Easy German Bread Rolls (Broetchen)
Learn how to make these easy-to-follow German bread rolls, also known as Brötchen, like those from a German bakery. Brötchen, which can also be written as Broetchen (which literally means "little bread") are fluffy, delicious and easy to make German bread rolls made with a few simple ingredients such as bread flour, yeast, salt, sugar and water, that are very popular in Germany.
Servings: 10 bread rolls
Equipment
- baking sheet and parchment paper
- Dough scraper (OPTIONAL)
Ingredients
- 500 g (1.1 lbs/ 4 ¼) Bread flour plus extra for dusting (SEE NOTES)
- 330 ml (11.2 fl.oz/ 1 1/3 cups) water lukewarm
- 2 ½ teaspoons dry yeast (7 g (¼ oz)
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil plus extra for greasing
Instructions
- Put bread flour into a large bowl and make a well in the middle. Add sugar, yeast and lukewarm to the well. Stir well and let the mixture stand for 10 minutes.
- Add salt and oil and knead the dough like this:By hands: combine all the ingredients together with the help of the fork or similar until the flour is well incorporated. Transfer the dough on a lightly dusted working surface and knead for about 6 minutes.Hand mixer or stand mixer with dough hooks: Mix all the ingredients until well combined. Then knead the dough for about 5 minutes (I have kneaded the dough on medium speed (speed 2, on Bosch kitchen machine))
- Shape the dough to a ball and place it in a greased bowl. Turn it over so that it’s completely coated.
- Cover the bowl with cling film and then with a damp kitchen towel. Let rise for about 120 minutes at room temperature or until it has doubled in size. * Hint: If your kitchen is cold, or if you are in a rush, you can use your oven to help the dough rise. Preheat the oven to 50°C (122°F), then switch it off and place the covered bowl of dough inside. Allow the dough to rise in the preheated oven that has been switched off until it has doubled in size. If using the oven to help the dough rise, make sure the dough is in a glass or metal bowl, that’s tightly covered with a kitchen towel.
- When the dough is ready, punch it down to release the air and transfer it on a lightly dusted working surface.
- Using a dough scrapper or a sharp knife that’s greased with oil, divide the dough into about 10 equal doughs. Shape each dough into a smooth ball.
- Arrange the dough balls on a baking sheet lined with a parchment paper. Don’t forget to leave enough space between them.
- Cover with a damp cloth and let rise for another 30 minutes at room temperature. About 10 minutes before the end of the second rise preheat the oven to 200 °C (392 °F), with both up and lower heat. (Convection bake function: 180 °C (356 °F)).
- After the second rise, lightly brush the buns with water. Then dust them with flour and cross- cut the top of each roll with a sharp knife.* Try not to apply a lot of pressure on the buns while cutting. You want to retain the air bubbles in the Brötchen intact so that you’ll have nicely fluffy buns.* If you want, you can also sprinkle the buns with sesame seeds or whatever seed mix you wish before baking. (Totally optional).
- Put a heatproof cup or bowl of water or similar at the bottom of the oven to create steam in the oven so that the Brötchen will have a great crust and bake for about 25 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Enjoy!!
Notes
- Flour: for this recipe I have used bread flour to make it. But you can also use all-purpose flour (plain flour). If you’re using 500 g ((4 cups + 2 tablespoons) plain flour / all-purpose flour, just use 300 ml (10.1 fl.oz/ 1 ¼ cups) water.