Bread Rolls cooked over a fire

We’re back from a wonderful week spent at Mahai Campsite in Royal Natal National Park in the Drakensberg Mountains – it was so peaceful, despite the fact that it rained for four days. We were forced to relax, which was good!

We did all our cooking over a braai-fire, even our bread (even if sometimes our fire was made under a beach umbrella), so I thought I’d share my favourite bread recipe with you, and the method for making bread-rolls over the coals.

Brown Seed Bread Rolls

3 1/2 cups of brown bread flour
1 sachet instant yeast (10 grs)
5 mls salt
1/2 cup of mixed seeds – I used poppy, sunflower, sesame and linseeds
30 mls syrup or honey or sugar
60 mls of oil
1 to 2 cups of luke-warm water

• Mix together the dry ingredients
• Add the honey and oil, stir slightly
• Add the warm water slowly, while stirring, until the flour binds into a dough
• Continue stirring with your spoon until the mixture is ready to tip out
• Lightly flour a large bread board or clean table, and tip the dough out onto it
• Knead gently but thoroughly until the dough is very smooth, and elastic when stretched

• Lightly oil a clean bowl, and place your dough in it, cover with a clean cloth and set aside somewhere warm to rise
• When the dough has doubled in size, knock it back, and press out flat until about 1 inch thick
• Cut out circles with a glass or cookie cutter – don’t make them too big, the dough should yield about 16 rolls

• Flour the tops as well, and set aside, covered, to prove
• Get the fire going, you will need a bed of of coals for a gentle heat

• Place the rolls directly on the grid and allow to cook, turning them over frequently

• The rolls are done when they sound hollow when tapped.
• The whole process should take about 2 hours, and there is nothing as good as a hot bread roll baked over the coals!

Enjoy!  We had our hot bread rolls with some warmed-up left-over braaied kassler ribs – with plenty of mustard, these were the ultimate ‘burger’!