Tennis roll

Ingredients

The dough

• 700 gstrong white bread flour
• plus extra for dusting
• 100 gsugar
• 1and a half teaspoons fine salt
• 7 gsachet fast-action dried yeast
• 300 mlwarm milk
• or warm water

The enrichment

• 80 gbutter, softened
• or 80 g margarine
• 2eggs, beaten
• 1 teaspoonvanilla essence
• half a teaspoon grated nutmeg
• optional

The glaze

• 2 tablespoonssugar
• 2 tablespoonshot water
• or 1 beaten egg
• or a little melted butter

To serve

• sharp cheddar cheese
• sliced thickly
• butter
• guava jam
• hot tea or Guyanese coffee

Directions

1. Start by warming the milk gently in a pan. It should feel warm but never hot to touch. Put the flour into a very large mixing bowl. Add the sugar to one side of the flour. Add the salt to the opposite side of the bowl. Add the yeast next to the sugar, not the salt. Salt in direct contact weakens yeast slightly. Stir the dry ingredients together with a hand.
2. Make a well in the centre of the mixture. Pour in the warm milk and the beaten eggs. Add the vanilla and the nutmeg if using them. Grate it fresh, since pre-ground fades fast. Mix with your hand until a rough dough forms. Do not add extra flour to correct the stickiness.
3. Turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead it steadily for about five minutes. Work each piece in before adding the next. Keep kneading for another eight to ten minutes. The dough becomes smooth, glossy and elastic.
4. Use the dough hook on a low to medium speed. Shape the dough into a smooth ball by hand. Put it into a buttered bowl and turn it over. Cover it with a damp cloth or with cling film.
5. Leave it somewhere warm for about two hours. It should roughly double in size in that time. Turn it out and divide it into twelve pieces. Weigh them if you want them genuinely even. Place the rolls on a lined baking tray. Leave a good gap between them for spreading.
6. Cover the tray with a cloth for the second rise. Leave them for about forty-five minutes. They should be visibly puffed and light. Press one gently with a fingertip to test. The dent should fill back in slowly. Heat the oven to one hundred and eighty degrees. Brush the rolls with beaten egg for shine.
7. Bake them for about eighteen to twenty minutes. They should be golden brown on top. Stir the sugar into the hot water until dissolved. Brush it over the rolls the moment they come out. Melted butter brushed on instead keeps them soft. Cool the rolls on a wire rack. Do not leave them on the hot tray. Put in a thick slice of sharp cheddar cheese.
8. Butter is spread on by many people as well. The rolls are eaten with hot tea constantly. Freeze them the day they are baked. Thaw them fully and warm them before eating.

Technique

• Nobody has established where the name comes from. Explanations circulate — a resemblance to tennis balls, colonial tennis clubs, a bakery of that name — and the atlas has found documentary support for none of them, so it records the name as unexplained rather than picking a story.
• This is an enriched dough. Sugar and fat both slow the yeast, so it rises more slowly than a plain loaf. Give it the time rather than raising the temperature, which produces a yeasty taste.
• The dough falls apart when the butter goes in and looks ruined. It always does, and it always comes back together with more kneading. Do not add flour to fix it.
• Sharp cheddar is the correct cheese. The bread is sweet, and a mild cheese simply vanishes against it. That pairing traces back to imported waxed and tinned cheese that kept in the tropics under colonial rule.
• Test the second rise with a fingertip. A dent that fills back slowly means ready; a dent that springs straight back means they need longer; a dent that stays means bake immediately.
• Split the rolls by hand rather than cutting them. A torn surface holds butter and cheese better than a sliced one.

Substitutions

• Water replaces milk for a plainer, slightly less tender roll. Many bakeries use water.
• Margarine replaces butter and is what a great many Guyanese households actually use.
• The eggs can be left out for a leaner dough; add an extra 50 ml of liquid to compensate.
• Plain flour replaces bread flour and gives a softer, more cake-like roll.
• A beaten egg wash replaces the sugar glaze and gives a deeper shine and colour.
• Guava jam, butter, or a slice of cheese are all standard fillings and none is more correct than the others.

Variations

• Plait bread and salara, the rolled coconut bread with red-dyed filling, are the other pillars of the Guyanese bakery counter.
• Some bakeries add raisins or mixed peel to the dough for a sweeter roll.
• A larger loaf version, baked in a tin and sliced, is made from the same dough.
• Jamaican coco bread and Trinidadian hops bread are close Caribbean relatives, though hops bread is lean and savoury rather than sweet.
• Rolls set close together on the tray so they join and pull apart are softer; rolls set apart have crust all round. Both are sold.
• A version with grated cheese baked into the top appears in some diaspora bakeries.

History

A Guyanese bakery staple; bread and cheese is a standard breakfast and afternoon snack.

Frequently asked questions

What is Tennis roll?

Tennis roll is a bread & pastry from Guyana: slightly sweet soft bread roll, split and eaten with cheese. A Guyanese bakery staple; bread and cheese is a standard breakfast and afternoon snack.

How long does Tennis roll take to make?

Tennis roll takes 30 minutes plus 2 hours rising of preparation and 20 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes makes 12 rolls. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Tennis roll?

Yes, within limits. Water replaces milk for a plainer, slightly less tender roll. Many bakeries use water. Margarine replaces butter and is what a great many Guyanese households actually use. The eggs can be left out for a leaner dough; add an extra 50 ml of liquid to compensate. Plain flour replaces bread flour and gives a softer, more cake-like roll. A beaten egg wash replaces the sugar glaze and gives a deeper shine and colour. Guava jam, butter, or a slice of cheese are all standard fillings and none is more correct than the others.

What is the most important thing to get right in Tennis roll?

Start by warming the milk gently in a pan. It should feel warm but never hot to touch. Put the flour into a very large mixing bowl. Add the sugar to one side of the flour. Add the salt to the opposite side of the bowl. Add the yeast next to the sugar, not the salt. Salt in direct contact weakens yeast slightly. Stir the dry ingredients together with a hand.