Rustic rosemary & sun-dried tomato rolls (vegan recipe)

I did a kneed! – JD, 4

JD and I had never baked bread before this weekend. Well, we’d emptied ingredients into the breadmaker and hit go, but we hadn’t done the kneeding, rising, shaping and baking ourselves.

We wanted to try a vegan recipe as JD needs to keep his dairy intake to a minimum, so we opted for a focaccia dough. We found a basic recipe on Tesco Real Food and pretty much followed it, breaking with the instructions only towards the end for a crustier, more rustic-looking roll, rather than a traditional flat bread.

This recipe makes a deliciously fragrant bread. Each bite hits you with the warming olive oil and rosemary flavour, followed by a tangy sun-dried tomato kick. So easy to make and so, so yummy.

Here’s what we did:

Ingredients

For the dough:

• 500g strong white bread flour
• 7g fast action yeast
• 1.5 tsp salt
• 10g fresh rosemary
• 25g (1oz) sundried tomatoes, finely chopped
• 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 250ml hand-hot water

Instructions

1. Put the flour, yeast and fine salt in a large bowl and stir
2. Finely chop the rosemary and sun-dried-tomatoes, add to the bowl and stir
3. Stir in 4 tbsp of the oil and the water and to form a dough
4. Put dough on a floured board and knead for until the dough is smooth and springs back when pressed
5. Put the dough in a bowl, cover and leave somewhere warm for 45 minutes – it should double in size
6. Put the dough back on the board, kneed again to make it workable and then cut into eighths
7. Shape each piece into a flatish, rough oval – don’t worry about lumps and bumps.
8. Oil a baking tray and put the breads on it, then cover with oiled cling film and leave for another 30 minutes – they should double in size again
9. Pre-heat the oven to 200C / gas mark 6
10. Remove the cling film and prod each bread all over with your fingers – a great job for little hands!
11. Now for the toping: drizzle with the olive oil, sprinkle with the salt and stick a few sprigs of rosemary into each bread
12. Bake in the centre of the oven for 20 minutes until pale golden