Ingredients

Source

Directions

Heat the oven to 200 °C (180 °C fan-assisted). Place the oats on a tray in the oven for a bit over 3 – 5 minutes until they turn a rich golden brown. Get a saucepan out of the cupboard and pour in the stout. Add the oats, stick it on a medium heat and bring it to the boil. Drop the butter and honey into the pan, pop the lid on and leave it about 30 minutes till it gets warm.

Have a large mixing bowl ready and, if you’re kitchen feels a bit nippy this time of year, scald the inside with boiling water and dry it well. Spoon in the white and wholemeal flour, add the yeast and salt then toss everything together with your fingers. Pour in the warm oatmeal mixture and stir everything together with your fingers, cover the bowl and leave for 10 minutes. Lightly oil the worksurface and your hands, scoop the dough out of the bowl and gently knead it for 10 – 12 seconds. Scoop the dough back into the bowl, cover and leave for 10 minutes then repeat the light knead twice more at 10 minute intervals.

Leave the dough for an hour, ideally somewhere it won’t get a chill, then divide it into pieces. For a big sandwich rolls weigh about five 225 g pieces; for dinner rolls weight about a dozen 100 g pieces. Cover the base of a baking tray with non-stick parchment (the paper will stop the rolls getting too scorched on the bottom), roll each piece of dough on a lightly floured surface into a sausage about 15cm – 20cm long, tie it in a knot and place on the tray. If you want a coating of oats on the rolls, lay a sheet of wet kitchen paper on one dinner plate and spoon rolled oats onto another, then roll the dough sausage first on the wet paper and then in the oats before knotting. Sit each roll on the tray spaced 4-5cm apart, cover the tray loosely with an old carrier bag and leave for about an hour until doubled in height.

Heat the oven to 210 °C (190 °C fan-assisted). Bake the rolls for 20 minutes then reduce the heat to 180 ° C (160 °C fan-assisted), bake until a good golden brown then leave to cool on a wire rack covered loosely with a dry tea-towel.

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