Fluffy wholemeal rolls with carrots and sunflower seeds

Ingredients for 12 servings:

• 400 g wholemeal wheat flour or wholemeal spelt flour
• 100 g wheat flour or spelt flour, type 405 or 550
• 25 g wheat gluten
• 20 g yeast, fresh
• 320 ml water, lukewarm, maybe a little more
• 10 g sea salt
• 1 tsp beet syrup
• 15 g butter
• 300 g carrot(s), coarsely grated
• 100 g sunflower seeds, lightly roasted

Instructions

Working time approx. 30 minutes; Rest time approx. 1 hour 20 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 25 minutes; Total time approx. 2 hours 15 minutes

The wheat gluten makes the rolls particularly fluffy

Mix the two types of flour and the gluten in a bowl, make a well in the center, and pour in the water. Crumble in the yeast and mix with the beetroot syrup to form a soft starter dough. This is best done with a fork. Stir a little of the flour from the edge into the dough until the consistency is right. Cover the bowl and let the dough rise for 25 minutes. In the meantime, melt the butter in a large pan and sauté the grated carrots for about 5 minutes to allow the carrots to lose some of the liquid. Add the grated carrots, sunflower seeds, and salt to the mixture and knead everything for 10 minutes. I use a food processor for this. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and a cloth and let the dough rise for 30-40 minutes. Turn the dough out onto a floured baking board and knead briefly again. Cut off 70g rolls and let them rest on the edge of the board for a moment. Push the flour aside in the middle of the board. At this point, roll the rolls into rounds in the cupped hands. Place them on a baking sheet, leaving 3-4 cm between them (I use a pastry tray or a regular baking tray with a baking mat). Cover with floured foil and let rise for another 20-25 minutes. Moisten well with a watering can and place in the oven at 230 degrees Celsius. Pour a cup of hot water onto the bottom of the oven and close the oven door immediately. After five minutes, reduce the temperature to 200-210 degrees Celsius and bake for another 20 minutes. (In my old oven, I started at 250 degrees Celsius and finished baking at 220 degrees Celsius. My current oven is much hotter. At 230 degrees Celsius, it’s a real 230 degrees Celsius. If you have a weaker oven, you’ll have to start a bit hotter.)