A common myth is you need to have several yeast dough recipes, one each for a specific purpose. That is simply not the case. What you need is a good white bread recipe, a good whole wheat recipe, a good sweet dough recipe and a few multi-grain bread recipes. Using these basic recipes you can tweak if desired and contrary to some beliefs, yeast dough can be formed into any shape you desire. That means your favourite white bread recipe can be used for bread or rolls or hamburg bun or any other shape.
Forming Dough
Thursday night I made three batches of yeast dough in preparation for Friday's party. The dough included white bread, whole wheat and 12 grain. Instead of making full loaves I decided to make rolls and mini loaves. To make each roll distinctive I used three different shapes.
When I was growing up the local bakery that was famous for their white icing doughnuts made various dinner rolls for the Ladies Auxillary of The Royal Canadian Legion when they catered special events. My Mom would bring a few of these wonderful rolls home for us to enjoy. The bakery as will all stores in our small little Canadian town was closed on Sundays, Wednesday afternoons and after 5 pm the other days with the exception of a few days during the Christmas season. I was always given the task of running down to the bakery with 50¢ to get a dozen rolls and oh how I loved that! The bakery always smelled heavenly!
This shape is called cloverleaf and was one of their specialty shapes. It is formed by rolling the dough into walnut sized balls then placing three balls as pictured in a muffin tin. I used a silicone muffin tin with rack. The rack comes in handy for stabilizing the muffin tins. Once the muffin tins were filled it was time for baking. There was enough dough left over for an oblong shaped small loaf.
Baked
I baked the rolls at 400ºF until they sounded hollow when thumped and were golden brown. I allowed them to cool a bit in the muffin tins then turned them out to finish cooling on baking racks. The end result pictured is very similar to my childhood memories. They break easily into 3 mouth watering pieces ready to be spread with butter.
I love the looks of this shaping for dinner rolls! It's very easy to do yet looks like you spent a lot of time shaping them and they make for a lovely presentation. Warm slightly before serving.
7 food lovers commented:
Hi.
Very nice rolls!
There´s a bakery here that sells similar format rolls, I think they use four balls of dough.
I should try baking bread at home but I´m not sure which is the best brand of flour. I think I need to try first.
I´m going to take note of your recipes.
A good Sunday.
These rolls look delicious! My husband's mom used to make these awesome homemade rolls. I'm ashamed to say, I've never attempted making rolls because I've always felt I don't have time - however, this next year I've made a new goal to make more at home than buy pre-made. Thanks for sharing this wonderful post!
That's a great idea, and the rolls look so professional!
Thanks Mizé. I'm not sure if one brand of flour is better than another so go by quality and unit price or grind your own. I do know there is a difference between flours based on origin. Canadian flour tends to have a higher gluten content because of the variety of wheat so a dough enhancer isn't necessary. American flour has a lower gluten content again because of the variety of wheat so a longer proof time or a dough enhancer can be used to improve the rise.
Have a great week!
You are quite welcomed Julie. I hope you enjoy your new adventure. I'm sure you will have a lot of fun trying out new bread recipes.
Thanks Rita :)
Hi.
I see. I didn´t know about the gluten, thanks for explaining it to me. I´ll be more aware when buying flour for bread.
Here in Portugal I´m not sure what I´ll find. I´ve seen a ready to bake bread flour in a German supermarket we have here. I´ve got to check this better.
I can buy two types of dough enhancer, in powder and in fresh dough (bakery).
I´ll have to read your next post about this topic to learn more.
Happy Hollidays!
xx
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