Jump to Recipe
Table Of Contents
- Soaked Version
- Want to Play Along?
Homemade bread can be dense, chewy and all around not so good. But that is definitely NOT the case with these 100% whole wheat “happy rolls.” They are soft and light. And they make the perfect pairing for my cream of potato soup.
Sometimes the answer might be right under your nose. I’m pretty sure this recipe is the winner so far in my book, and it’s one I’ve made for a few years now as rolls and hamburger buns. It’s featured as THE soaked bun recipe in the Family Camping Handbook.
I found it at The Happy Housewife way back when I first started blogging (at which point almost all my recipes started coming from online resources), and although it has a tiny bit of vital wheat gluten added, I’ve also found that omitting it entirely has barely an impact on the final product. The rolls definitely always got bonus points in my book for being super simple (the bread machine makes the dough) and practically failproof.
Every real food cook needs some basic resources that everyone recognizes, just like this one. If you have a desire to cook real food more fluently or gain confidence in remaking some of your own processed style recipes using only whole foods, you’ll love the bestselling eBook Better Than a Box. With 60 ready-to-go recipes and 100 pages of kitchen tutorials, your family will be singing your real food praises in no time. Click HERE for more info on the premium package, including the Kindle version.
I never thought to try the dough as bread until this little project. I’m telling you, the bread was so soft and delicious. I blame the egg, which is a great natural dough conditioner. (What’s a dough conditioner?)
Bread Machine Whole Wheat Dinner Rolls
5 Stars4 Stars3 Stars2 Stars1 Star5 from 3 reviews
- Author: Katie and The Happy Housewife
Ingredients
UnitsScale
- 1 1/2 c. water
- 1/3 c. olive oil (use the code STEWARDSHIP for 10% off at that site!)
- 1/4–1/3 c. honey
- 1 egg
- 2 tsp. salt (Use the code kitchenstewardship for 15% off of your first purchase)
- 4 1/2 c. whole wheat flour (I often use half and half red and white whole wheat, but 100% hard red is lovely too)
- 1 tsp. gluten
- 1 Tbs. yeast
Instructions
- Measure all the ingredients into a breadmaker and run the dough setting.
- With floured hands, make balls of dough the size of tangerines.
- Place onto an ungreased baking stone or lightly greased cookie sheet and allow to rise 45 minutes.
- Bake in a preheated 375F oven for 15-20 minutes. Makes about 2 dozen rolls or 12-18 buns.
Notes
To bake for a loaf? I can’t believe it, but I didn’t write it down! Use 375F and, I’m guessing, somewhere between 30-45 minutes, until it sounds hollow. This is another reason why I’m way underqualified for this series! One reader recommends spreading butter on top of the finished crust, which a few people are finding to get rather brown. Shoot for a small loaf over a large one so the middle gets done!
- Need a little help getting healthy food on the table every day? Real Plans takes the stress out of meal planning and puts the nourishing food BACK on your table. There’s a plan for every diet type, including GAPS, Paleo, AIP, Whole30, vegetarian and more! You remain totally in control: use your own recipes, accept theirs, and teach the system what your family likes…Check out how powerful it is here!
See the lovely rise:
I didn’t quite have enough dough left for a proper loaf in my pans after making enough hamburger rolls for the Mexican Black Bean Burgers. I was running through final tests for The Everything Beans Book, but if this bread is still in the running for finalist at the end of the project, I’ll definitely be trying this one in loaf pans again to see if it’s the big winner. It was a little flat this time:
The rolls themselves, on the other hand, never fail. And really, having a recipe for delicious hamburger and hot dog buns is almost as important as a good sandwich bread anyway. Plus, if you are cooking for one or two people, rolls freeze so beautifully and can be easily pulled out one at a time. I gave my son’s kindergarten teachers these rolls for Christmas, and they both said they were hoarding them from their families!
A nice rise…
And a beautiful finish!
