Famous, crusty, Scottish well-fired rolls. You need to try this classic Scottish recipe for these messy and wonderful rolls. With bacon, of course!
My husband has been asking me to make these delicious rolls for months. I made them couple of times before and he devoured them in no time. He love these rolls as they are soft in the middle and have a wonderful, we–fired crust on the outside. These rolls are a staple in Scottish bakeries and age the best eaten with crispy bacon or haggis.
Bacon roll for breakfast in Scotland is like Sushi for Japanese people. It is so simple but so delicious and satisfying to eat. I heard stories how amazing these rolls are. Soft and fluffy in the inside and rough and crusty on the outside. Actually the crust is so thick that half of the roll lands on the plate so you can invite your chickens for breakfast as well!
How to make Scottish well-fired rolls
To make these rolls you need to follow the standard bread making steps. Activate the yeast, knead the dough until smooth and springy and let it proof until it doubles in size. Then you need to divide the dough into even portions and shape them into rolls. Then leave the portion dough to proof again. After all of these you are ready to bake!
Useful tips:
- I strongly advise to use rice flour in this recipe as it will help to achieve this rough look and crunchy texture. If you do not have rice flour just whiz up some rice in a food processor and it will do.
- Oven temp has to be very hot as it will contribute to creating these wonderful crust on the rolls.
- You can divide dough into as many portions as you wish. I have divided mine into 9 using scales in order to have unified size of my rolls. I want to point out that if you make your rolls smaller you will have to bake them for a shorter time.
What do Scottish well-fired rolls taste like?
The interior is nice and fluffy with a soft crumb. The crust is thick and dark. You can taste a slight bitterness from the charred crust.
If you are looking for more recipes for rolls, I can recommend you the following:
Pumpkin and Guinness soft rolls
I hope you will make my recipe and if you do, please leave a comment below and let me know your feedback. You can also find me on social media such as Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Gab and Gettr. Please say hi and do not forget to tag me in if you make my recipe. I love seeing your creations.
Recipe source – my mother-in-law
Enjoy!
Scottish well-fired rolls
Famous, crusty, well-fired Scottish morning rolls -perfect with crispy bacon.
Ingredients
Instructions
-
IMPORTANT, I have updated this recipe and added measurements in cups and ounces as per many requests. Please notice that I always use kitchen scale while baking as it gives me the most precise measurements and ratios and what comes with it baking results.
As cups measurements vary in may countries around the World, I think that using a kitchen baking scale really helps and makes baking more consistent.
I am going to add a conversion chart on my blog soon but still my recipes will be made using grams and millilitres.
-
In a small bowl, mix yeast with 50 ml water and sugar. Stir well and leave it aside for 15 minutes. This step will help to activate the yeast.
-
In a large bowl mix together 680 grams flour (23.98629 ounce), salt and 40 grams (1.410958 ounce) butter.
-
Add the yeast mixture to the flour mix.
-
Add the remaining water and knead the dough for at least 10 minutes. The dough should be smooth and spring back when you touch it. If the dough is too sticky you may add a little bit more flour.
-
When dough is ready, cover the bowl with a cling film and a kitchen cloth and leave it in a warm place (ideal temp would be something between 19-23°C). The dough should double in size ( it took 2 and a half hours) in my place as I live in Scotland. If you live in a warmer climate , it will take less time.
-
Prepare baking tray, line it with baking paper and leave it aside.
-
When dough is ready, sprinkle some flour on a working top so the dough does not stick (do not add a lot of flour).
-
Roll the dough 1 cm thick to remove the gas.
-
Divide the dough into 9 portions.
-
Shape each piece into a ball and then spread rice flour on the surface of the dough ball. The purpose of this step is to create the nice crust on the outside of the roll.
-
Repeat the same step with all the dough portions and let it rest for about 15 min. Cover them with a kitchen cloth.
-
After 15 minutes, flatten each roll with a rolling pin, to around 2 cm thickness.
-
Leave the rolls to proof until they double in size.
-
Sprinkle a generous amount of rice flour on the rolls. This is the second time I am adding rice flour on my rolls. It will help to create this famous crust and a rough look.
-
Preheat the oven to 230°C and bake the rolls for about 20 minutes depending on how well-fired you want your rolls to be. Once ready, move baked rolls on a cooling rack.