Malted Bread Rolls

Makes about 12 rolls

This is a basic recipe for quick bread. You can adapt it for all sorts of bread. If you move your mouse over the links in the text, you will see notes about why the bread should be made in the way described, some pitfalls of bread making, and how to adapt the recipe.

  1. Put 1 sachet (or about a level teaspoon) of quick-acting yeast granules into a measuring jug with about 150ml of warm (body temperature) water, and 2 heaped teaspoons of sugar, and stir.
  2. Measure 1 lb of flour into a large mixing bowl. The bowl should be no more than one third full, so that you have room to mix & knead the bread. Add about half a level teaspoon of salt (preferably sea salt, with no additives). Thoroughly mix the dry ingredients.
  3. Add 1 or 2 tablespoons (to taste) of malt extract to the dry ingredients.
  4. I usually add walnuts to my malted bread rolls; the walnuts go very well with the malt flavour. Just break up some walnuts into smallish pieces and mix them in to the dry ingredients. You will need about 10 half-kernels broken into about 4 pieces.
  5. When the yeast has started to ferment in the jug (when there is a froth on it), stir it well (to get out the bubbles, so that you can measure it accurately), and add about 100ml of olive oil, and more warm water to bring it up to 300ml in total. Add this liquid to the dry ingredients.
  6. Measure out another 300ml of warm water, but do not add it to the mixture yet.
  7. Stir the mixture with your hand, to mix in the liquid that you already added. Add more liquid, a little at a time, from the measuring jug, and stir it in, until the consistency is about right. For 1 lb of flour you will probably need a total of about 450 ml of liquid, but it depends on many factors.
  8. You need to get the consistency of the bread dough right. It should be fairly wet, but not runny. It should be viscous enough that you can scoop up about 90% of the dough out in your hands. If you hold the dough on your hand above the bowl, it should slowly ooze back into the bowl. If the dough is too dry, add more liquid (a little at a time); if it is too wet, add some more flour.
  1. Knead the dough, for about 4 minutes, in the bowl, or in your hands above the bowl, with a pulling, twisting, and folding action, as illustrated in the video to the right. (Forget about anything you have seen involving kneading by pushing the dough on a board - the best action is pulling, and this dough is too wet for that method and will stick to any surface that you knead it on.) You will see texture of the dough change as you do this, developing the familiar fibrous look of bread as the gluten comes out of the flour.
  2. If you have time, you can now choose to cover the dough and let it rest for 40 minutes. This is not essential, but it does make the bread even better. After it has rested, kneed it again.
  3. When you have finished kneading it, put the dough back in the bowl, scraping as much as possible from your hands back into the bowl. Wash & dry your hands very well.
  4. Thoroughly grease (I usually use oil) & flour a large flat metal baking tray. Do not wash your hands again; your hands should be dry, and slightly oily & floury to prevent the dough from sticking to them so much in the next stages.
  5. Sprinkle a handful of flour over the dough in the bowl (mainly around the edges) and use your hands to separate the dough from the bowl. Turn out the dough onto a well floured work-surface or large chopping board.
  6. Turn the dough over so that it is floury all over, and form it into a sausage shape (this is simply to make it easier to measure it out accurately).
  7. Use a large floured knife to cut the dough into an appropriate number of equal sized lumps. The number depends on the size & shape of your baking tray - mine fits 12 (4x3), but yours might be different.
  8. Roll each lump in flour, and then roll it thoroughly between your hands to make it as round as possible and get out any creases from folds in the dough. If it starts to stick to your hands, roll it in more flour. Place each lump on the tray.
  9. Place the baking tray somewhere warm for the rolls to rise - which will probably take 10 minutes. I usually put mine in the oven, on the lowest setting. With a quick-rising recipe like this, you don't need cover the bread while rising, but if you make a loaf, which rises more slowly, you probably should cover them with a tea-towel to prevent them drying out.
Bread after rising Bread after rising Finished Bread Rolls Bread before rising
  1. Optionally, just before putting the rolls in the over, sprinkle poppy or sesame seeds over the rolls. You should probably moisten the top of the rolls with some water, using a pastry brush or a finger, so that the seeds stick to the dough. Alternatively, whisk up some egg-white with some flour, and brush the mixture onto the top of each bread roll before sprinkling on the seeds.
  2. Pre-heat the oven to 240°C (no fan). When it has reached the right temperature, put the rolls in, about one third from the top.
  3. When the bread rolls are nicely brown (about 10 minutes) take them out and allow them to cool. As soon as they are cool enough to handle, turn them over on the tray (or onto a cooling tray) so they don't get damp from condensation.
  4. When they are cool enough, you can eat them. I often freeze some of them. If I eat them the next day, even if I didn't freeze them, then I usually re-warm them first in the oven (150°C) for a few minutes.

