Dinner Rolls | Bread Rolls | Plain Buns

Have you ever wanted to bake breads at home but the yeast intimidated you? Well, I was like that too! I had to do a lot of 'talking to myself' to bring myself to bake breads. And besides, we are not a bread eating family so I never felt compelled to bake breads.
But then, when I did start baking with yeast, I was gripped with it! Obsessed may be the right word too! And it's not all that hard. You just need a good brand of yeast and then your good to go!

I would suggest you get a good brand of instant yeast and then try baking breads, the satisfaction you get out of baking breads is unparalleled!
This is a very easy and straight forward beginners recipe that you can try and I can guarantee that you have wonderful rolls, if you follow the steps correctly. If you feel the quantity is too much then you can easily halve the recipe. Do try this out!

DINNER ROLLS
Preparation time 1hr 45mins | Cooking time 25 mins | Serves - makes 12 rolls
Recipe Category - Breads | Recipe Cuisine - World | Recipe Source - here

Ingredients

• All purpose flour / maida - 4 cups
• Instant yeast - 2 tsp (or) Active dry yeast - 1 tbsp
• Oil/butter - 1/3 cup 
• Milk - 1 cup
• Eggs - 2
• Sugar - 1/3 cup
• Salt - 2 tsp

To brush the rolls

• Egg - 1 + Water - 1 tbsp
• Milk - 3 tbsp
• Melted butter - 2 tbsp

Method

1. Heat butter and milk in a microwave safe bowl or saucepan until just melted. The temperature should be around 120 degree F or 48 degrees C, just warm and not too hot. If necessary let the mixture cool a bit before adding the yeast. 

2. Add the sugar and sprinkle the yeast over it. If using active dry yeast, wait for 10-15 mins until the mixture is frothy. If using instant yeast, you need not wait for 10 mins.

3. Sift in the flour and salt. Lightly beat the eggs and add it to the mixture.

4. Now mix with a spatula until it's all combined. If you have a mixer, mix for about 7 minutes otherwise knead by hand for about 10-12 minutes.

5. Adjust flour depending on the consistency of the dough. I added about 1/2 cup more to get the right consistency of the dough, to knead by hand.

6. Sprinkle some oil if needed and knead well. After 10 minutes, do the window pane test - take a small piece of kneaded dough and stretch, if you can keep stretching and pulling the dough until it's a thin membrane that you can see through then your dough is ready. Otherwise knead some more.

7. Grease a bowl with oil and transfer this kneaded dough to the greased bowl. Brush little oil over the dough and cover with cling wrap or a towel and leave it in a warm area for 60-90 minutes or until the dough doubles.

8. Once it doubles, remove the dough to a floured surface and deflate the dough. Now pinch small balls of dough and roll into desired shape. Place it on a greased pan, leaving a gap between the balls of dough.

Milk wash

9. Brush the balls with milk (milk wash) and cover again with cling wrap or a towel and leave it in a warm place for another 30 minutes until it doubles.

Dough doubles in size & egg wash

10. Towards the end of the 30 minutes, pre heat the oven to 180 degrees C. Beat one egg with one tbsp of water and set aside. When you pre heat, leave a small heat resistant bowl with cold water inside. 

11. After 30 minutes, remove the cling wrap or kitchen towel and brush the dough - balls with the egg mixture. This is egg wash.

12. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the rolls are browned and sounds hollow when tapped at the bottom. Mine took 25 minutes.

13. Remove from the oven and brush melted butter all over the rolls to keep it soft.

Enjoy!

Notes

1. Instant yeast does not need to be proofed. But if you are using active dry yeast, then you have to proof it.

2. Adding yeast to hot liquids will kill the yeast. If is essential to add the yeast to warm water.

3. When leaving the dough to double, pre heat the oven for 2 minutes and switch off, then place the dough bowl inside and close the oven. This will provide a warm environment. You can do the same with microwave too. Just make sure the oven is switched off.

4. Kneading forms gluten, which makes your bread soft. Besides good yeast, kneading the dough well is another key to bake a good bread.

5. Leaving a small bowl with cold water during pre heating will create a steamy environment 

and forms a beautiful crust and prevents cracking.

6. Generally a milk wash or an egg wash is given, most people don't give both. You can choose to give either one or both. I prefer both.
7. You can add any toppings of your choice to the rolls. 
8. If you have a small oven and have left over dough, cling wrap after the first rise and leave it in the refrigerator. When your ready to use it, bring the dough to room temperature, shape them, allow to rise for the second time and then bake.
9. I have reduced this quantity and baked a smaller batch. If you want to halve the recipe, make sure you halve all the ingredients, including the yeast.
10. While kneading, if the dough is too sticky, add more flour. Adjust the flour accordingly.
11. You can also use 3 egg yolks instead of 2 eggs. Make the rolls more rich and more soft.

Until next time,

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