{"id":534,"date":"2014-10-02T23:46:40","date_gmt":"2014-10-02T22:46:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thecherryplumkitchen.com\/?p=534"},"modified":"2014-10-03T00:02:06","modified_gmt":"2014-10-02T23:02:06","slug":"soft-white-bread-rolls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thecherryplumkitchen.com\/?p=534","title":{"rendered":"Soft White Bread Rolls"},"content":{"rendered":"
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There’s something about the smell of bread, fresh from the oven, isn’t there? \u00a0These are my go-to packed lunch rolls. \u00a0I carry the recipe in my head and I would say I probably make these more days than I don’t.<\/p>\n

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They are just so easy. \u00a0The time invested is minimal. \u00a0Promise. \u00a0It’s less effort to whip up a batch of these than it is to find the car keys and get to the supermarket – and why would I want to when all I can buy there is ‘pappy’ bread.<\/p>\n

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It all began, apparently, in\u00a01961 when the British Baking Industries Research Association came up with a ‘no time method’ – now known as the Chorleywood bread process. \u00a0I’m sure it seemed like a great idea to get to a fully plastic wrapped and sliced loaf – start to finish – in something like three and a half hours. \u00a0The trouble is, it’s horrible. \u00a0A slight squeeze and it returns to \u2026 well .. dough.<\/p>\n

I started my bread-making life with a bread-maker, fully believing baking bread was something of a ‘dark art’. \u00a0As I kept producing more children the single loaf it produced wasn’t enough \u2026 and, undeniably, it made an odd shaped loaf \u2026 with a hole up the centre. \u00a0Despite the negatives, when my bread-maker died I wanted to replace it, but prices had increased and we had less money …<\/p>\n

The choice was ‘pappy’ bread or I needed to roll up my sleeves. \u00a0So, I started making bread by hand and I can honestly say it’s no more effort than putting everything in a machine and flicking a switch. \u00a0Yes, some breads are more complicated than others. \u00a0Some days I make better bread than others \u2026 but I have never, even on my worst days, made anything as revolting as a Chorleywood bread process loaf.<\/p>\n

These rolls came into my life when I caught the end of a River Cottage Bites episode and saw these being made. \u00a0I scribbled the recipe down and have made them ever since, although my method is now different. \u00a0They added water to the flour, made a scraggy ball and added the salt, yeast and melted butter to that. \u00a0I however …<\/p>\n

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\u2026 put 500g of strong white bread flour into a bowl. \u00a0Then I add the softened butter and rub that in. \u00a0On one side of the bowl I put the salt, and on the other I put the fast-action yeast.<\/p>\n

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I add 300ml of fresh tap water and then bring everything together into a scraggy ball.<\/p>\n

At this point you have a choice. \u00a0You can either look on this as an opportunity to tone your upper arms .. or go the easy route. \u00a0 Since this is something I make when I’m doing two hundred and one other things I go the easy route.<\/p>\n

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Into the bowl of my Kitchenaid, and with the dough hook fitted, I knead on slow for five minutes. \u00a0If you’re going the purist route, by hand it will take you twice as long. \u00a0Everyone has a slightly different kneading style and they’re all fine. \u00a0What you are doing is ‘working’ the dough to build up gluten.<\/p>\n

Here’s the science – gluten is a protein. \u00a0When you add water to flour the gluten in the flour expands to form a network of fine strands. \u00a0It’s this network which makes the dough stretchy. \u00a0Roughly. \u00a0(I do wish my children didn’t ask questions like that ..!)<\/em><\/p>\n

By then the stickiness will have disappeared and it will be ‘elastic’. \u00a0You get a feel for it after a while. Don’t get too stressed. \u00a0Yeast is magic.<\/p>\n

Pop your beautiful, smooth dough into a lightly greased bowl, cover with a clean towel to prevent the top developing a ‘skin’ \u2026 and go and do something else.<\/p>\n

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This stage – proving – takes an hour in my warm kitchen. \u00a0On a cold day it will take an hour and a half. \u00a0You want your dough to have doubled in size. \u00a0Slow, actually, is better. \u00a0You could put your proving dough into the fridge overnight \u2026. \u00a0In the morning, bring the dough back to room temperature and carry on.<\/p>\n

By now the yeast has worked its magic. \u00a0Tip it out onto a lightly floured surface. \u00a0‘Knock’ back. \u00a0That’s just deflating it. \u00a0Then shape. \u00a0I \u00a0tend to make 8 rolls and divide ‘by eye’. \u00a0You can, of course, weigh it \u2026<\/p>\n