I made these French Rolls??!! (Breadline Africa)

Thanks Yasmeen for tagging me for Breadline Africa.
Not only was this for a wonderful cause, I also amazed myself with the results of this recipe!
They turned out beautiful.
I saw these rolls on Arundathi's blog and they looked just too good (and easy) to resist. Incidentally, she too made these for the same cause.
She in turn got this recipe from My Kitchen Cafe (another wonderful blog to discover)
Blogging is so much fun...amazing the way recipes travel from kitchen to kitchen.
Thank you ladies, for the inspiration and sharing clear detailed instructions. Makes it easier for a novice like me.

These rolls were absolutely delicious and turned out as crumby as their pictures promised.
The only change I made was that I used half whole wheat baking flour and half all purpose.
They was perfect- light, soft and yet a hearty taste.
The recipe is definitely a keeper and I think I'll be venturing in to making breads more often.
Following is the recipe with my changes in green..

French Bread Rolls

Ingredients

• 4 cups All-Purpose Flour (I used 2 cups whole wheat and 2 cups all purpose)
• 1 tbsp Yeast
• 2 tbsp Sugar
• 1 1/2 cups warm Water
• 1 tsp Salt
• 2 tbsp Olive Oil

Method
Mix together the yeast, sugar and water. Set aside for 10 minutes until the yeast is activated and frothy.
Add the oil, salt and 2 cups of flour to the yeast mixture and combine. Add the flour a little at a time until the dough begins to come together and leaves the edges of the bowl.
Empty the dough out onto a kneading surface and knead for 7-8 minutes until it begins to feel smooth. (I used a huge bowl and kneaded in it). Transfer the dough into a lightly greased bowl and cover with a thin cloth or plastic wrap. Let the dough rise to double its size.

Gently deflate the dough. Divide the dough into 12 equal parts and roll each into a ball. Place them on a baking tray a couple of inches apart. Cover with a damp cloth for about 45 minutes. Preheat oven to 400F/200C deg .
Bake for 12-15 minutes until golden brown. For hard crusted rolls, spray water couple of times for the first 4-5 minutes while baking. For a soft crust, brush the hot rolls with some melted butter when they come out of the oven.
(My rolls were done in about 15 minutes. I stuck the pan under the broiler for a minute or so for a browner crust and then brushed them with melted butter).


Breadline Africa is a charity based in South Africa works towards ending poverty in Africa by helping communities achieve long-term self-sustainability.
Breadline Africa was founded in 1993 by a group of community and social workers in South Africa and like-minded colleagues in Europe. Together they have raised funds in Europe and identified small, ground-level projects in Africa that are most likely to succeed with a financial boost.
If you would like to join The Blogger Bake-Off, details can be found at their site. These are some of the ways in which you could be a part of the campaign.

* Join the campaign.
* Submit your bread baking recipe.
* Make a donation to Breadline Africa.
* Vote for your favorite recipe.
* Bake a loaf of bread and blog about it.
* Bake many loaves of bread and host a bake sale.
Bloggers who would like to bake for this cause may use the widget on their blogs and tag 5 other bloggers to Bake Bread, Give Dough and Feed Africa.
The rules for bloggers are outlined below:
1. If you are tagged, copy and paste the rules into your post.
2. Bake bread, do something you wouldn’t normally do, and blog about it. Upload your picture and recipe.
3. Give dough, donate to Breadline Africa and help us end poverty.
4. Tag five bloggers, and ping us so we know you’ve done so.

The person who raises the most funds will get to name a Breadline Africa community kitchen and win $500 Amazon Vouchers. There are also three minor prizes of $250 Amazon vouchers for people who receive the most votes in the following categories: Most Unusual Recipe; Most Nutritious Recipe and Most Traditional Recipe.

I'm going to tag the following people for this worthy cause:
Rashmi of Delhibelle
Sharmila of Kichu khon
Simran of Bombay Foodie
Mallika of Quick Indian Cooking
Ranjani of Wake up and Smell the Masala

Good luck gals!
I know some of you (like me) are skeptical of the therapeutic pleasures of kneading, but I found myself humming and happy after making this, so maybe there's something to it! Hope you'll take it up.

This bread also goes to Susan for Yeastspotting.