Seeded wholemeal rolls

By: Richard Burr
From: B.I.Y. Bake It Yourself
Makes: 8

Now, I’m not going to lie to you: not everything in this book is entirely good for you in large quantities. This recipe has no such problems. These rolls are not only delicious, but are packed with healthy oils and fibre, so make them, eat them and feel smug in the knowledge that you’ve done your bit today. Personally, I like to fill them with cheese and bacon, but I suppose there’s no helping some people...

Ingredients

Quantity	Ingredient
500g	strong wholemeal bread flour, plus more to dust
2 teaspoons	table salt
1 tablespoon	‘quick’ yeast
50g	unsalted butter, in small cubes
50g	pumpkin seeds
3 tablespoons	sunflower seeds
2 tablespoons	sesame seeds
2 tablespoons	poppy seeds
350ml	water

Tool kit

Quantity	Ingredient
	baking tray
	wire cooling rack

Method

Put the flour, salt, yeast and butter in a bowl, making sure you add the salt and yeast to opposite sides of the bowl, then mix with a wooden spoon. Add all the seeds and mix again. Add the water and stir together until the flour has come away from the bowl.
Tip out on to a floured surface and knead for 5–10 minutes until the dough becomes stretchy. The bigger seeds will fall out a lot during the kneading, but just keep poking them back in.
Once the dough is stretchy and as smooth as dough filled with hundreds of seeds can be, place in a bowl, cover with cling film and leave at room temperature for about 2 hours until doubled or trebled in size. You might want to take a quick picture on your phone to check later how your rise is going.
Tip the risen dough on to a lightly floured work surface and knock back by folding the dough in on itself 6 or 7 times. Allow the dough to rest for 5 minutes, then cut it into 8 pieces by halving, then halving again, then again… or if you’re feeling particularly precise you can weigh the dough and divide the total by 8.
Roll the 8 portions of dough into balls and place on a baking tray lined with baking parchment. Cover with a plastic bag – the bag shouldn’t touch the rolls but should form a tent around them – and leave to rise for about 1 hour.
Once risen, preheat the oven to 240°C, cut crosses in each roll with scissors and lightly sprinkle with flour.
Bake for 15–20 minutes or until the rolls sound hollow when tapped on the base. Remove from the oven and set on a wire rack to cool.

Note

This recipe has a level 1 (beginner) difficulty.

Extras

These rolls work very well with any type of filling. The seed combo I’ve given here is one of my wife’s favourites, but feel free to add whatever you like:

Coarse-chopped walnuts are always a good choice, but make sure you use fresh-bought nuts, not the half-bag mouldering in the back of the cupboard.

Other options are sun-dried tomatoes, olives, bits of dried fig, anything really, although if you are adding wet ingredients, don’t add all the water in one go; start with about 300 ml and see how your dough comes together from there.

I like to put a lump of Roquefort or Dolcelatte inside and bake my rolls with the cheese already in them. It opens the door to loads more flavour combinations.

Tags:: Great British Bake Off; Baking

Seeded wholemeal rolls

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