If you’d like to see how I think about baking bread, including why extra virgin olive oil is safe for baking and also how to adapt a breadmaker recipe for hand-kneading or other machines, see HERE.
Don’t let this recipe go even a minute beyond the 2-hour dough cycle!
Kimball Family Bread Ratings:
- Whole grains: 5
- Softness: 5
- Flavor: 5
- Workability (dough): 5
- Good rise: 5
- Easy recipes: 5
- Bonus points: –1 only if you use the gluten
Total Score: 29 or 30/30 (view the bread rating system and all recipes HERE)
Soaked Version
The night before baking, mix together the water, oil, flour, and gluten (if using). Replace at least 1/4 cup and up to 100% of the water with whey, either from cheesemaking or yogurt cheese. If you use more than 1/4 cup of whey, add an additional 1/4 cup flour for each 1/2 cup of whey used.
I usually just stir the soaking ingredients together right in the bread machine (don’t forget to put the paddle on the bottom) using a spoon. Leave the mixture to soak at room temperature overnight. A closed, unplugged breadmaker is a perfect place.
When you’re ready to make the dough, add the egg, yeast, salt and honey and run the dough cycle. If you’re unsure about adding whey and extra flour, you can always make a visual check while the machine is kneading and toss in a bit extra if the ball of dough is not pulling away from the sides of the container sufficiently.
I barely notice a difference between the soaked rolls and the unsoaked version, and it’s hardly a minute’s more work, so I highly recommend just soaking the recipe.
Kimball Family Bread Ratings:
- Whole grains: 5
- Softness: 5
- Flavor: 5
- Workability (dough): 4.5 (sometimes with added whey it gets sticky)
- Good rise: 5
- Easy recipes: 5
- Bonus points: –1 only if you use the gluten, +2 for soaking
Total Score: 28.5 or 31.5/30 (view the bread rating system and all recipes HERE)
Want to Play Along?
I’m so pleased to share this recipe with you, because I think you’ll just love it. If you don’t have a bread machine, remember that you can fairly easily adjust the recipe using the bread machine to hand kneaded dough tips. (Or from a reader who tried it successfully in the comments: Add a little extra flour to the dough and let a stand mixer knead for 10 minutes, then make sure the 2nd rise doesn’t overdo it or the loaf could collapse in the oven. Bet that’s similar for hand kneading!)
I’d love it if you’d let me know how it goes if you give this recipe a try, especially if you use the no gluten version in a loaf pan. I’m a little concerned about the flatness, but perhaps just a titch more flour would help give the added structure needed. Be bold! Even flat loaves taste yum-o!
Bread baking is a great life skill for your kids to learn. It goes right along with my Kids Cook Real Food eCourse. Really any way you can get your kids in the kitchen is great!
Your kids can learn to cook, even if you don’t know where to start
My 4 kids and I created the online Kids Cook Real Food lessons to help bring real food and independence to families all over. Over 10,000 kids have joined us and we’d love to invite you along for the adventure!
I’m so pleased to offer a little gift from our family to yours, a knife skills lesson as a free preview of the full cooking eCourse!
Next week’s recipe won’t be so bright and sunny, I’m afraid. I finally tried the Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day recipe and ended up shaking my fists at the authors. It was the worst bread experience yet! More to come next Tuesday…
Catch up on all the recipes in the Seeking the Perfect Homemade Whole Wheat Bread series.
Have you seen Online Resources I Love, including the Cultured Dairy and Cheese class starting today (with ongoing enrollment)?
———————————————
I’d love to see more of you! Sign up for a free email subscription or grab my reader feed. You can also follow me on Twitter, get KS for Kindle, or see my Facebook Fan Page.
Unless otherwise credited, photos are owned by the author or used with a license from Canva or Deposit Photos.
Category: Real Food Recipes, Research, Understanding Your Food
Tags: baking, bread, Seeking the Perfect Whole Wheat Bread, soaked grains, soaking grains, traditional foods, whole grains, whole wheat, yeast bread
