Soft and light, these delicious bread rolls are made from scratch and make the perfect addition to any dinner menu or party meal.
Believe me when I say, there’s nothing better than taking a batch of freshly baked bread out of the oven. Except of course, eating it. Have you ever tried baking bread at home, from scratch? I know a lot of people feel intimidated by the thought of yeast. I was a member of that club for a very long time. But I can tell you this much, if you keep a few things in mind, you will be well on your way to mastering the art of bread baking. Moreover, there are so many varieties to try.
The recipe I’m sharing with you today is one that I fall back on frequently to make bread rolls. It’s a very basic bread recipe and makes a great starting point, if you haven’t baked bread before.
Things to keep in mind –
- Yeast – Make sure that your yeast is viable. This is easy to do. Place the quantity specified in the recipe in a bowl with warm water and sugar. When rested for about 5 minutes, the yeast gets bubbly and frothy, signalling that it is still viable. If it doesn’t froth up, you may need to replace your yeast.
- Using warm water – Make sure that your water is warm, not hot. You should be able to keep your finger submerged in the warm water comfortably. If you cannot, the water is too hot, and it will kill the yeast.
- Kneading the dough – Kneading the dough takes a little time. You need to do this patiently. This helps build gluten fibres, which in turn will help your bread rise well.
- Resting time – Bread almost always, cannot be rushed, unless you’re making a quick bread. The time needed to rest (prove) your dough depends on the ambient temperature. Resting the dough in a warm spot in the kitchen will help it rise. If it is really cold where you are, consider keeping it by a window that gets a lot of sun or in the oven with just the light on.
Keep these vital points in mind when you’re making bread and you will see great results. Bread making gets better with practice. If your first batch doesn’t turn out spectacular, don’t worry, the next batch will be better, since you now know what to expect. So now that we’ve covered all of that, let’s move on to the recipe.
How to make Bread Rolls (Pao)
12
Rolls20
minutes25
minutes2
hoursSoft and light, these delicious bread rolls are made from scratch and make the perfect addition to any dinner menu or party meal.
Ingredients
1 1/2 tsp instant dried yeast
2 tsp sugar
1/4 cup warm water + 1 cup warm water (approx.) to knead the dough
3 cups plain flour / all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1-2 tbsp olive oil
Directions
- In a little bowl, place the warm water and add sugar and yeast to it. Stir to mix a little. Let it stand for about 5-10 minutes for the yeast to activate.
- In a large mixing bowl, place the flour and salt. Mix through.
- Make a well in the centre and add the yeast and sugar solution. Mix it in with the flour. Add more warm water gradually and knead to a smooth, soft dough. (I had to use just over 1 cup of water) Once the dough comes together, continue kneading for about 5 minutes. You will find the dough gets a little more stretchy than it first was.
- Drizzle oil and knead it into the dough.
- Lightly oil the bottom of the bowl and place the dough in it. I lightly oil the top of the dough too. This keeps it from drying out. Cover and set aside in a warm spot in the for about an hour or till the dough has doubled in size.
- Knock the dough back to get rid of the air bubbles and roll to a ball. Cut into portions and roll out into smooth balls. Place them about an inch apart in a lightly greased baking pan.
- Cover and leave it in a warm spot for the second rise. This takes about 45 minutes to an hour.
- Preheat your oven to 180 degrees. Brush the top of the bread rolls with some water and bake for about 25-30 minutes.
- As soon as the bread is baked, take it out of the oven, brush some butter over the top and cover the pan for around 5 minutes with a clean tea towel. This traps the steam in and keeps the rolls soft.
- Then take the rolls out of the pan and leave them on a cooling rack to cool.
Enjoy!!!
Recipe Video
Notes
- This is a vegan friendly recipe. I used a vegan butter, but feel free to use a butter of your choice.
Tku Trisha for the recipe to have some good fresh bread. Each step was very well explained. Will definitely give it a try.
Hi Trisha
I loved your ladhi bread recipe. I was wondering if you could do a video on ladhi bread but with whole wheat flour. Or hot cross buns with whole wheat flour? If its possible before Good Friday, it would be great. Please and thank you.
Regards
Melanie
Canada
These look just like ones we would get from our local poder, in Goa. Do you bake it in a brownie pan? If not, what are the dimensions of your baking pan
Hi Mitzi, I just used a 9 inch square cake pan/tin for them.
If you are using active dry yeast, how much should you use.
Hi Bernadette, for every 1 tsp of instant yeast, use 1 and 1/4 tsp of active dry yeast.
Hi dear. Thank you so much for the detailed receipe and the video. I tried the bread yesterday and they were PERFECT!!! Just how we love it!
Omg the breadturned out perfectly.. the shaping took two trials to get it absolutely right…. everyone loves it at home. Thank you for sharing
Hi Amita, I’m so happy to hear that. Thank you for trying out the recipe and for your feedback.
Hey Trisha, happy to have come across you, selflessly sharing most wanted recipes.Had a query. While baking, what mode do you use,top and down heat or only down heat? Thank you.
Thank you Enid. You would need to have both the top and the bottom heating elements on.
Hi dear. Thank you so much for the detailed receipe and the video. I tried the bread yesterday and they were PERFECT!!! Just how we love it!
That’s fantastic Michelle. I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe.
Hi Trisha. Can you tell me the amount of flour in gms.. sometimes the measuring cup differs in size. Tks
Hi Eslinda, I will make a note of the quantities when I make this next and add it to the recipe. In the meanwhile you can use any cup measure you have. As long as you use the same measure for all the ingredients in the recipe, you should be ok. Treat it like a regular dough, if its too dry gradually add little water at a time and if it is too sticky, add small amount of flour and knead it in. I hope this helps.
These look amazing! Would be perfect for the pav bhaji. The pav that you get here are on a sweeter side.
Thanks Rahul, they work really well for Pav Bhaji 🙂
Hey Trisha, happy to have come across you, selflessly sharing most wanted recipes.Had a query. While baking, what mode do you use,top and down heat or only down heat? Thank you.
Great recipe! Thank you so much.