Yogurt Rolls

The main problem with recipes that I have memorized is sometimes I forget to add an ingredient. Someday I can post a chart here about every ingredient except flour and milk in my pancakes and what happens when you leave them out. I have my everyday bread recipe memorized and I rarely refer to the recipes it is based on. After all their ingredients and technique are wrong. On Friday I needed to make bread as we were all out, however I also had to leave the house at 10 A.M. and I was not going to be back until dinner time. No problem, my husband would be home by 12:30, so with a quick tutorial on loaf shaping, Lewis agreed to form and bake the bread. (He was a little apprehensive). For some reason the bread took a lot of flour and time to get to the right consistency, so I had to slap a lid on the mixer bowl, write 375° 40 - 45 mins on a scrap of paper and run out the door.

When I got home for Dinner Lewis told me he had no problems with shaping and baking the bread. Although, when he got home it had popped the lid off the bowl. So Lewis shaped the dough, put them in pans and left the kitchen. He has been around when I have made bread so he knew that the loaves would need to rise a little before the oven needed to be preheated, or so he thought... Apparently he walked in the kitchen after 20 minutes and they were already completely risen. As he told me the story I quickly began to review my dough making that morning. I was specifically trying to recall if I added salt. Of all the ingredients in my bread, salt is the one I have often forgotten. It has never really been a problem before, as I have always caught it when the bread has begun rising at an alarming rate. Salt retards the yeast action, so if I forget it the dough rises really rapidly. One taste of the loaves and their flat taste proved it, I forgot the salt. Sigh.

So I figured we could still use the bread for cinnamon toast with a little salt added and toast with jam, but we need a replacement for sandwiches. So rather then make more bread I tried the yogurt rolls my friend found on Baking Bites and raved about. The rolls call for all white flour but I substituted whole wheat pastry flour for some of the white flour. I discovered recently that we no longer like all white baked goods, finding them insipid and flavorless. Recently I made a batch of Touch of Grace Biscuits that none of us liked. I sent them in to my husband's office where they were devoured with rave reviews, so it is not that I messed up the recipe.

The rolls are wonderful, soft and fluffy with a delicate wheat taste that is perfect every way I have tried them: with butter warm from the oven, with tahini sauce and a cold black bean burger, toasted with jam... I cannot wait to try them with hamburgers and I will use this dough next time I want to make hot dog buns.

Soft Yogurt Sandwich Rolls

adapted from baking Bites

1 1/2 - 2 cups whole what pastry flour

2 - 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 Tbsp active dry yeast

3 Tbsp honey

1 cup tepid water (105° - 115° F)

1 cup yogurt (I used Greek style yogurt, the original says lowfat or non fat is fine but I would stick with whole milk)

1 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 1/2 tsp salt

In bowl of stand mixer combine 1/2 cup flour, yeast, honey and tepid water. Stir well and let stand for 10 minutes until bubbles form. (If you are sure that your yeast is still fresh you can skip this step).

With flat beater blade stir in yogurt, extra virgin olive oil, salt and 2 cups of the remaining flour. Gradually mix in remaining flour until you have a soft dough that pulls from the sides of the bowl. (This can be done in a bowl with wooden spoon or silicone spatula until this point and then turn out onto a floured counter and knead by hand until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes). Change to the dough hook and continue to knead until smooth and elastic. Cover bowl with lid and let rise until doubled in size, approximately 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 375° F, line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Turn dough out of bowl onto a lightly floured surface and gently deflate, pressing into a rectangle. Divide dough into 10 equal pieces with a board scraper or pizza cutter. (Or totally mess up on making equal pieces and pull out your scale to divide the vastly different piles into even ones). Shape each piece into a round ball by taking the dough and pinching together the sides, giving you a smooth top. Place them on the baking sheet.

Once all the rolls are shaped, press down firmly on each one to flatten. Cover with a clean damp dish towel and let rise for 25 minutes.

bake for about 20 minutes, until rolls are a deep golden brown on the top and bottom. Cool on a wire rack.

Makes 10 rolls