Dinner rolls (eggless)

Happy New Year guys and also a very warm welcome to our new website! 😀 We have made lots of changes and also have made it a LOT simpler for you. We also have a whole set of FAQs drafted and scheduled to be posted very very soon.

Our first post of 2018 had to be these dinner rolls - which involved working with yeast => something we have been really terrified of! We tried baking bread one fine day in December and have made it more than 10 times post the success! We have been experimenting ever since making kulchas, focaccia and different kinds of rolls including these basic ones. This recipe has been tried and tested so many times now, before we wanted to hit publish on this post, so you can definitely count on us the next time you want to serve homemade bread with the rest of the food. We have an entire step by step guide for you 🙂 But before you read on, please make sure you go through the following important points which help you understand and follow the recipe better.

- The secret behind a good bread lies in how well the yeast is activated (this implies only if you are using active dry yeast and not instant yeast) For yeast to be activated, make sure that you are using luke warm water - if the water is too cold, the yeast will not react and if its too warm - it will kill the yeast. You would want to check the temperature of the water with the finger test. The water should be warm but not VERY hot. You should be able to put your finger in the water and hold for about 2-3 seconds. This step is followed by adding sugar and yeast. Here are a few pictures we took every 3 to 4 minutes of the measuring cup in which the yeast was activated.

You start by adding the sugar and yeast to the lukewarm water. Stir it up for about 2 seconds and let this sit undisturbed for 10-12 minutes. It should start rising after three minutes..... (see pictures below)

If you can already notice after two or three minutes that the yeast has not been activated, then please start over again and do not use this for the bread.

- PLEASE use proper measuring cups. Do not confuse one cup with one tea cup - the measurements are totally different. One measuring cup of flour has approximately 125 grams and this is not the case when you measure the flour in a tea or coffee cup.

- The dough (once prepared) must be placed in a warm place. With such cold chilly weather in Delhi, we had no other choice but to pre heat our oven for about 3 to 5 minutes just until it was WARM AND NOT HOT and placed the dough (covered) in the oven. The same was done for the second part when the rolls were shaped and kept in the warm place for second round of proofing. Remember to switch off your oven before you put the dough in the oven.

- In case you face difficulty in bringing the dough together, rub some melted butter (about 1/2 teaspoon) on your palms and bring the dough together.

- Once the rolls are baked, you must immediately brush melted butter on the top. The rolls will be very soft and you must also wait for about 5-7 minutes before you pull them apart.

- The main proofing of the dough is at a later stage - in this recipe, the dough is first left for rising for one hour and later again after shaping them into rolls for about 2 hours.

Here is the recipe for you guys.

Easy homemade dinner rolls

Soft dinner rolls with a crust top.

Author: Sheenam & Muskaan

Ingredients:

2  1/4 cups all purpose flour (you might need extra 2-4 tablespoons depending on how your dough is formed)

1 tsp active dry yeast

1 tbsp sugar (divided)

1/2 tsp salt

2 tbsp melted butter (divided)

160 mls luke warm milk

40 mls luke warm water

Instructions:

In a small cup, pour the lukewarm water and add 1/2 tbsp sugar and 1 tsp yeast to it. Stir it and let it stay undisturbed for 10-12 minutes.

In a large mixing bowl, add 2/3rd quantity of flour, lukewarm milk, remaining sugar, one tbsp of butter, salt and the activated yeast mixture to it and mix using a spoon until a sticky paste is formed. Mix for about 1-2 minutes.

Add the remaining flour and knead the dough with your hands stretching it thoroughly. Knead the for about 6-8 minutes until everything properly comes together.

 

You may have to add some extra flour - 3 to 4 tablespoons. Do not add a lot of flour as the dough should be sticky and the extra flour should just be able to bring everything together. You can also rub some melted butter on your palms to bring the dough together. Transfer the dough to a clean bowl and cover it with kitchen cloth before placing it (covered) in a warm place for 1 hour.

 

After one hour, the dough would have risen. Punch down the dough to remove the bubbles formed by the yeast.

Divide the dough into 9 parts and shape the dough into balls and place them on a greased dish. Sprinkle some sesame seeds. Keep them slightly apart because the will rise and become double in size.

Cover the rolls and keep them in a warm place for 2 hours. The rolls would have doubled by now.

Bake the rolls in pre heated oven for 30-35 minutes at 170 degrees until the rolls are golden brown on the top. Brush them immediately with remaining one tbsp of melted butter and let the bread soak all the butter and wait for at least 10 minutes before serving them.