Twisted Knotted Mint Garlic Rolls

For the second week of Blogging Marathon, I will be making three dishes which can be served as brunch for kids. So what is brunch? Brunch is something you serve late morning and is in between breakfast and lunch. It needs to be a filling dish to make up for both breakfast and lunch. Usually my daughter raises early and so she never skips her breakfast. So I have never served brunch for my kid. But when my nephew visited us last week, my daughter’s routine changed. She got up very late in the morning, missed her usual breakfast time.  One such day I served them these are very buttery and very flavourful mint and roasted garlic rolls. The rolls disappeared immediately while still warm.

And this is the day, we post for Bread Bakers group challenges.  Our host this month is Deepti of Baking Yummies chose the theme as rolls. I just mingled both the themes and made these cute looking twisted knotted rolls. The recipe for the bread dough is from Korena In The Kitchen. The shaping and the filling were the ideas combined from many posts from the web. I should say that they turned out beautiful. Instead of roasting the garlic in oven, I pan fried them for 10 minutes until soft and then mashed it and used it up in the recipe. And I also pan roasted the mint leaves until dry and then crushed them and used it in the recipe. The aroma of butter combined with the mint and roasted garlic was awesome. Brush the rolls with milk to get the nice brown colour on top. I used half the dough for this and used the remaining dough to make some other rolls. That will be posted later. The whole recipe makes 8-10 rolls.

I have a Philips Hand Mixer which also has a dough attachment. But until now I have never used it to knead the bread dough. SO as part of an experiment I used it to knead this dough. I used it continuous for nearly three minutes and by the time, the mixer itself started heating. I could sense a faint burnt smell and so I switched it off immediately. And when I checked the dough, it was not even any where near the done stage. I had to knead the dough for 5-7 minutes to make it elastic and smooth. So my advice to new bakers, never use your hand mixer to knead the dough. Use a stand mixer else knead it by hand on a counter. Use the mixer only to make batters and not doughs.

Ingredients:

For The Bread Dough:

Milk – 1/2 cup + 1 tbs

Water – 1/2 cup

Butter – 2 tbs

Flour/ Maida – 3 1/4 cups

Sugar – 2 1/2 tsp

Salt – 1 1/2 tsp

Instant Yeast – 2 1/4 tsp / Dry Yeast – 1 tbs

For Filling and Topping:

Butter – 4 tbs

Mint Leaves – a handful

Garlic – 4 cloves

Procedure:

For The Filling:

Dry roast mint leaves until crisp.

Crush them to make flakes.

Roast the garlic pods with the skin in a pan on medium to low flame.

When they feel soft, remove from heat and let them cool.

Peel skin and mash the roasted garlic until a coarse mixture is formed.

Set aside until the dough is ready.

For The Dough:

Heat together milk, water and butter.

When the butter is melt, remove from flame and let it come to warm temperature.

In a bowl mix together flour, instant yeast, sugar and salt.

Add the warm milk mixture and knead to form a soft dough.

Transfer the dough to counter and knead for 10 minutes until the dough is smooth, soft and elastic. It should pass the window pane test.

Oil a bowl, place the dough inside and rotate to coat it evenly with oil.

Cover with cling wrap and set aside for 60- 90 minutes, or until double.

Shaping and Baking The Rolls:

Remove the dough, press to release air.

Roll the dough into a large thin rectangle.

Mix together room temperature butter, mint and garlic.

Apply half the mixture on half the rectangle.

Now fold the other half, overlapping the filling and press.

Cut into strips ( 8 – 10) which are 3/4 inch wide.

While working on a strip, keep others covered under a towel.

First twist the stripe and then knot it once.

Tuck the ends into the centre one from bottom and one from top. ( Look at the pictures for a clear idea)

Place the rolls on a buttered tray leaving 2cm in between.

Cover with a towel and set aside for 10-15 minutes.

By the time, preheat oven to 225°C.

Bake the rolls for 20-30 minutes or until the top is golden.

Remove from oven and brush the top of the rolls with the remaining butter garlic mint mixture when they are still hot.

Serve the rolls hot or warm.

Notes: If using active dry yeast instead of instant yeast, prove the yeast with 1/4 cup of warm water and a tsp of sugar until bubbly. Do not mix it directly into the dough.

Reduce 1/4 cup of water while adding milk and butter as we have already used 1/4 cup of water to prove yeast.

Twisted Knotted Mint Garlic Rolls

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Ingredients

  

For The Bread Dough

• cup Milk - 1/2+ 1 tbs
• Water - 1/2 cup
• Butter - 2 tbs
• Flour/ Maida - 3 1/4 cups
• Sugar - 2 1/2 tsp
• Salt - 1 1/2 tsp
• tsp Instant Yeast - 2 1/4/ Dry Yeast - 1 tbs

For Filling and Topping

• Butter - 4 tbs
• Mint Leaves - a handful
• Garlic - 4 cloves

Instructions

 

For The Filling

• Dry roast mint leaves until crisp.
• Crush them to make flakes.
• Roast the garlic pods with the skin in a pan on medium to low flame.
• When they feel soft, remove from heat and let them cool.
• Peel skin and mash the roasted garlic until a coarse mixture is formed.
• Set aside until the dough is ready.

For The Dough

• Heat together milk, water and butter.
• When the butter is melt, remove from flame and let it come to warm temperature.
• In a bowl mix together flour, instant yeast, sugar and salt.
• Add the warm milk mixture and knead to form a soft dough.
• Transfer the dough to counter and knead for 10 minutes until the dough is smooth, soft and elastic. It should pass the window pane test.
• Oil a bowl, place the dough inside and rotate to coat it evenly with oil.
• Cover with cling wrap and set aside for 60- 90 minutes, or until double.

Shaping and Baking The Rolls

• Remove the dough, press to release air.
• Roll the dough into a large thin rectangle.
• Mix together room temperature butter, mint and garlic.
• Apply half the mixture on half the rectangle.
• Now fold the other half, overlapping the filling and press.
• Cut into strips ( 8 - 10) which are 3/4 inch wide.
• While working on a strip, keep others covered under a towel.
• First twist the stripe and then knot it once.
• Tuck the ends into the centre one from bottom and one from top. ( Look at the pictures for a clear idea)
• Place the rolls on a buttered tray leaving 2cm in between.
• Cover with a towel and set aside for 10-15 minutes.
• By the time, preheat oven to 225°C.
• Bake the rolls for 20-30 minutes or until the top is golden.
• Remove from oven and brush the top of the rolls with the remaining butter garlic mint mixture when they are still hot.
• Serve the rolls hot or warm.

Notes

Notes: If using active dry yeast instead of instant yeast, prove the yeast with 1/4 cup of warm water and a tsp of sugar until bubbly. Do not mix it directly into the dough.
Reduce 1/4 cup of water while adding milk and butter as we have already used 1/4 cup of water to prove yeast.