Richard Bertinet's seeded bread rolls

1 Begin by making the paste. Bring the milk to a simmer in a small saucepan, then add the flour and whisk well. Transfer to a bowl to cool. While the paste is cooling, grease your muffin or mini loaf tins.

2 Place the cooled paste in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Add the flour, salt, yeast and water, mix on a slow speed for 4 minutes then increase the speed to medium and mix for a further 10-12 minutes, until the dough comes away clean from the side of the bowl.

3 Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and fold it over itself 4-5 times, then place in a lightly floured bowl. Cover and leave to rest for 1½ hours until doubled in size.

4 Preheat the oven to 220°C, gas mark 7. If you have a baking stone or heavy baking sheet, place it in the centre of the oven and sit a shallow roasting tin in the bottom. Fold the dough a few times again then divide into 10 equal portions and roll into balls. If you want to be precise, you can weigh each one – they should be 90-100g each. Place into the oiled muffin tin or individual mini loaf tins. Cover and prove for 1 hour until well risen.

5 Using a sharp knife, deeply slash each roll and place a herb sprig across each. Place the tin onto the hot stone and quickly pour a cup of water into the roasting tin. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the bread is dark brown and cooked through. Lift the rolls out of the tin and leave to cool.