This recipe is super easy and tastes fabulous! Mix it up just like you would a brownie batter, let rise, shape into rolls, let rise again, bake and eat! This is adapted from a recipe I found online: http://www.recipetineats.com/soft-no-knead-dinner-rolls/
Combine all dry ingredients. Place water, buttermilk, butter in microwaveable dish and microwave just until lukewarm. Add eggs and whisk into other liquids.
Add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients. It will resemble the texture of a brownie batter. Spray some plastic wrap with nonstick spray and cover bowl. Set aside to rise for about 1 1/2 hours or until almost tripled in volume.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Sprinkle flour on counter where you will be working. Punch down dough to deflate. Scrape dough onto flour. Work enough flour into dough to form a log shape. Cut into quarters, then cut each quarter into thirds, to get 12 pieces of dough.
Shape into rolls and place on baking sheet as you work. http://www.recipetineats.com/soft-no-knead-dinner-rolls/ has a video for how to shape the rolls. Cover with plastic wrap sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside and let rise for another 35-45 minutes.
Preheat oven to 390F. Bake rolls for about 18 minutes, or until the rolls are a golden brown and the roll sounds hollow when tapped. Remove rolls from oven and brush with melted butter.
This is much faster and easier than making bread from yeast, but is very delicious! Total time for preparation and baking is about 35 minutes if you are using buttermilk. This is a moist, tender bread rather than the crusty bread that I usually make. This is wonderful for sandwiches, but also makes good toast.
If you desire sesame seeds, poppy seeds, or caraway seeds on the bread, that is an option. If you want to add 1 cup of raisins or cranberries, you can do that too! This is very versatile!
I like to brush the top of my loaf with one of these choices: egg wash (makes a crustier bread), butter or milk. These will help make the crust a pretty brown. However, it is totally up to you whether you do this or not!
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. If you are not using buttermilk: In a cup or small bowl, stir together the milk and vinegar. Let stand for 10 minutes, or until curdled.
In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder. Stir in the buttermilk and honey until smooth.
Scrape the dough out of the bowl onto a floured surface, and shape into a disc. Place the disc into a cast iron skillet. (Mine is 9 1/2" and was plenty big enough for a batch and a half.) Lightly cut a cross in the top of the loaf. Brush top of loaf with egg wash, milk, or butter (opt.) Now would be the time to add sesame seeds, poppy seeds, caraway seeds, etc.
Bake for 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the crust feels firm to the touch.
Recipe Notes
Although spelt is actually a type of wheat flour, most people with wheat allergies can digest spelt flour with no problem. Obviously, you should not eat spelt if it is a problem for you.
The first instruction image was my first attempt at this bread. It tasted great, but was pretty ugly because I did not brush the crust with any milk, butter or egg. The other images were my second attempt. I made a batch and a half and baked it for 30 minutes. I forgot to cut the cross in the top of the loaf, but brushed it with butter before baking and shaped it better with my hands. It is a much prettier loaf.
I made a double batch, used the same medium sized cast iron skillet and baked it for 35 minutes. It was perfectly done!
