I found the idea for this bread recipe, which produces delicious soft rolls with a glossy glaze, on the back of a packet of very special Norfolk Saffron Strong Bread Flour. If you are lucky enough to get hold of some, do try it. but the recipe is still very nice using a good organic strong white bread flour.
For 8 Large Rolls
500g organic strong white bread flour or Norfolk Saffron strong bread flour
50g good butter, straight from the fridge
2 tsp sea salt flakes
1 tsp fast action yeast
250mls full fat milk mixed with 100mls water and warmed gently so that it is tepid
1 organic free-range egg for the glaze
- Put the flour, salt and yeast in a large bowl, grate in the butter and stir together.
- Stir in the milk and water and mix until a soft, damp, dough is formed.
- Tip the dough onto a floured work surface and shape it, by kneading lightly, into a circular loaf shape. It doesn’t need to be perfect.
- Wash and dry the mixing bowl and rub it with olive oil. (You will be glad you have done this as not only does it make the job of removing the dough after the first rise easy, it also makes washing the bowl easy too.) Put the dough back into the bowl and cover it with a damp tea towel.
- Leave in a draft free place for 10 to 12 hours – overnight works well or if you start early in the morning it could be finished in the evening.
- The dough will rise in this time so, when it is ready, tip it onto a floured work surface and shape into 8 equal pieces and adjust the shape by lightly kneading each piece to produce 8 smooth topped rolls. Lay the rolls on a lightly oiled baking tray, leaving a gap of around 2cm between each roll, (as they rise they will be just touching).
- Cover with a damp tea towel and leave to rise for half an hour.
- After half an hour, preheat the oven to its highest setting (probably 240c).
- After a further half an hour, one whole hour in total, the rolls, which by now will be touching each other, will be ready to glaze and bake.
- Beat the egg and use a pastry brush to glaze each roll, leave it to dry for a few minutes before glazing again.
- Put the baking tray with the rolls into the preheated oven and bake for 15 minutes by which time they should be brown and shiny and cooked through.
- Eat the rolls warm or cold with butter and any filling you like. They are also good toasted.
They will keep well, stored in an airtight container, for a couple of days or they can be frozen for up to 3 months.
See also: – Miracle Overnight Bread – Soda Bread – Saffron, Orange and Almond Cake
If you want a healthier and more environmentally friendly diet, a good start would be to cook from scratch, avoid buying ready-processed meals, and so avoid foods with a high sugar and salt content. Have a look at food labels, you will likely be amazed by how much salt and sugar is included and, worse, how many of the ingredients are not recognisable as food.
Sherbhert champions delicious, healthy and sustainable food where its production minimises environmental damage, exploitation, animal suffering and subsequent processing. Sherbhert’s recipes are simple and use mainly UK seasonal produce sourced as locally as possible and organically produced where possible.
Sherbhert occasionally recommends suppliers entirely because of their good produce and ethos.
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