There is something divinely magical about being able to make staple foods from scratch.

It’s such a thrilling idea that foods which have always been store-bought, such as jams and marmalades, or breads, can actually be made at home, in your very own kitchen. It’s amazing that with your very own hands, you are able to create and make foods which few people venture to make.

I’ve made jams and marmalades, such as strawberry jam, orange marmalade, and peach jam. I’ve also made bread before, but never with fresh yeast, so on an urge to have homemade bread rolls sometime this week, I set out to test a recipe I found on Blog Recetas.

I’ll be honest – I still haven’t been able to make the perfect bread roll.

It came out a little too hard on the crust (but I suppose it was due to baking it too long at a lower temperature than indicated). The problem is that I have a gas oven (not an electric oven which allows you to set temperatures, so sometimes it’s hard to gauge temperatures), and I suspect it might have resulted in the bread taking a much longer time to bake than expected.

However, I still wanted to share the experience of watching bread dough rise as yeast works its magic…

The miracle of dough doubling in size and then transforming with dry heat from the oven into bread rolls – which were actually edible (despite having a rather hard crust).

I’m still in search for the perfect bread recipe…but till then this will do!

Homemade bread rolls – fresh from the oven

HOMEMADE BREAD ROLLS (Makes 3 medium-size rolls)
Adapted from the Blog Recetas bread recipe

Ingredients:

1)    ½ kg bread flour
2)    25g of fresh yeast
3)    1 cup of warm water
4)    1 tablespoon of oil
5)    ½ teaspoon of salt

Steps:

1)    Mix flour and salt in a mixing bowl
2)    In another bowl, mix fresh yeast and ½ cup of warm water until yeast is fully dissolved
3)    Create a small valley in the flour and pour in yeast mixture, then mix it together
4)    Using your hands, knead until you get a homogenous dough and roll into a ball shape
5)    Allow the ball of dough to rest in a covered bowl for 30 min (it should double in size)
6)    After dough has rested and doubled, press the dough to get rid of the gases formed by the yeast
7)    Shape dough in desired shapes, and arrange on a baking tray, allowing to rest uncovered for another 30 minutes (dough should increase in size again)
8)    Bake in pre-heated oven at 200 deg cel for 30-3-40 minutes (or until bread turns golden brown on outside)

Mix flour and salt together:

Mix fresh yeast and warm water until yeast is dissolved:

Create a small valley in the flour and pour in yeast mixture, then mix it together:

Knead and roll into a ball shape and let it rest in a covered bowl:

Until it has doubled in size:

Shape dough in desired shapes, and arrange on a baking tray, allowing to rest uncovered for another 30 minutes:

Dough has doubled again after resting:

Fresh out of the oven!

A closer look: