Deceased Yeast

I've been on the look-out for more savoury bread recipes recently, because:

1. I still haven't managed to make those 'dinner rolls' from posts past look and have the texture of anything other than common or garden cornmeal scones (which is great because I at least have a go-to accidental savoury scone recipe, I guess, but not so excellent if I actually want to enjoy the light and fluffy rolls so promised by the author)
2. as much as I love the savoury zucchini bread I wrote about in the last post, sometimes one needs something other than courgette in their diet, and
3. we both know that I'm nicely-off for sweet bread recipes at the moment! (Which reminds me - I have some bananas that I need to use up. Oh dear, how awful, such a chore...mmm peanut butter banana bread of the gods!)

This little number caught my eye on scrolling through Pinterest the other day: Gluten-Free Triple Herb Overnight Dinner Rolls. It looked eminently do-able, time-wise, skill-wise, and ingredients-wise, so I thought I'd give the recipe a go, and record the proceedings wearing my fake food-blogger disguise.

So. :: rolls up disguise's sleeves ::

To make 12 rolls you need:

1 ¼ cups or 295ml of milk (I used semi-skimmed)
2 tbs or 30g of butter (I used half butter, half 'spreadable' butter - don't judge - that's all I had to hand!)
1 packet of yeast (usually 7g so I'm presuming this is the measurement here)
1 ½ tbs or 20g of sugar (I'm guessing it's ordinary table sugar like granulated or the slightly finer caster)
1 cup or 122g of tapioca flour
¾ cup or 142g of brown rice flour
¾ cup or 144g of potato starch (not flour)
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp xanthan gum
2 tsp salt
1 tbs each of fresh, chopped rosemary, thyme, and sage. (I used dried, and a little less of each)
1 tbs olive oil
2 large eggs

Well, your first instruction is to generously grease and rice flour a muffin tin. Hmm. Well, I have a tiny muffin pan for my tiny oven, but many muffin cases, so...

But to get in to the actual mixing things together stage, next you need to combine the milk and butter in a microwave cup or jug of some sort, and nuke it until the mixture reaches 110-120 degrees (I presumed Celsius, because that's my go-to, but I have a terrible suspicion that because the author says it takes 1:10 in their microwave to get it to that temp, but doesn't state at which setting and it took four minutes of blitzing at full strength to get anything near that hot in my old banger that it may not be Celsius at all... This may be trial and error - I'll let you know if you need to bump the temp down and use 110-120 Fahrenheit instead (43-49 Celsius), once we've seen whether they rise or not... So, once you've either melted it gently, or blasted it to kingdom-come (depending on those f's and c's) you need to add the yeast and the sugar and then you're instructed to set the bowl aside while it proofs.

While it's proving. Proofing. Hmm. While it's doing strange and wonderful yeasty things, add the tapioca flour, brown rice flour, potato starch, baking powder, xanthan gum, salt, and herbs to another bowl and give it a good mix (after taking arty-farty photos first if you, too, are playing at fake food-blogger along with me).

Once the yeast is prooved. Proved. Proofed (around 10 minutes), mix in the olive oil and the eggs. (On a low speed, says the recipe. Or a lazy arm, says me), then slowly add in the flour mixture, then beat on a high speed for at least 1:30. Or alternatively give yourself muscle fatigue and beat it with a wooden spoon for five minutes.

Then you spoon the dough into the muffin forms, cases of whatever you're using, around ¾ full (although to be honest, mine were more half full, possibly due to yeast issues...), then gently smooth the top of each one with wet fingertips. To get the cross shape on the top, dip kitchen scissors in tapioca flour then snip each dough ball in half, then in half again so you have quarters. My first six were happy to sit in the muffin pan, the second lot had to make do with an ordinary baking tray. They showed how they felt about being second-best by ignoring their paper case boundaries and instead sulking in formless blobs.

Next you pretend they all look the same and brush the tops with a small amount of olive oil, then cover the trays with cling-film - the oil will keep the plastic from getting too cosy with the dough while it rises. And I've just realised I forgot to do that. Well, we'll learn tomorrow just how important it really is to brush them with oil, won't we, girls and boys? After you've fought the cling-film and used approximately four times as much as you really need because it won't stick to the pans but it'll stick happily to itself, place the trays in the fridge and leave overnight, or at least for eight hours. Legend has it that this is called a 'cold rise'.

I left them in for ten hours. Not only did I not have to worry about the dough sticking to the cling-film, I think we proved (ahahahah) that it is Fahrenheit and not Celsius for the melting process. It appears I killed the yeast. Or at least maimed it enough to make it believe that playing dead was the safest option, for there was no sign of life, and nary a rise to be seen.

Once they've risen sufficiently (let's pretend, shall we?), remove the rolls from the fridge and let them sit at room temperature while the oven pre-heats to 350F or 175C, then bake them for 28-35 minutes until the tops are golden brown. (I jimmied my second batch - the :: cough :: free-form, sulking version of which I refused to show you - into the muffin tray after taking the first lot out [my oven is only big enough for one tray at a time], and it actually turned out better than the first, if we exclude the rather sad-looking paper-cases, so let that be a lesson in judging things by their appearance. Or something.)

Once they're ready, let them sit in their pans for five minutes until they're cool enough to handle, then turn them out to finish cooling on a wire rack.

Or immediately tear one apart, spread a little butter on it, and nom! Whatever you prefer!

To be honest, I'm surprised they've turned out so well, considering the unspeakable atrocities performed upon the yeast; the texture is surprisingly not so heavy, although the next time (and yes, there will be a next time) I'll try not to commit fermentocide!

Be prepared, however, to be overwhelmed by the enticing herby baking smell that will fill your house when making these. Deliciously distracting!

A+ would bake again!