Playing a bit of catch-up here since unscheduled interruptions, other non-food-related projects, and massive amounts of holiday baking have put me far behind in terms of keeping up with posts. I had started working on a Bread Series, starting with 18-1: Basic Yeast Dough I which I published back in October. Covering 20-12: Basic Rolls was intended to play off of that concept, giving you an easy recipe to utilize the lessons presented in both that post and its follow-up, 18-2: Basic Yeast Dough II.
Quick review: the last three chapters of Simply Delicious are part of its Cooking School, intended to review basic techniques, ingredients, and recipes with which all aspiring chefs should be familiar. I’ve covered a few bits and bobs out of those last few chapters, but much of it still remains untapped.
They give you a few options for shapes here–but the dough remains the same. I chose to try to make a few of each of the shapes, with an additional loaf so that I could use it for 1-6: Surprise Sandwich Loaf.
Not sure what I was doing with the olives and pesto here–I think I was considering mixing them into parts of the dough to make different types of bread. From what I can remember, I think I chose just go with the green curry spice blend pictured instead.
Blooming the yeast in warm milk. Always remember–too cold or too warm and the yeasties won’t wake up. Check expiration dates too–expired (or just been out too long) yeast is a dud as well.
Mixing in the green curry blend. I’m pretty sure this spice mix was a Secret Santa gift from a few years ago–I tend to use a Phuket-style blend more similar to this for actual green curry dishes. However, this kind of “colorful” blend could work well for what I’m using it for here–it’ll lend some variety to the bread without clashing or overpowering any other ingredients (since the bread recipe itself is so basic).
Working the flour in–keep one hand clean to control moving the bowl and use the other to mix. It’s hard to do at first, but it’ll be easier to maneuver once you get the hang of it.
And now it’s dough. You can see the specks from the green curry blend–the normal type of curry blend I use wouldn’t have contributed those spots of color, hence the advantage of using this type. I’m pretty sure I let it rise after this (sometimes I forget to take pictures).
Used my bench scraper to split parts of dough into pieces for rolling.
Some became rolls, some became loaf. Others became pretzels.
Here’s my attempt at their “lucky clover” rolls from the recipe card picture.
Some got rolled out and folded into crescents (triangle shape, start at the wide end and roll towards the smaller end. There’s probably better terminology for that, but it’s been a LONG time since high school geometry class).
You’ve got a little bit of everything here–you’ve got your traditional rolls, your pretzels, your crescents…
…and you’ve also got your loaf. This was about half the dough recipe, combined into one Jabba-looking loaf.
Now that they’ve proofed and poofed, it’s time for the final step.
Mixed up some egg with my tonger (not the name, but it’s my name for it).
Egg-washed and then sprinkled everything with some coarse salt.
After baking. The egg wash helps them brown as well as lends that slight sheen to the outsides.
Here’s a few of my pretzels for the final photo. That big dark spot near the top is a chili pepper flake, courtesy of the green curry spice blend. They didn’t taste that spicy, but the added kick definitely took it up a notch above plain old bread. Feel free to experiment with your own spices and shapes–this recipe has a lot of customization options available to you.
Wondering how the loaf turned out? You’ll have to jump over to 1-6: Surprise Sandwich Loaf to find out!
Grade: A
