“Bread, milk and butter are of venerable antiquity. They taste of the morning of the world.”
Leigh Hunt
I’ve had dinner rolls on my mind for a while with the Chuck Berry song that hums in the background. Yeastophobia being a thing of the past, I’m gingerly inching my way forward to make things I dreamt about for long. The last time I bought dinner rolls was the last time I bought them. They were so ‘not real’…nothing to them. So I got on & read a few baking books about shaping & knotting breads…what fun!
Dreaming of Garlicky Dinner Rolls…
Then came the time for recipe searches. I had a couple ingrained in my brain for months, but the one that kept coming back was one @ Aparna’s My Diverse Kitchen. I made these pretty rolls adapting her recipe. Changes…hmmm…plenty because of overconfidence! Measured all wrong, mixed everything together & did a double take; too late. March on you daring baker, there was only one way to go. ROLL AWAY!! Other regular deviations of my kind were to add some minced garlic for a subtle flavour. I LOVE garlic…& if I can stick it into the dinner roll too-YAY!! Also didn’t have wheatgerm (what I had was well past its date) so substituted flour for that. The rolls were a GREAT hit. They looked pretty too & I had a blast shaping them to my dreams desire! A brush of milk, a sprinkling of seeds…plenty of choice. Thank you Aparna…they were really great!
The recipe, as adapted from My Diverse Kitchen.
Ingredients:
Flour – 2 cups (can substitute 1/2 cup with wheat germ)
Wholewheat flour – 1 1/2 cups
Warm milk – 1 cup
Sugar – 1 tsp
Dry Yeast – 1 3/4 tsp
Oil – 1 tbsp
Sea salt – 1 tsp
Garlic – 2-3 cloves / minced (optional)
Warm water – 1/4 cup/ as required
Polenta for dusting the baking sheet
Milk – 1/8 cup for brushing
Poppy seeds, sesame seeds if desired.
Method:
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Add the sugar and yeast to the warm milk, mix and allow to proof for about 10 minutes till nice & bubbly. Then stir in the oil, garlic & salt.
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Mix both the flours, add the milk-yeast mixture & pull together to make a soft pliable dough. Add some warm water if required.
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Turn out onto a floured surface & knead well for 5-10 minutes till smooth & elastic.
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Lightly oil a large bowl & place the ball of dough into this, turn over to grease under side, & leave to rise in a warm place till doubled. (about 2 hours).
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Punch the dough back & divide into 12 equal portions. Shape into rolls as desired with lightly oiled hands.
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Place on a sheet dusted with polenta & allow to rise for a further 10-15 minutes in a warm place.
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Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C.
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Brush the rolls with milk & sprinkle with poppy seeds , toasted sesame seeds etc. Do them one by one as the milk tends to dry up quickly.
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Bake for about 20 minutes till nicely browned. Tap the bottom to see if you get a hollow sound; an indication that they are done.
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Cool on a rack. I placed them in a preheated oven (switched off after preheating) for 10 minutes before serving. Serve with olive oil or some yummy butter.
