Spelt Soft Dinner Rolls
This is a modification of the Rich & Tender Dinner Rolls recipe from the King Arthur Flour 200th Anniversary Cookbook.
I was going to make their recipe, but just exchange the spelt flour for the whole wheat flour, while still using mostly AP flour. For some reason, I assumed that the AP flour was necessary for the light texture. I already statred making the dough, when I discoverd the white flour bucket was empty. I figure "What the hell" and just went with all spelt flour, just to see how it came out. The answer is that they came out just fine, and were very light and delicious.
Preparation Time:
6 hours
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups warm water (chlorine free)
- 4 tablespoons sugar
- 1 packet yeast
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil or butter (butter will give a richer flavor)
- 1 egg
- 5 1/2 cups spelt flour
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 1/2 cup non-fat dry milk (optional. Gives a richer taste)
Cooking Instructions
- Proofing the yeast: Add the warm water to your mixing bowl, and stir in the sugar until most of it has dissolved, then stir in the yeast. Let it sit for at least 5 minutes. You should start to see bubbles coming to the surface and some of the yeast will float up too.
- Add the wet ingredients: Mix in the butter or oil and the egg. If you are using butter, it will be best if iit has softened first.
- Add the dry ingredients: Mix in your first cup of spelt flour, then add the salt and the optional dry milk. Work in the rest of the flour about half a cup at a time. If it is still sticking to the bowl, then add a little more flour. The rolls will be lighter if you use as little flour as you can get away with.
- Kneading: Knead the dough for about 4 minutes, then wander off and do some cleanup for a few mor minutes to allow the dough to rest. Knead the dough again for another 4 minutes.
- First rising: Grease a bowl with olive oil, put in the dough ball and roll it around till the dough is completely coated with oil. Cover the dough with a clean damp towel or plastic wrap, and set someplace warm until the dough doubles in size. This generally takes 1 to 2 hours.
- Second rising: Punch down the dough, and lightly knead out the remaining large bubbles, then put it back in the bowl to rise again. It should take only about half as much time as the first raise.
- Shaping: I like to pull off ping-pong ball sized pieces of dough put them on a greased baking sheet so that they are just touching. Feel free to use this dough to form just about any sort of dinner roll you want.
- Final rising and baking: Cover your shaped rolls with a clean damp towel, and let rise for about an hour. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees and bake the rolls for 15 to 20 minutes.
Notes
A stand mixer, such as a Kitchen Aid that comes with a dough hook makes this recipe even easier. The mixing, kneading and first two rising peariods can all be doen in the mixing bowl.
dave – Sun, 2005 – 11 – 27 14:00
I hope it works for you
Let me know how it works out for you, and any suggestions you may have for changes or additions.
dave – Wed, 2006 – 03 – 22 11:17
I have yet to try spelt, it
I have yet to try spelt, it is next on my list of new grains to try. This sounds like a dandy thing to give it a go with too, thanks!
-Marie (chaoticerotic)