This is yet another successful recipe from Lorraine Pascale’s brilliant book, A Lighter Way to Bake… It’s really great to find cookbooks that are just like you and speak your style of cooking… Most of us can relate to chefs and cooks that speak our language and not the fancy, chefy language that catches us off guard…
These rolls are tasty… the sweet spring onions and peppery thyme are brought out really nicely… I have to say that the finishing touch of sage on top doesn’t add too much to the flavour but it looks pretty 🙂 These ARE slightly lighter because they have a balance of white and wholewheat flour… so you CAN eat one with a little butter and not feel TOO bad about it ,)
I love that these are almost like an instant bread in that there’s not TOO much kneading and theres no second proving either… so it’s a quick one, with flavour, which is perfect for the weekend or even during the week if you have a little extra time in the evening….
If you’re not too convinced about baking bread yet… try these, they’re super simple… I wouldn’t have attempted them if they weren’t! ,)
Spring onion and thyme Bread rolls…
- 300 grams strong white bread flour ( about 2.2 cups)
- 200 grams wholemeal flour ( about 1.5 cups)
- 1 7g sachet of fast action dry yeast
- 1.5 teaspoon salt
- 375 ml warm water
- 2 large spring onions finely sliced
- 5 sprigs of fresh thyme, leaves only
- olive oil
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- fresh sage leave to top the rolls
- In a large bowl, add the flours, yeast ans salt. make a well in the centre and pour in the warm water. Using a wooden spoon, stir everything together. As it comes together, you can now use your hands to start kneading. Need in the bowl for about 5 minutes, then turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and continue to knead for another 10 minutes.
- make a small dent with your finger , if the dent springs back right away then the dough is kneaded enough. If not then continue to knead for another 5 minutes.
- Add a little more dough to the surface and roll out the dough with a rolling pin to about 20 cms round, 2-3 cms thick. Put the spring onions and thyme in the centre and then bring the sides of the dough up over the filling to enclose.
- Flip it over so that the seam side is down and roll it out again. Once again gather the edges up and over and then knead the dough by hand to make sure the ingredients are incorporated. If the dough becomes a bit damp you may need to add a little more flour.
- Now roll out the dough into a long bagette shape and cut equal sized portions, I got 9… knead each one a little and then roll into a ball, seam side down. Place the rolls on a baking tray, quite far apart and brush with olive oil. Cover then with cling film, but dont make them too tight, you need to give them some air to grow.
- Cover with a tea towel and set aside in a warm place for about an hour or until they almost double in size.
- Preheat your oven to 200 degrees C. Once the rolls have risen, brush them with the lightly beaten egg and top with sage leaves in any way you like. Bake for about 20 minutes, until the rolls are golden brown and sound hollow when you tap them underneath. Serve warm or cold.
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