Dinner Rolls

These are really simple and easy to make and are perfect just with butter, or even toasted for breakfast. I first made these a while ago but I haven't had a chance to make them again since because you do need a bit of time to be able to prove the dough and I've been massively busy this year with my university work. Seeing as I have now officially finished my degree, expect quite a few new blog posts for a few months!

Don't be worried about the fact you have to knead the dough; this is probably the most simple recipe I have found and it's really easy to follow. They're really rustic and add a bit of an extra edge compared with shop bought bread rolls; perfect for dinner parties or just as a bit of extra baking! I'm definitely going to try and make more bread-based items this summer, I make my own pizza dough quite regularly but I would love to make some more flavours of breads as there are a lot of different things you can do with bread and so many different varieties you can make.

Ingredients

500g strong white flour

1 tsp salt

7g fast-action dried yeast

350ml lukewarm water

Oil for greasing

Recipe

1) Place the flour in a large bowl then stir in the salt and yeast.

2) Make a well in the middle and pour in the water gradually to make a soft and fairly sticky dough.

3) Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic.

4) Shape into a round then place in a lightly oiled large bowl. Cover with oiled cling film then leave to rise in a warm place for 1 - 1 1/2 hours, or until doubled in size.

5) Lightly oil 1 or 2 baking trays.

6) Divide the dough into small balls. You can make the balls as large or as small as you like. The original recipe says make 18 but I made 6 quite large ones, so it depends on what you need. Fold the sides to the middle to form the balls and get the cracked feature on top.

7) Arrange on the trays, leaving room for expansion, then cover loosely with oiled cling film and leave to rise again for 20 minutes or until doubled in size.

8) Bake in a preheated oven at 190C/Gas mark 5 for 20 minutes or until golden, then allow to cool on a wire rack. If you're making slightly larger ones like I did, make sure you increase the time a little bit to ensure they're cooked all the way through.