Secrets of Breadmaking

Flavourings With the malted bread recipe, I often add chopped walnuts. Sesame seed, pumpkin seeds, etc. can be added to the dry ingredients, as well as on top - I usually prefer these in white bread. You can add herbs: sage, thyme, etc. You can use other oil instead of olive oil, for flavour. You can add spices. You can use beer instead of water. Sometimes I add cheese (either grated, or a small chunk embedded in each roll). Feel free to experiment.
Yeast Quick acting yeast is one of the things that makes this recipe quick. If you use normal dried yeast, or live bakers yeast, you will need to allow it to ferment longer before adding it to the dry ingredients.
Quick acting yeast can be added directly to the dry ingredients, but fermenting it beforehand makes things even quicker, and ensures that the yeast is OK (I have had some bad sachets, that do nothing, resulting in "unleavened" bread).
Flour Ideally you should use at least 50% strong flour (made from different wheat to normal flour - it has more gluten, which gives bread its fibrous texture). You can mix the strong flour with other kinds, for flavour.
If you can get it, you can use malted flour instead of adding malt extract.
You can use whole-grain flour, course-ground flour, or rye flour, etc. However, all these types of flour add less gluten to the bread, and so require more kneading. Also, they generally require more oil to get the right consistency.
Salt Most varieties of table & cooking salt have various additives, e.g. to stop them from clumping. As a rule, these additives are to some degree poisonous to yeast. Especially if you like your bread salty, you should try to use additive-free salt, otherwise the bread will not rise so well, and may not rise at all. Salt will improve the keeping qualities of the bread (stop it going stale so quickly), but salt itself is also poisonous to yeast, so don't overdo the salt.
Malt This recipe is for malted bread. If you don't like malt, leave it out.
You can add other flavourings, such as herbs or spices, as you choose.
You can also use malted flour instead of malt extract.
Liquid Getting the right amount of liquid is key to making good bread. The wetter the dough is, the quicker & easier it is to knead, and the faster it will rise. However, if the dough is too wet, it will also collapse more quickly & easily if you leave it to rise too long, or handle it too roughly.
Adding oil instead of some of the water helps to make it easier to knead without making it so sticky, so if you are making a pizza base, you will probably want to double the amount of oil. Oil also improves the keeping qualities of bread - without oil it goes stale very quickly. Course-ground flour & low-gluten flour (e.g. rye flour or special gluten-free flour for people with allergies) tend to need more oil.
If you are making a loaf, rather than rolls, you will need to make the dough drier, otherwise the weight of bread will cause it to collapse, and to leave it much longer to rise.
Kneading The purpose of kneading is to give bread its fibrous texture, by getting gluten from the flour into the liquid of the dough, and helping it to form the long bread fibres. This is why a pulling action is required.
If you don't knead bread, the result is more like cake.

Quick acting yeast is one of the things that makes this recipe quick. If you use normal dried yeast, or live bakers yeast, you will need to allow it to ferment longer before adding it to the dry ingredients.
Quick acting yeast can be added directly to the dry ingredients, but fermenting it beforehand makes things even quicker, and ensures that the yeast is OK (I have had some bad sachets, that do nothing, resulting in "unleavened" bread).

Ideally you should use at least 50% strong flour (made from different wheat to normal flour - it has more gluten, which gives bread its fibrous texture). You can mix the strong flour with other kinds, for flavour.
If you can get it, you can use malted flour instead of adding malt extract.
You can use whole-grain flour, course-ground flour, or rye flour, etc. However, all these types of flour add less gluten to the bread, and so require more kneading. Also, they generally require more oil to get the right consistency.

Most varieties of table & cooking salt have various additives, e.g. to stop them from clumping. As a rule, these additives are to some degree poisonous to yeast. Especially if you like your bread salty, you should try to use additive-free salt, otherwise the bread will not rise so well, and may not rise at all. Salt will improve the keeping qualities of the bread (stop it going stale so quickly), but salt itself is also poisonous to yeast, so don't overdo the salt.

This recipe is for malted bread. If you don't like malt, leave it out.
You can add other flavourings, such as herbs or spices, as you choose.
You can also use malted flour instead of malt extract.

Getting the right amount of liquid is key to making good bread. The wetter the dough is, the quicker & easier it is to knead, and the faster it will rise. However, if the dough is too wet, it will also collapse more quickly & easily if you leave it to rise too long, or handle it too roughly.
Adding oil instead of some of the water helps to make it easier to knead without making it so sticky, so if you are making a pizza base, you will probably want to double the amount of oil. Oil also improves the keeping qualities of bread - without oil it goes stale very quickly. Course-ground flour & low-gluten flour (e.g. rye flour or special gluten-free flour for people with allergies) tend to need more oil.
If you are making a loaf, rather than rolls, you will need to make the dough drier, otherwise the weight of bread will cause it to collapse, and to leave it much longer to rise.

The purpose of kneading is to give bread its fibrous texture, by getting gluten from the flour into the liquid of the dough, and helping it to form the long bread fibres. This is why a pulling action is required.
If you don't knead bread, the result is more like cake.