Our home is messy and often a little dirty too. But at least it often smells of freshly baked rolls!
I always have some dough ready in the fridge. It’s not a sourdough - but almost!
This is how it works: You make the dough once, and when you bake, you always leave a little bit in the bowl. Then you don’t need to add but water, flour and a little bit of salt. You can once in a while add a tiny bit of yeast, but it’s usually not really needed since the dough becomes sourdough-ish. If there is for example oatmeal left from the breakfast, then add it to the eternity dough, I do this often!
I don’t measure anything, I just begin by adding water (about half a bowl full (I use a little bowl that doesn’t take up too much space in our fridge)). I mix the water with the leftover dough (and a bit of yeast, if I think it’s needed or I have some yeast that is otherwise going old). Then I add flour and a bit of salt. Sometimes I just use plain white wheat, sometimes I add rye or cornflour or whatever we happen to have on the shelves.
I just mix with a spoon, so I don’t have to dirty my hands. Sometimes I leave the dough pretty liquid, sometimes quite firm, so we get some variation to our daily bread. Just experiment! I haven’t so far managed to make rolls that weren’t eaten.
When I want to bake, usually the next morning, I just use two tablespoons to scoop dough onto a baking tray lined with baking paper (that I reuse until it breaks). Sometimes I sprinkle something on top, like sesame seeds, sunflower seeds or poppy seeds, but it’s really not necessary. I bake them at 200C (normal oven) until they look ready. It usually takes 20-30 minutes depending on the consistency of the dough and the size of the rolls.
If for some reason your eternity dough goes bad, just make a new one! I start a fresh one once or twice a year, mainly to not accumulate too much salt in it.
I think this dough is best kept in the fridge, so there I always have a (covered) bowl of ready-to-use dough or a “starter” that can quickly be made into a dough. If you want to bake the same day as you make the dough, you might want to leave it on the kitchen table. This dough can of course also be made into bread, pita bread or why not pizza - if you are in a hurry.
I’ve got the idea from Dorthe Chakravarty’s book “Selvforsynende på 1. sal”. She uses the following measurements when starting (and later remaking) the dough:
1 l cold water
15 g fresh yeast
3 tsp. salt
16-17 dl wheat flour (feel free to mix with other sorts of flour)
Dissolve the yeast in the water. Add salt and flour and mix with a spoon. Let it rest in the fridge or on the kitchen table until you feel like having some freshly baked rolls.
Follow the directions given above, and remember to always leave some dough in your bowl for the next batch!
