Return of the Blues

12 white rolls

A while ago I decided to give up The Bungalow Blues and closed the page.

The trouble was I'd been attending a slimming club and I'd fallen out of love with food and cooking. I didn't feel I could cook what I wanted, I couldn't just join in with things. I was always trying to work out how to incorporate the plan into what everyone else was doing, joining in meant eating a sweetener laden diet snack while everyone else ate birthday cake or pretending I was happy with a salad while work had a pizza party. My attitude to food was terrible, I didn't want that to rub off on my daughter, I could already see the signs.

About a year ago, I decided enough was enough and I quit. It was very liberating. I relaxed for a month. Now, I finally get what every one has been telling me for years, there is no magic formula to weight loss, it's calories in vs calories out.

Now I walk/jog everyday so I get at least 60 minutes of activity. I stick to a daily calorie allowance. I try to hit it, if I don't, I don't carry the unused calories forward. If I go over "oh well"!. I eat what I like, the majority comes from a nutritional source, everything in moderation. My weight loss isn't going to make it to the front page of a magazine, but I'm really happy, I'm cooking again, I bake and eat what I make. I join in. I have  no goals or expectations (other than to not go backwards) and don't compare myself to anyone else. A weight if off my shoulders and because I have no restrictions I don't think about food all the time, which means I'm not mentally hungry all the time and because I can have what I want when I want, there is no need to binge. I've been known to have a bar of chocolate in my bag for weeks without it being eaten, I couldn't even imagine why anone would do that before!

Bakes to a darker colour

Fast forward a year and we're in this bizarre situation. I probably should have hit the keyboard 9 weeks ago, but I've been working from home since mid-March and struggled to separate this from work (same location, same process). But, it seems like I'm here for the duration of the year, so I need to just get over it and crack on!

During lock down I'mam really missing my friends and family - hugs with mum and dad. The stories of people locally who have both survived and succumbed to the virus are the dark downside to lock down, as well as the uncertainty for my Year 10 daughter and her education, the damage to the economy and businesses big and small. There's no getting away from the fact that lock down is not good.

But, on a different level though, I have been strangely enjoying it. I don't miss my commute. I work in the same room as my daughter everyday, precious bonus time. I've had time to think, try new things, do things I didn't think I'd get round to, reconsidered my priorities, learnt to use my time more productively, had time to just sit and rest. I've gone 9 weeks on £30 of petrol and still don't need to fill up. Also, discovered my cats (The Mintons) are very talkative and even more of a pair of troublemakers than I thought!

One big lesson is there's really no good reason to buy bread. I honestly don't know why I talk myself into thinking it's such a faff when it's not. Yes you can spend hours on it if you want, but you can easily make a delicious loaf without too much effort. So for this first blog I'll share the best bread recipe I've come across, shared by a work colleague it harks from the Great British Bake Off

I've been wanting to make a soft roll since I was at school, a long time ago! We made the most fluffy, soft Scotch Morning Rolls in Home Economics. Well they were probably called "cobs" but you get the picture! Every time I've tried to make them since, they have been too crusty, over thick crusts, too hard. So, I gave up and took to buying them instead.

Great for breakfast!

My colleague Ali happened to mentioned during a zoom call that she'd made some soft rolls during the week. Except she's from the North East so she probably didn't call them rolls either! She sent me the link and I've been making them weekly since. Now, they've never looked like they do in the picture on the website (link to the original below) but there are no complaints here, the 3 of us eat the whole batch within a weekend!

Here's the recipe, I've included some alternatives and tips throughout.

Soft Rolls source link

1) In a bowl weigh out 500 g of flour. On one side of the bowl add 1.5 tsp of salt and 20 g of sugar. Caster is best but granulated works. On the other side of the bowl empty 2 packets of dried yeast.

• Salt and yeast shouldn't touch before the dough is mixed as the salt will kill the yeast.
• You can use bread flour, but I've been just as successful using normal plain (all-purpose) flour
• You can use white or wholemeal, I was really surprised how good the wholemeal ones were. I would say a 50/50 mix of white and wholemeal would be really good
• Use the bowl of a free standing mixer if you have one with a dough hook, or any bowl if you have a hand mixer with a dough hook. If you don't have either you will have to knead the dough manually for 10 minutes until you have a smooth dough.
• You can use 45 g fresh yeast instead of the 2 packs of dried yeast 

2) In a jug mix 200 ml warm milk, 100 ml warm water.

• I always make the temperature of "warm" ingredients 36 - 39 degrees centigrade (96 to 102 Fahrenheit)
• Use any kind of milk that you have

3) Melt 20 g butter.

• I've used light spread and lighter butter as well as full fat butter and not noticed a difference.

4) Add the butter to the milk/water mix, along with 2 beaten eggs.

• I've used both medium and large eggs with no issues

5) Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix with the dough hook on a medium speed for five minutes. (Or manually knead for 10 minutes)

6) Cover the bowl preferably with oiled cling film or a damp tea towel in a warm place for 1 hour. If your mixer bowl is small, then transfer the dough to a bigger bowl or saucepan as it will triple in size.

• I have refrigerated the dough for this part. Cover and put in the fridge at least overnight, the rise will be slow and low (no tripling in size). When you are ready, remove from the fridge, leave for 10-20 minutes to come to temperature then follow step 7.

7) After the hour, tip the dough onto a heavily floured surface. Flour your hands and the top of the dough. With a sharp knife cut the dough into quarters and then each quarter into 3 pieces.

• The dough is very sticky so use plenty of flour on your hands, under and on top of the dough

Use white, wholemeal or a mix

8) Shape each piece into a roll by turning it and pulling the dough softly round and under, so the top is smooth and the rough edges are tucked underneath.

9) Place the formed rolls, equally spaced onto a large baking tray lined with grease proof paper.

10) Cover the rolls as before with oiled clingfilm or a damp tea towel and leave them in a warm place for 30 minutes.

11) After 30 minutes, the rolls should be well risen.

12) Uncover them and place in a hot oven 200 C or 390 F for 10-12 minutes.

13) While the rolls cook, melt a tablespoon of butter.

14) The rolls will be golden brown when ready and sound hollow when tapped.




15) As soon as you take them out brush the tops with melted butter

• I've also brushed with milk and the results are just as good

14) leave to cool slightly before eating .... if you can!

Good luck trying them out. Would love to hear from you if you do.

Wholemeal and white

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Nutritional Info (Apr 2020)


I logged one batch of rolls made with plain white flour, dried yeast and a light butter wash in My Fitness Pal and these are the nutritional values per 100 g.

NB: Please remember though that this is only a guide and values will change if you amend any of the ingredients and are only as the information I picked, entries are entered manually by members of the public so some information may be missing and values do change from time to time.