Brotherly love is a wonderful thing. I witness small acts of kindness, adoration and pain on a daily basis since pushing our 9lb 3 oz bundle of cheek and brutishness into the world just over 2 years ago. The baby of our family is the archetypal little brother. He whinges, he bites, he shouts and he bounces through life. He is our blonde bombshell of impish pleasure. But there are a few things I just don’t understand about this sibling thing.
Today I have witnessed the following:
– Little brother standing on the back of big brother. LB smiling whilst BB cries out for help.
– LB gather a plate for BB even though he doesn’t need one. (“It’s for my bruvvver”)
– LB hit BB on the head with a wooden train and reduce BB to tears.
– LB hug BB hard around the neck proclaiming “I love my bruvver.”
– BB chase LB around the house, LB giggling like a loon.
– LB eat all his dinner time dough balls and then proclaim “I want more. I want my bruvvvers.”
Reader, I am an only child. I will never get it. They love each other, they hurt each other, they defend each other, they ignore each other. Amazing. What lucky boys.
One year ago: Bake me not chocolate cake and Experimental banana loaf
Two years ago: Light and sweet carrot cake and Peanut brittle
Dough balls
Makes between 60 and 90 depending on how small you make them. I know that’s a lot. May I suggest you make the dough and either freeze half of it just after first proof stage, or use the rest of it to make pizza. Or just halve the recipe though that does involve having half a sachet of yeast hanging about which is the kind of thing I find annoying.
Ingredients:
- 650g strong white flour
- 7g sachet of easy blend yeast
- 10g salt
- 30mls olive or hemp oil
- 50mls milk
- 325mls warm water
- Semolina for lining the tray
Easy peasy. Pop all the ingredients into a bowl and mix well with your hands or a dough hook. Once combined knead for 4 minutes in a stand mixer (with the dough hook again) or for about 7 – 8 minutes by hand on a greased work surface. Don’t add more flour – this will make the dough balls less than light. Then pop back into the bowl once the dough is smooth and elastic looking and feeling. Cover the top of the bowl with clingfilm and leave to double in size. Then knock the dough back by flipping it over and squashing it down with your hands.
Take a roasting tray (better than a baking tray as easier to drape with clingfilm without restricting the growth of the dough balls later on for the second proofing) and sprinkle with semolina. Then using scissors, cut pieces of dough about the size of a walnut and roll between both palms in a circular motion. Then pop onto the semolina lined baking tray. You can pop a little flour on the roasting tray instead to stop the dough balls from sticking but they’ll be less crunchy on the bottom.
Once you’ve rolled the first batch and filled your roasting tray, cover with clingfilm and leave to rise until double the size. The time will depend on the warmth of your kitchen. Then bake in a preheated, very hot oven for about 10 – 15 minutes. Check on them after about 7 minutes to be on the safe side. My oven is officially rubbish and only goes up to 200C, I would prefer 220C for these babies but you can’t have it all.
Serve with homemade garlic butter (butter with crushed garlic added for those who are time poor… butter with crushed roasted garlic in it for those with a little more time) as a starter or with Nutella as a pudding. We even dipped ours in yoghurt today. We’re experimental with dough balls.
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Holly Bell 
I made these for dinner last night & my daughter took the leftovers in her packed lunch with hummus to dip them in. She loves them!
Oh I am soo pleased – they really are so easy and loved by all! Freeze like a dream too. x
well as an only child of an only child i really struggle when my two bicker and say they hate each other (13/10 boy/girl..so hormones def a factor) when all i wanted was a brother or sister but my husband finds it all quite funny as he and his brother (only 20months between them) would constantly take chunks out of each other and knowingly drive their parents mad…don’t think there is an answer to it…just human nature/birth order/phase but it is odd seeing a different perspective on childhood isn’t it
It is very odd when you have no chance of ever ‘getting’ it. Ever. Very odd indeed. I guess it’s our differences that make us more interesting though. x
This recipe made loads it was so easy thanks holly we are having some with chocolate sauce…yummy!!
Hi Clare, really pleased you like them and also that chocolate sauce was the perfect dipping sauce! It’s a fave in our house too! Xx
Holly
60 – 90!!!! i got a scant 30….dough wouldn’t rise. total fail
Hi debs, sorry to hear you had problems. I made this exact recipe only yesterday and it worked fine and made loads of dough balls. I guessing depends how large you roll them. I am wondering if the yeast you used is new or if it’s been open a while? Also wondered if you used digital scales? X
Holly
What is it about only child and the love for baking? I’m an only child too and I love baking too! Ok maybe not as good as you. Maybe it was a childhood without that amazing sibling love so resorted to being mommy’s BFF, hmmm
I think it’s very interesting. All my only child friends seem to have lots of kids too…
Holly
My goodness, do we have the same children? My two boys are nearly 5 and 2.5. They indulge in exactly the same behaviour as your 2 and I do worry for the older one sometimes. His younger brother is so feisty and a little dangerous. When the squealing reaches fever pitch it’s sometimes hard to identify which one it’s coming from. So, so glad you posted this, it has at least given me some hope that their scrapping is normal…sort of.
I think second borns often are the more gregarious, will mine is anyway. My first born is so patient I want to bottle it! Certainly doesn’t get it from me. x
Excellent, we are all doughball fans here so really might try these! The only time I regretted having them was once at Pizza Express with their Christmas “snowball” dessert. The sauce with them was horribly sweet :(
My mother was an only child and she was always baffled by the way my sister and I would snipe, niggle, scream, shout, bite, scratch, kick and punch at each other, but the minute one of us was in trouble the other would leap to her sister’s defence! I have 2 girls myself now and they are not nearly so catty, or indeed violent, with each other as we were. Guess we are all destined to be mystified by our children in some way!
The snowball dessert was not a good one, I remember it well. Think the sauce was icing sugar mixed with water and cinnamon. Even my kids wouldn’t eat it and they love sugar!
It is good to hear that other only child mothers are similarly flummoxed. It is hard to understand something you have no similar experience of, not hope of experiencing. Xx
Holly
Ah, the heaven and hell of sibling relationships. My two boys maul each other all day, and as soon as they are up in bed at night spend a couple of hours hopping from bed to bed impishly and behaving gorgeously to each other. I have a sister and I still can’t work it out!
Oh I love the way they change from murderous toddlers to loving puppies as soon as they hit their bedroom. Mine do the same and just want to cuddle each other. Aah! Xx
Holly
Ah brotherly love. I remember my LB lovingly throwing a dart into my hand (we were a few years older than your gang at the time). I have the scar and can still picture the back of my hand with dart hanging out of it.
I got my revenge. I took apart his favourite Kids from Fame cassette tape and replaced the tape spools with the similarly dismantled innards from one of Mum’s Rod Stewart faves. Mwah ha ha…
You see, for me adam, I’d have been happy with a bit of Rod….
Holly
*Innuendo klaxon*
Using a bread machine making the dough is no good? And thank you for posting your recipes! I love them and love the way you “introduce” them with a family story!
To confuse you even more, here BIG SISTER might smile to see her brother been punished, but would then scream and shout on us if we make him cry…. Understand that! ;)
You can happily use a bread machine to make the dough but I don’t have one so can’t give any instructions I’m afraid. And we have a similar situation here, if I upset little brother, big brother gets upset… Yet if little either is being told off, big brother watches with glee. Funny things siblings. X
Holly