Roll Out the Breakfast Rolls

Last month I attended the second National Festival of Breads in Wichita. This contest is sponsored by the Kansas Wheat Commission, Fleischmann's Yeast and King Arthur Flour and is an inspiration to baking! Eight finalists were chosen from over 500 recipes submitted by home bakers across the U.S. These eight were brought to Wichita for the national contest. While here they enjoyed a Wheat Harvest Tour which included a visit to a wheat farm, a grain elevator and a flour mill.

I happened to visit with the winner's family in the hallway. They were the Collier family from Redmond, Oregon. All had enjoyed their first trip to Kansas, and of course, enjoy the baking of mother/wife Gale as she created her winning recipe and others.

The displays, baking demonstrations and trade show were great and made me proud to be from the wheat state of Kansas where baking is still an important skill. I came home ready to try more recipes and bake more!

My son and his friends who were visiting over the 4th of July holiday weekend appreciated the efforts of this. I prepared this year's Festival of Breads grand prize winner, Quick Raisin Granola Breakfast Rolls, for them. This roll is so packed with good fiber and extra cereals that it is very filling. It makes a good breakfast with fruit and yogurt. One is enough, but the guys managed to eat 2 or 3 each.

As with most yeast breads, the prep time of letting the dough rise requires an early start before serving time. Not wanting to get up quite so early, I tried a new-to-me method. I prepared the dough the day before, and after forming into rolls, placed the ready-to-rise rolls in the refrigerator overnight. The next morning I removed them and let them warm and rise for a couple of hours before baking. This worked well and I plan to do this with other yeast breads. Another thing I really liked about this recipe is that the mixing and kneading are done in the bread machine. This is a larger amount of dough than my bread machine would be able to handle for baking, but with a little help with the initial mixing, it handled the dough fine. The Wheat Commission has added alternative directions to use if you don't have a bread machine.

Here's the recipe (with some of my suggestions), or you can find the original on the website for the National Festival of Breads (www.nationalfestivalofbreads.com) or the Kansas Wheat Commission (www.kswheat.com).

Quick Raisin Granola Breakfast Rolls
1 cup Raisin Bran cereal
1 cup granola
1 1/2 cups water, room temperature (80 degrees F)
2 tbsp. unsalted butter, room temperature (most recipes call for unsalted butter, if you use salted it can affect the way the yeast reacts)
2 tbsp. brown sugar
1 tbsp. honey
1 tbsp. ground cinnamon
2 tbsp. nonfat dry milk
1/2 cup buttermilk, room temperature (I keep 1/2 cup portions of buttermilk in the freezer for recipes, or you can substitute a mixture of 1/2 tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar + enough milk to make 1/2 cup. Let stand 10 minutes before using)
1 tsp. salt
2 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached Bread flour (you can use other brand flours, but KA is a high quality flour - remember they were one of the contest sponsors)
1 1/3 cups King Arthur White Whole Wheat flour
1/2 cup raisins
2 1/4 tsp. Fleischmann's Active Dry Yeast
Topping: 1 cup granola (Quaker Natural Granola with Oats, Honey & Raisins or a similar)
1 egg white (beaten)

1. Place Raisin Bran cereal and granola in large plastic bag. Using a rolling pin, finely crush the cereal.
2. Have ingredients at room temperature. (this is a good tip for any baking) Add the ingredients to the bread machine's pan as suggested by the manufacturer. (for mine it is the dry ingredients, except yeast, first, then the wet, then yeast. I mixed the dry ingredients together before putting in the bread machine.) Start bread machine using the dough cycle (about 1.5 - 2 hours). Open the machine and touch the dough to check it's consistency after 5 minutes. (also to see that it is mixing well) The dough should form a ball around the kneading blade. If its too dry, add 1/2 to 1 tablespoon of water; if dough is too wet, add 1 tablespoon flour at a time until the right dough consistency is reached.
3. Meanwhile, for topping, place 1 cup granola in bag; use a rolling pin to finely crush. Place egg white in small bowl and beat with fork.
4. When cycle is complete, remove dough and divide into 18 (I did 20) equal pieces. Shape into uniform rolls.
5. Dip each roll in egg white and granolas, lightly pressing granola onto dough. (I needed to use more granola and egg white)
6. Place rolls onto greased 12- by 18-inch sheet pans. Cover; (this is where I put the rolls in the refrigerator overnight). Let rise in warm place (like the oven with only the light on or a microwave oven after you've boiled a cup of water in it) until doubled in bulk (45 to 60 minutes). (or more if they've been in the refrigerator)
7. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 17 to 20 minutes, depending on size, or until golden brown. Remove rolls from pan and cool on wire rack.

If you don't have a bread machine, here are the notes from the KWC:
1. Place Raisin Bran cereal and granola in a large plastic bag. Using a rolling pin, finely crush.
2. Have ingredients at room temperature. In electric mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm (100 to 110 degrees F) water. Let stand 10 minutes.
3. Add crushed Raisin Bran Cereal, granola and raisins. Add dry milk, buttermilk, brown sugar, honey, whole wheat flour, 2 cups bread flour, cinnamon, butter and salt. Mix 2 minutes on medium speed.
4. Gradually add enough of the remaining 1/2 cup bread flour to make slightly sticky dough. Knead dough by hand or with dough hook 8 to 10 minutes or until smooth and elastic. Place in lightly greased bowl, turning to coat top. Cover; let rise in warm place until doubled in bulk. Punch down dough.
5. Proceed with shaping and second rise as directed in original recipe.