Freshly baked bread, how good is that!? I know bread making is notoriously difficult, but I don’t quite understand why. Making sourdough is a different story, but bread rolls in particular are rather easy to make, I promise! And you don’t need any fancy equipment for this recipe, just a little bit of kneading with your hands to bring the dough together. So without further ado, let me introduce you to one of my favourite types of bread: Carrot Bread Rolls (Porkkanasämpylät in Finnish). Carrot works so nicely in a bread, the flavour it adds is very subtle but it gives the bread a bit of sweetness – and of course some vitamins, which is a bonus! Also, these bread rolls freeze extremely well 🙂
Carrot Bread Rolls
🍴 Makes: 10 – 12 rolls
🕒 Hands-on: ~ 20 minutes
🎛 Cooking time: 12 – 14 minutes
⏲ + Proofing about 1.5 hours
INGREDIENTS
- 2 carrots (100g)
- 250ml water
- 130g (2dl) seeded flour
- 260 – 290g (4 – 4.5dl) white bread flour
- 3 tsp dry yeast
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 2 – 3 tsp golden syrup or honey
- 2 tbsp vegetable or olive oil
STEPS
1 Start by peeling the carrots. Shred them using a box grater and set aside.
2 Next, heat the water in a mixing bowl in a microwave for about 30-40 seconds. The temperature should be about 42℃ (feeling slightly hot to touch) to activate the yeast.
3 Mix the yeast with the seeded flour and add to the water. Mix to combine with a spatula and then add the shredded carrots, salt and golden syrup/honey.
4 Next, start incorporating the remaining flour: add it little by little, about one decilitre cup (1dl=65g) at a time, starting to mix by hand when the dough gets too heavy/stiff to stir with a spatula. Add the oil towards the end and knead the dough for about 5 minutes. The dough is good when it starts to pull away from the side of the bowl and does not stick to your hand anymore.
5 Shape the dough into a ball and cover the bowl with a tea towel. Leave to proof in a warm spot for about one hour or until roughly doubled in size.
6 After first rise: tip the proofed dough onto a floured surface and knock back, briefly kneading out any air bubbles. Shape the dough into a long snake (about 50cm long, 7cm wide).
7 Cut the dough into 10-12 individual “rolls”. Place the rolls onto a lined oven tray, about 2cm apart. Cover with a tea towel and leave to proof for another 20-30 minutes.
8 Once proofed, splash the tops with a bit of water (you can just use your fingers to do this, do this right before putting the rolls in the oven). Cook in 210℃ (fan) for about 10-12 minutes until golden brown. Leave to cool for 10 minutes before tucking in!
Notes:
- Flour — Bread flour is always better but plain flour is fine too. Also, you can replace the seeded flour with any flour, but I really like the combination of the carrots and seeds
- Yeast — I actually think bread rolls taste nicer with dry yeast. But you can replace dry yeast with fresh yeast, for this recipe you’ll need 25g. If replacing use slightly cooler water, about 38℃ (just above hand temperature)
- Kneading — I’m used to kneading the dough in the bowl with one hand but you can always do this on a floured surface using both hands. The main thing is you give the dough a good knead as kneading stretches and develops the gluten strands in the dough, giving it a better texture. Do not overlook this step!
- Freezing — The rolls freeze beautifully! Just pop cooked and cooled rolls into a bag and put in the freezer. You can either defrost them in the microwave or leave in the room temperature for an hour or so
ALLERGEN & DIET INFO:
(VG) Bare in mind that if you use honey the rolls are not suitable for vegans. However, golden syrup (at least in the UK) should be vegan-friendly as it’s made using cane sugar.
Main equipment:
Medium mixing bowl
Measuring cup & spoons
Box grater
Tea towel
Lined oven tray
Other recipes you might like…! ⤵︎
