Portuguese rolls

Serves 8

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Proving time: 2½ hours
Cooking time: 20 - 25 minutes

Ingredients
175ml milk
7g instant dried yeast
300g bread flour, plus extra for dusting
½ tsp granulated sugar
1 tsp fine salt
30g butter soft

Method
Start by warming your milk in the microwave for 30 seconds or so until the chill has been taken off but it is not hot.  The ideal temperature you are looking for is body temperature, which means if you put your finger into the milk it should feel neither hot nor cold

Take 100ml of the milk and put in your yeast.  Leave to one side for 10 minutes to activate.  You should notice bubbles on the top start to form.

Meanwhile, after 5 minutes, into your stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, put the flour, sugar, salt and butter and set going on a medium speed.  Mix for a few minutes to give the butter time to work through the dough. 

Add the yeast mixture and most of the milk, keeping back just a little.  Set the mixer going again and leave going for a few minutes until the dough has come together.  If there are little bits of flour still on the bottom then add another tbsp of milk and repeat.  When you are happy, increase the speed to medium and knead for 5 minutes until smooth.

Remove the dough from the bowl, put a little oil all around the bowl, put the dough back in and cover with cling film and put to one side until doubled in size - around an hour.

After an hour, take your dough out of the bowl and as you do, it will deflate.  Pull the top of the dough over to the middle, do a quarter turn and repeat, do a quarter turn and repeat.  Put the dough back into the bowl, seam side down and again cover with cling film and leave to one side for around an hour to double in size again.

Flour your work surface and remove the dough.  Weigh your dough and work out by dividing by 8, how much each roll should weigh.  Divide the dough equally by 8 and roll each piece into a ball.  Cover with cling film and leave for half an hour to rise.

Preheat your oven to 200c.

After your rolls have risen, using a chopstick or wooden spoon, press down in the middle to get a little line down the middle and this should also make the shape more elongated.  Gently put your hands either side of the long sides of the rolls to push them back together.

Put your rolls into the oven and cook for 20-25 minutes until golden.  To check if they are cooked through, pick up one of your rolls with a clean tea towel and tap the bottom, if the roll is cooked it will sound hollow rather than dull which is how it would sound if they are not cooked.