Fresh rolls on a weekday morning feel like a treat. Making them from scratch every day, however, would take far too much effort. The answer is to prepare the dough once and bake only what you need at a time. In this way, one session in the kitchen provides warm bread on several days.
Use a simple dough of flour, water, yeast and salt, with a little oil or milk if you like. Knead it until it is smooth, then leave it to rise in a covered bowl. Once it has grown noticeably, press it down gently and divide it into equal pieces. Shape each piece into a round roll. That is all the effort the dough needs.
Baking a few at a time
Bake some of the rolls straight away and keep the rest for later. Rolls that are shaped but not yet baked can be frozen on a tray and then moved into a bag. On the morning you want them, take out what you need and let them rise again. Then bake them until golden. It is like having a small bakery in your freezer.
Another option is to keep part of the dough covered in the fridge and shape rolls as you go. The dough rises slowly there and develops a fuller flavour. When you need bread, take a piece, shape it and let it warm up before baking. This spreads the work across the week without much planning.
Small batches suit a small oven very well. A few rolls need less time to bake than a full tray and warm the kitchen far less. A little brushing with milk or water gives a soft, shiny crust. Sprinkle seeds on top if you want something a bit more special. Even a small tray is enough.
The biggest advantage is that bread stays fresh in your daily life. You are never left with a large loaf that turns stale before you finish it. Instead, each roll is at its best when you eat it. It also makes the morning feel unhurried, because the work was done earlier. Once you have tried it, you may not want to go back.
