All fresh and home-made

Home-made buns and dinner rolls - must be really time-consuming! Why not better go for the store-bought! Thats exactly what I also used to think for a long time until a few months ago when I was neither able to find bread nor any other accompaniment in my pantry to serve with a gratin, and since I was not even in a position to leave me sleeping baby alone at home to get something from the market, the only option I was left with, was of making the bread rolls at home. And today I ask myself, why didnt I come up with the idea before?

It is way too easier to make buns and breads at home than one usually thinks and the best part is, they are much tastier and healthier than their store-bought version. As far as the time is concerned,  let me share another secret with you: the yeast-based dough for the buns you can see in the picture below, took less than 30 minutes to rise yesterday while I placed it outside on the balcony for a sunbath;)

The fish-shaped dinner rolls below were the perfect complement to the fish-potato casserole we had for supper yesterday. Here is my recipe for the basic buns and bread rolls dough. You can enjoy it plain as well as with fillings of your choice.

fish buns

Dinner Rolls (basic dough):

Ingredients:

1/4 cup luke warm water
1 tsp + 1 tbs sugar
1 tbs yeast
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg (M)
2 tbs oil

Dissolve 1 tsp sugar in the luke warm water and sprinkle yeast powder on it. Don´t mix, only sprinkle. Place aside for 5 minutes (Many people dont bother doing this any longer as the instant yeast available nowadays doesnt require this step but I dont mind waiting 5 minutes to make sure that the yeast I am using will rise too).

Now take the flour, add salt and sugar into it.

Make a well in the centre and pour the yeast mixture as well as oil and the beaten egg.

Mix with hands and knead the dough on a plain surface until smooth and elastic. Tranfer back into the bowl and make a cut in the centre. Itll help the dough rise quickly.

Brush with oil and cover tightly with a lid or cling film. Let the dough sit in a warm place until double in size.

Grease your hands with oil and knead the dough once again. Shape as you like, let rest for another 5 minutes, brush with beaten egg yolk and bake in preheated oven (200C) for 15-20 min.

For making the fish buns, I divided the dough into seven portions. Rolled each part into a long strip and placed on each other near the open ends. Made small cuts (using knife and fork) to make mouth and tail.

Sprinkled brown sesame seeds to add scale and used black pepper corns to make the eyes.

Dont forget to glaze prior baking for a nice golden colour. I sometimes glaze twice (once before putting into the oven and then five minutes before taking out of it).

Unfortunately, I cant post the sensational aroma here, but even a picture is worth a thousand words. Have a look

Enjoy!!