Wednesday, May 7, 2008

French Bread Rolls

I found this recipe on allrecipes.com and modified it to suit our family. These are a great substitute for french bread and also make great sandwiches. They're very easy to make and you could use a bread machine for this recipe, although I like to make bread by hand. It's a lot of fun! Your kids would probably love to help and get their hands messy; I know mine do.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 Tbsp. active dry yeast
2 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. salt
4 c. bread flour
corn meal for dusting
1 egg white

Directions
  1. In a large bowl, stir together yeast, sugar, and water. Let stand for 10 minutes.
  2. Add oil, salt, and 2 cups flour, mix well. Stir in remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time until the dough pulls off of the sides of the bowl. Turn out onto a lightly floured board and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes.Lightly oil a large bowl. Place dough in bowl and turn over to coat. Cover with a damp towel, allow to rise in a warm place until doubled.
  3. Preheat oven to 400F. Punch down dough and return to floured board. Divide into approximately 16 equal pieces and shape into round balls. Place on greased baking sheets 2 inches apart. Cover with a damp cloth and allow to rise until double.
  4. Brush each roll with egg white and dust lightly with corn meal. Bake on center oven rack for about 20 minutes or until golden brown. For a really crusty outside, brush again with egg white halfway through baking time.
If your are planning on serving these with pasta, they are great with some fresh basil kneaded in during the first kneading.

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