PPO - persistence pays off!  Victory over the buns!  Followed the recipe and JD's tips yesterday and the result was beautiful fluffy very tasty bread buns.  (no icon for singing - oh well) -  la la la dum dee dum dee diddly aye - in my best shower soprano!

Made this tonight and cooked it on my pizza stone.  Awesome.

JD, I actually edited the link in my first post, after making sure it worked in the second.

I was doing a bit on net surfing today and came across this site.  It is full of historical cookbooks, some dating back to 1400 and a lot dating back to the 1800's.  It's all free for anyone to view.  I haven't had time to check into most of them yet, but I have bookmarked the page and will pop in from time to time. Here is the link.  http://www.digitalbookindex.com/_search/search010cookingfoodhistoricala.asp

Hi Chookie.  No it wasn't a TC problem, although I did overstep the recommended amount of flour for the TC.  It actually handled it o.k. except for the little dance it did while kneading.  I stayed with it the whole time, so I could prevent it dancing onto the floor, and I turned it off on one occasion when it didn't want to proceed, rearranged the dough in the jug again, and turned it back on with no problems finishing the last knead.

No.  The problems were purely womanmade (new word).  All the things that JD said did you do, I didn't .  I know better now, today it's some more rolls and some pizza dough.  I have got to get this bread thing out of my system before BTDD - Back To Diet Day, which is looming on the horizon.

CP, I think you are right about sticky dough = fluffier rolls.  I have to say that even though they went into a third rise, the end result was the most fluffy, soft, delicate and delicious bread I have ever made, or bought, so much nicer than any I have ever made in the bread maker with bread mix.  Eating in the dark was quite romantic too

I really am hopeless at making bread.  I have tried these rolls on two occasions, both times they turned out like hard little stones and ended up in the bin.  I was determined to do it properly today.

I warmed up my water and added the sugar and yeast, let it sit for 10 minutes to get nice and frothy.  Then I added my flour, salt and bread improver (which I didn't put in the other two tries).  Kneaded for 2 lots of 2 minutes and gave it an extra 1 minute just to be sure.  Let it rise in the jug in my laundry, which is like the entrance to hell when I keep the connecting door to the kitchen closed and the air conditioning out of it.  I even covered my jug with a heavy towel.  Half an hour later I peeped in and joy of joy's my dough had doubled in the jug.  Getting it out was another story.  

Dough stuck to me, my hands, and the jug, forcing me to fight with it to claim my share.  Eventually got enough onto my tray, shaped into buns of fairly uniform size.  I then sprinkled poppy seeds on top, sprayed them with water, covered them with gladwrap and left them to double in size.  When I popped my head in 1 hour later, BEAUTIFUL buns, ready to be cooked, so I turned the oven on and tried to take the gladwrap off the buns.  Of course, I had not reckoned with the dough sticking to the gladwrap, and had to fight the gladwrap for my rightful share of the dough.  This  resulted in victory for me over the gladwrap, and bread buns sulking, demoralized, dejected and downright deflated.

So, as I write, they are once again sitting in the entrance to hell, deciding whether they will rise yet again to see another day or not.  I have spoken very nicely to them, and have even thought about installing some lovely soothing music in the laundry (well it may help me anyway).  Must go now, as the leftover dough in my jug has tripled in size and is threatening to overtake the liberated buns on the tray.  I will let you all know whether they are successful or not.

Hi Lilli, did I see that you have the Hong Kong cookbook.  That was my Christmas Pressie and I am very happy with it.  Lots of new recipes to try.