
With a crispy crust and chewy, substantial interior these delicious no-knead rolls are made with a blend of white, malted and wholemeal flours plus mixed seeds. The easy dough is fermented overnight for exceptional flavour. Minimal shaping saves you time and gives the rolls a charming rustic appearance.
Enjoy with your favourite sandwich fillings or alongside soups and salads.
Please read the accompanying blog post before starting and use metric measurements.
Put the flours, seeds, salt and instant dry yeast into a large bowl and stir together.
Make a well in the centre and pour in approximately 250 ml of the water, stirring to start bringing a dough together.
Gradually add more water while stirring to form a wettish but still firm rather than sloppy dough. Stir well so there is no dry flour, adding an extra splash of water if necessary.
Tip: see image in blog post for how the dough should look.
Place in a large reusable polythene bag, or cover the bowl, and leave at room temperature overnight, 12 - 14 hours, or until the dough is risen and very bubbly.
Tip: If the room is warm, or if you'd like a longer rise for convenience or to allow more flavour to develop, you can put the dough in the fridge for up to 24 hours. Bring the dough back up to room temperature before proceeding with the recipe.
Sprinkle flour generously over your work surface (ideally first covered with a silicone mat to reduce sticking) then scrape the dough onto it.
Fold the dough over itself a few times, adding more flour if necessary, until you have a smooth ball of dough.
Cover the dough with the upturned bowl to rest while you complete the next step.
Line 1 large or 2 regular baking trays with baking paper: they should be big enough to fit 8 rolls with room to expand.
Dust the paper-lined tray(s) with flour.
Pat the dough into a rectangle approximately 2 - 2½ centimetres thick: if it keeps springing back, leave it to rest a few minutes more, then come back and try again. If it sticks to your hands, sprinkle with flour.
Cut the dough into 8 pieces then transfer to the prepared tray(s) and sprinkle the tops with flour.
Optional: neaten by nudging or gently stretching the pieces into more uniform shapes.
Place the tray(s) in 1 or more large reusable bags and set aside, ideally in a warm place.
Leave until the dough springs back slowly and leaves an indent when you press with a finger rather than immediately springing back: this will take approx. 30 - 45 minutes although depends on temperature.
While the dough is proving preheat the oven to 220°C /200°Fan /Gas 7 /425°F with a shelf in the middle and a deep METAL roasting tin on the bottom shelf (this will be filled with cold water later to create steam and help the bread rise: DO NOT USE GLASS or it could shatter).
Bake the rolls
When ready to bake use a baker's blade or sharp knife to make a slash along the length of each roll.
Place a tray of rolls on the middle shelf of the oven (if you have more than one tray, set the other aside somewhere cool while you bake the first).
Pour cold water from a jug into the hot roasting tin in the lower part of the oven. Immediately close the door.
Bake for 20 minutes without opening the door.
After 20 minutes carefully open the oven door (caution: lots of hot steam may billow out so keep your face, hands etc. out of the way) and take out the tray of rolls. Return the rolls to the oven, sitting directly on the middle shelf this time.
Note: if you only have one tray of rolls to bake you can also discard the tin of water at this point. But if you'll be baking another tray of rolls then pour out the water but return the empty tin to the bottom shelf so it stays hot.
Bake the rolls for another 5 minutes or until they're a rich brown colour and sound hollow when you tap underneath.
Put the baked rolls on a cooling rack and leave until cold (or until just warm if want to eat straight away while warm).
Bake the second tray of rolls in the same way, adding cold water to the tin on the bottom shelf as before.
Best eaten within 2 days of baking, but can be refreshed by heating as below, or frozen then defrosted and refreshed.
Reheat/refresh
Preheat an oven to 200°C /180° Fan /Gas 6 /400° F or an air fryer on 'Bake' to 160°C /350° F. Rub the rolls with cold water and bake until hot, the outside crisp and the interior soft again: approximately 8 - 12 minutes depending on the appliance and how many you're reheating.
Malthouse/malted flour. This is flour which has malt added to it and gives a lovely flavoured bread with a golden colour. Various malthouse bread flour blends are available to buy: read more about them in this Malthouse Loaf post including ones I recommend.