The Always Good Honey Whole Wheat Rolls

Being a health freak, I always think that eating wholemeal is good.

See this at Victorian Better Health Channel website. It says that wholegrains including wholemeal is always good for you.

For this personal belief, I always try to incorporate wholemeal into our food. However, I have to say that cooking and baking food with wholemeal can be challenging as some food with wholemeal can really tastes like cardboard to some of you...

Man: No wholemeal bread, please!

Boy: Me too. Mum, can I have white bread, please?

Can you imagine? This is what I always hear whenever my wholemeal bakes are tough and not so appetizing. I know it is sad to hear negative feedback but I try not to give up. Although a recipe that bakes soft and fluffy wholemeal bread can be pretty rare, I have managed to find something...

These honey wholewheat rolls are surprisingly very soft, even when they are lightly toasted or consumed on the next day. I'm surprised that my family and I are very impressed with these rolls. Yup! No complains! And, so I have been baking these rolls for more than once. 

It is an easy and straight-forward recipe that does not require any pre-fermentation, starch or gluten gelationation and water roux methods. Yet, these rolls taste so good... Maybe it is the use of vitamin C from fruit juice that works well as a bread improver. Or maybe it contains a good proportion of flour, liquid and milk. Or maybe it contains potato flakes that retains moisture better. The possible maybe of this recipe seem endless...

The Always Good Honey Whole Wheat Rolls

The healthful ingredients to make these rolls

Is this the secret ingredient of all?

Proving the bread rolls

Look how soft and fluffy these rolls are...

Here's the recipes from King Arthur Flour
(with my modification in blue)

Make 16 rolls

2 1/4 tsp instant yeast
1 cup lukewarm water 
1/4 cup orange juice 
(I have used either apple juice or orange juice and the both works)
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces
3 tbsp honey
1 cup King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
(I use a combination of bread flour and Italian OO flour in the ratio of 1:4)
2 cups King Arthur Traditional Whole Wheat Flour or King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour
1 1/4 tsp salt
2/3 cup instant mashed potato flakes
1/4 cup nonfat dry milk

Combine the dissolved yeast with the remainder of the water and the rest of the ingredients. Mix and knead everything together - by hand, mixer or bread machine set on the dough cycle till you've made a smooth dough. If you're kneading in a stand mixer, it should take about 5 to 7 min at second speed. In a bread machine (or by hand), it should form a smooth ball. - Using a breadmaker with dough setting, I mixed, kneaded and proved my dough .

Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl. Cover the bowl, and allow the dough to rise, at room temperature, till it's quite puffy but not necessarily doubled in bulk, about 90 min to 2 hrs. Rising may take longer, especially if you've kneaded by hand. Give it enough time to become quite puffy. - I did my first prove for 2 hrs.

While the dough is rising, lightly grease a 9" x 13" pan, or two 9" round cake pans.

Gently deflate the dough, and transfer it to a lightly greased work surface. Divide it into 16 pieces.

Shape each piece into a rough ball by pulling the dough into a very small knot at the bottom (think of a balloon with its opening knotted), then rolling it under the palm of your hand into a smooth ball.

Place the rolls in the 9" x 13" pan, or put eight rolls in each of the round cake pans, spacing them evenly; they won't touch one another.

Cover the pans with lightly greased plastic wrap, and allow the rolls to rise for 1 1/2 to 2 hrs.

They'll become very puffy, and will reach out and touch one another. While the rolls are rising, preheat the oven to 350°F

Bake the rolls for 15 min, and tent them loosely with aluminum foil. Continue to bake until they're mahogany-brown on top, but lighter coloured on the sides, an additional 10 to 13 min.

Note: I preheat my oven at 170°C fan forced and brushed my rolls lightly with milk before baking. I covered my first pan of rolls loosely with aluminum foil for the first 15 min of baking but one of the rolls stick on the foil when the foil was removed. For this reason, I didn't cover for my subsequent pans of rolls with foil and the rolls were all nicely baked without the use of any cover. The total baking time of each 20 cm round cake pan containing 8 rolls is 20-23 min.

Remove the rolls from the oven, and after 2 or 3 min, carefully transfer them to a rack. They'll be hot and delicate, so be careful. Serve warm, or at room temperature.

Happy Baking
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