Soft Brown Hot dog rolls

I love a good boerewors roll. Everyone knows you need a soft, brown, hot dog roll for this treat. Today is a stunning day. Brian and I had our morning walk with Kenzi and decided to light the weber. Who says you have to wait for the weekend to light the fire? You can create your own magic every day of the week if you so choose and boerewors rolls were on the menu. I dusted down my counter top ready to roll my dough for these delightfully soft hot dog rolls. This recipe was hauled out again today. Here I share how it came about.

Thanks to Good Housekeeping for this recipe for soft brown rolls, this is a slight adaptation from their recipe. Our bread flour in South Africa doesn’t have as high a protein percentage as Europe’s so we need to adjust hydration. Wholewheat flour is also more thirsty than white bread flour. 

A few Saturdays ago in 2022 I felt like a nice juicy boerewors roll. I also felt like a day out of the kitchen so we agreed Brian would get wholewheat rolls from the local supermarket up the road. I called to ask when the wholewheat hot dog rolls would be ready. Long story short and a conversation that I wished I wasn’t having, I hung up the phone. I was verging on exasperation and needed to keep that in check before I ruined the day entirely. 

I promptly told Brian I’d make them. When you have your heart set on something , it’s rather difficult sometimes to pivot. I wasn’t in the mood for pivoting, I wanted my juicy boerewors roll on the braai like a true South African. We all have our favourite boerewors so I won’t tell you where to get yours.  I also won’t tell you how to cook yours either because this is about the wholewheat rolls not the boerewors.  

I really do prefer wholewheat hot dog rolls to the airy, stick to your teeth gunk you get at the supermarket. I always felt hungry after eating them. So that’s why I insist on the wholewheat version in the supermarket. Today’s recipe was born out of frustration and necessity.   They are a great lunch box alternative too and they freeze well. 

Soft Brown Hot dog rolls

Servings 8 hot dog rolls

Ingredients

• 450g Eureka stone ground brown bread flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 x7g pkt Anchor instant yeast. (Or 15g Fresh yeast mixed into tepid milk)
• 30g butter
• 150 ml milk warm for 30 sec in microwave
• 150-170 ml filter water room temperature 70% hydration
•  1 Tbl olive oil

Instructions

• In a bowl whisk the salt, sugar, flour and dry instant yeast together.  Rub in the butter until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.
• Make a well in the center and add the tepid milk and 150ml water. Mix together until dough comes together loosely. Add extra 20ml of water if dough feels dry
• Knead in Kenwood mixer on very low speed for 5 – 6 minutes. Or tip dough onto counter and knead for about 10 minutes.
• Add olive oil to the bowl to coat the bowl and stop the dough from sticking
• Roll into a tight ball. Place in oiled bowl, cover with cling wrap and leave in a warm place until doubles in size. This depends on the weather so summer it’s quicker than winter. 1-2 hours
• Dough doubled in size after 1h45min – today’s weather 18ºC
• Knock back dough and knead for about 5 minutes. The dough weighs about 810g.  Shape into 8 dough batons.
• The back and forth rolling action creates the shape. Use two hands, start in the centre and gently move hands outward to stretch the dough. Very difficult to show you while I'm taking the photo at the same time. Gosh I really do need to get my camera set up sorted
• Then roll into hot dog rolls by flattening and rolling into about 16cm long strips. Place the rolls onto a tray lined with baking paper cover loosely with cling wrap it a damp tea towel and leave to proof for 45-60 min. They should puff up and spread out during the second proofing.
• Oven should go on about 30 min before proofing is complete to 200°C.

  Brush with milk and sprinkle with seeds of your choice, here I've used miracle seed mix
• Bake for 15 min at 200ºC Make sure you co-ordintate the boerewors cooking with the time it takes the rolls to be ready.
• Cool on a wire rack for 10 min
• We love Weyers Meats pepper boerewors
• Serve with your choice of fillings and sauces