Poppys Seed: Gaaarlic Bread!

What could be better than the smell of freshly baked bread?
Nothing!

So that is when I decided to take it upon myself to learn to knead. I really needed to knead. They say talk is cheap, well, bread – my friend is even cheaper, which is one of the many reasons we all buy it ready made and sliced for us, how convenient. Possibly a little too convenient for me and so I was determined to gather a couple of simple, staple but really good bread recipes which I can conjure up in little time with little effort.

On my quest for finding this handful of staple recipes I was also going to teach myself to knead. As you can imagine, my enthusiasm laced with sheer ignorance to the world of yeast and its fickle, unforgiving ways led to one (or two) complete disasters.
One particular disaster i recall was for a brown 'health' bread, which ended up being more of a health hazard and could cleverly double up as a weapon, should you so need one. I somehow managed to refrain from using my new weapon to sabotage any innocent passers by - curious as to my culinary efforts and gave it to these two greedy little piglets ...

One of my guinea pig/friends comforted me suggesting ‘we can still eat it…just as toast!’ this innovative idea was accepted as making the best of a bad situation, but not exactly one for your repertoire and so my quest continued.
I did not want a bread which was only edible in the form of toast, oh no, I wanted soft, fresh, hot bread straight from the oven that needs nothing but a lick of butter, - if that.

You know what they say, ‘If at first you don’t succeed, try again! (And hide all the evidence).

Cutting to the chase, this recipe for garlic rolls is foolproof and the garlic can be omitted leaving you with nice white baps…

You will need:
4 cups plain (cake) flour (560g)
10 ml each of Salt and Sugar
1 sachet (10g) instant yeast
About 375 ml lukewarm water
30 ml oil
30 ml melted butter
4 cloves freshly chopped garlic

Sift your flour and salt into a large bowl, add sugar and mix. Chop your garlic as finely as you can, add to your bowl along with your sachet of yeast and mix again.
Mix your oil with your lukewarm water and gradually add to your bowl of flour until you start to see it coming together as a soft dough.
Turn out onto a floured work surface and knead, yes – knead. For those of you who think this is a little intimidating – as I did and were NOT taught how to knead by your mother (thanks mum!) or in home economics, its really simple.
You basically gently bring the far edges of the dough forward -towards you and fold it over. With the heel of your hand (or your clenched fist) push the dough away from you. Give the t a quarter turn and repeat.
Repeat these movements until your dough changes and starts to feel smooth and elastic.
You can tell if your dough has been kneaded sufficiently when the impression of a finger springs back.
Once your dough is smooth and elastic, pop it into a greased bowl, cover and leave in a warm place until doubled in size (about 20 minutes).

Once doubled in size, take out the bowl and back onto your work surface and knead it again until it is roughly back to its original size. Divide into 10 rolls and arrange on your baking tray and brush with melted butter. Leave to rise again in a warm place for a further 15 minutes.