Do you ever reminisce about your childhood? (im getting oldish)
I’ve been doing it a lot lately. The older I get, the more I want to reconnect with my childhood ... I long for the days I used to chase rabbits along the sand dunes or drag a goat up four flights of stairs only to be told to take it back...
Foods are another trigger that takes me back to a time gone by and one of them is knotted bread. Growing up in Israel, Mum made us pita sandwiches. They were filled with houmous, pastrami and pickles or scrambled eggs or my favourite, pillow-soft, light and fluffy, knotted bread rolls, smothered in chocolate spread, called “Shachar” (meaning dawn) wrapped in greaseproof paper, waiting to be eaten for lunch in my lunch box. Yep, one of my three staple lunches to take to school. Did anyone else take a chocolate sandwich/roll for lunch?
I found the recipe for these heavenly bread rolls on an Israeli site and the taste and texture was the same.
TO KNOT OR NOT TO KNOT
You can turn them into dinner rolls if you want to, you don't have to tie them in a knot. I put a little parsley in the dough.
Ingredients
1 kg all purpose flour
2 tablespoons yeast
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup olive oil
3 cups warm water
Topping optional
1 cup finely chopped fresh continental parsley
2 – 3 table spoons olive oil
1-2 cloves garlic crushed
Method
Pre heat the oven to 180C
In a mixing bowl place the flour, yeast, sugar, olive oil and 2 cups of water.
Begin to mix ingredients either by hand or a hook attachment, while ingredients are mixing begin to gradually add the third cup of water and salt. Mix for about 5 minutes to form a soft dough.
Place dough in a large, lightly greased bowl. Cover and set aside in a warm place for 30-60 minutes or until doubled in size.
Line two baking trays with baking paper and divide dough into as many portions as you like. I made 14 bread rolls.
Roll each portion into a log then tie each log into a loose knot. Place them apart on a baking tray lined with baking paper.
Or no knot
Divide portions into equal size balls and place them apart on baking tray lined with baking paper.
Cover with lightly greased plastic wrap. Set aside in a warm place for 30 to 40 minutes or until dough has almost doubled in size.
Option 1 No topping
Brush dough top with egg. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes.
Option 2 with topping
Mix parsley, oil and crushed garlic and brush the mixture over the bread roll and bake 15-20minutes.
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