Whole Wheat Bread Rolls

I have been experimenting with whole wheat flour for a few months now.  I used to be quite intimidated by it as I had a few unsuccessful attempts to make bread.  But I somehow started figuring out how to use whole wheat flour and I guess practice makes better.  So today I decided to make some lunch rolls and they turned out quite well.  I made up the recipe so the quantities below maybe +/- a little bit. 😉  Depending on your flour and how soft you want the dough to be, you might add more water or more flour.

Whole Wheat Lunch Rolls

 3 1/2 + 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
 1/2 cup lukewarm milk
 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
 1 egg
 1 tbsp dry yeast (traditional)
 a pinch of salt
 a pinch of sugar

Place the 3 1/2 cups of flour on the surface where you will knead the dough.  I use a big roasting pan to knead into.  Make a “well” in the middle of the flour.

In a bowl place 1/2 cup lukewarm water and add 1 tbsp dry yeast.  Stir until dissolved.

Add the egg into the flour well.

Add the lukewarm milk, salt, sugar, and yeast water into the well too.  Start kneading.  I always knead with my hands.  I like to be able to feel the dough as it comes together.  But if you want to mix everything into the bowl of a stand mixer, you can use that too.

Make sure the dough is soft but firm and doesn’t stick to your hands.  If you need to add more flour you can do that until it has the right consistency.  Just make sure it isn’t too firm or the bread will be too dry.

Once the dough is ready, place in a greased bowl that has some depth but isn’t too wide.  Cover with a kitchen towel and let rise for about an hour.  Check to see if it has doubled in size.  If your kitchen is warm, it will rise pretty quickly.  If it’s cooler, let it rise longer.

Once the dough has doubled in size, flour the surface where you will turn it into with the remaining 1/2 cup of flour – I use my kitchen counter.  Turn the dough onto the flour and knead once or twice.  This is the part where you can get creative.  Decide how you want to shape your bread.  I made it into rolls but you can bake it any shape you like.  Place it in a greased and floured baking pan of your choice, cover it with a kitchen towel and let sit for 40 min or even more.

Pre-heat oven to 430*F (~220*C).  Bake for about an hour or until the edges are golden.  Every oven is different so it may be less or more than an hour.

Take the bread out and serve while warm.  Something I like to do is wrap the bread into a damp kitchen towel immediately after I take it out of the baking pan.  I leave it wrapped for a few minutes which traps the moisture inside and softens the crust a little.  That way the bread still tastes fresh the next day without having that dry hard crust.  Remove the wet towel after a few minutes, place on a wooden cutting board and just cover loosely with a dry kitchen towel.

Enjoy! 🙂