
7. Preheat the oven to 220°c. Bake your rolls in the oven for 10-15 minutes until they are deep golden brown.
8. Once they’re out of the oven pop them on a cooling rack. Cover with a clean tea towel when cooling, as this will absorb the moisture from the heat coming from the rolls.
9. They’re best eaten as fresh as possible and they’re lovely when warm. They’re very nice with lashings of butter!

Enjoy!