Oat Wheat Rolls

This recipe was adapted from an Oat Bread recipe given to me by Mickle's Dad in New Zealand. My dearly beloved is forever scolding me for being "bored" with foods, and changing them somewhat, but I point out to him that this is his cross to bear with me. Poor dear, he's a good soldier, never complaining about being fed strange and different things. You can tell his life is really hard, right?

OAT WHEAT ROLLS

1-1/2 cups warm water
3 tsp or 6 tsp yeast
3 cups white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup oats (regular or fast)
4 tsp milk powder
1-1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp olive oil

Put the water in your bowl or bread machine container, add the rest of the ingredients and proceed as my tutorial on the right suggests. Knead, let the dough rise for 15 minutes, punch down and split into 16 even pieces. Roll each into a nice ball, flatten on a greased baking sheet (I line mine with waxed paper and then grease the paper, for easy cleanup), and let them rise until doubled in size (about 20 minutes for 6 tsp yeast, about an hour for 3 tsp yeast). Put in a conventional oven at 375F for 18 to 20 minutes, or the convection oven at 350F for 14 to 17 minutes, until the desired degree of brown is reached. You'll notice, of course, that my rolls have flour clinging to them, because I don't brush them with liquid after I've formed the rolls. That's because I like a soft roll, not one with a hard crust on it. It's personal preference; you can brush yours with warm milk or melted butter, if you wish.

These also made good sandwiches for lunch the next day. I split the rolls in half and buttered them, ran them under the broiler for a minute, removed them, put tomatoes, cheese and meat (roast beef, in this case) on the two halves of each roll, and put them back under the broiler. Note that my new broilers have adjustable temperature controls, so I dialed the temperature back to 400F. You might have to drop your top shelf by one unit so the rolls don't scorch before the cheese starts to melt. An orange is a good accompaniment to the sandwich, by the way!

Happy Monday, everyone!