Light 100% Whole Wheat Rolls

The term "light" in this recipe title can be taken 2 ways. Firstly, they are pretty respectable on the calorie/fat gram scale as far as that goes. The original recipe lists these as 140 calories and 4.4 grams of fat a piece. You have to consider, however, that that is the original recipe which calls for half of the flour to be all purpose flour. I made these completely with freshly ground whole white wheat.

A lot of roll recipes also call for whole milk and oil in addition to the butter. This recipe has no milk, no oil and only 1/4 cup butter in the rolls and 1 egg. If you want to cut back even further, don't brush the rolls with butter.

Secondly, they can be considered "light" because they are so incredibly soft and delicious. Normally when one thinks of whole wheat breads it is automatically assumed that they are not as soft and delicious as white bread products. A lot of the times this can be the case. BUT definitely not with these rolls! If I didn't know, and if they weren't a darker brown in color, I would never have guessed that they weren't white.

Another thing I love about this recipe was that it was SOOO easy. The dough came together without any trauma and it was incredibly easy to roll out and form. I loved that.

The ONLY reason you should not make these rolls is if you don't have enough time to let them rise. They require over 2 hours to rise. Spend a Sunday afternoon working on them and your entire family will LOVE you for Sunday dinner!

This recipe is courtesy of Allrecipes.com and can be found at this site here: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/light-wheat-rolls/

LIGHT 100% WHOLE WHEAT ROLLS

Adapted from Allrecipes.com

• 2 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast (5 tsp equivalent)
• 1 3/4 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 1/2 cup white sugar (or honey or other sweetener of choice)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup butter, melted and cooled
• 1 egg, beaten
• About 5 cups whole wheat flour

• 1/4 cup butter, melted

1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
2. Mix sugar, salt, 1/4 cup melted butter, egg, and 2 cups whole wheat flour into yeast mixture. Stir in the rest of the flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Turn dough out onto a well floured surface, and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl, place dough in bowl, and turn to coat. Cover with a damp cloth, and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
3. Punch down dough, cover, and let rise in warm place until doubled again, about 30 minutes.
4. Grease 2 dozen muffin cups. Punch down dough, and divide into two equal portions. Roll each into a 6x14 inch rectangle, and cut rectangle into twelve 7x1 inch strips. Roll strips up into spirals, and place into muffin cups. Brush tops with melted butter. Let rise uncovered in a warm place 40 minutes, or until doubled in bulk.
5. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from oven, and brush again with melted butter.

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Helpful hints for making rolls!

1. Visit Mel's Kitchen Cafe for a FANTASTIC tutorial on working with yeast. http://www.melskitchencafe.com/2009/11/tutorial-working-with-yeast.html My rolls have been SOOO much better since I watched this tutorial.

2. While letting your dough rise - if you don't have an ideal warm place for them to rise, stick your bowl on top of a heating pad set at a low heat setting. As you can see from my picture, my rolls were HUGE after doing this!