Monday 30 September 2013

redemptive burger buns

i made 3 dozen rolls on sunday morning for a birthday lunch for my son..they were a mix of slider buns and wholemeal spelt rolls*..i'd never made slider buns before but i practiced making the spelt rolls the week before because, while i'd added spelt to bread dough along with other flours, i'd not used it as the sole ingredient before..the practice spelt rolls were a bit heavier than a whole wheat based roll but they were acceptable so i felt reasonably confident that the rolls i planned to make on the day would be ok..

neither of them turned out the way i wanted though because they didn't rise much during their final proof and had very little oven spring..that happened because i didn't heed my own bread making instincts and instead i had a rare moment of 'follow the recipe'..i shouldn't have put dan on such a pedestal and made the erroneous decision to not only ignore the slider dough's heavy looking consistency but use it as a bench mark for how i made the spelt dough..but it's not dan's fault because i know only too well that flours vary considerably in the amount of fluid they absorb and i knew my doughs needed extra liquid..

as a redemptive gesture i made some rolls today..what i wanted were soft, pillowy rolls..the sort of roll that squishes together when you bite into it..the sort of roll that i wanted for the burgers i made on sunday for my son's birthday..i made these by following my instincts and they were just what i wanted..lesson learned..well, for now anyway!

redemptive burger buns


ingredients

400 gms organic strong white flour
100 gms organic wholemeal flour
7 gms yeast
1 tablespoon (tbs) active sourdough starter
1 1/2 tbs crushed murray river salt
3 tbs full fat cream
2 egg yolks
1 cup organic full cream milk
filtered water

method

~ in the bowl of a stand mixer mix flours, yeast, sourdough starter, egg yolks, cream and milk with enough filtered water to make a shaggy dough
~ autolyse for 30 minutes, add salt, mix for 30 seconds, rest for 10 minutes and then mix again briefly
~ remove the bowl from the stand mixer and cover dough with a damp tea towel until doubled in size
~ turn dough out onto a lightly dusted bench and divide into 8 pieces each weighing approximately 125 gms
~ shape into rounds and place on a flour dusted tray and leave, loosely covered, until doubled
~ sieve the rolls with flour and bake with steam at 220 deg c for 15-20 minutes






note: * my son's girlfriend has a wheat intolerance so i made spelt rolls so she could have burgers too..


6 comments:

  1. They are very rich rolls indeed and your redemption should be fully satiated...they look magnificent. Might be baking bread myself today...no way I can get out into the garden. The roaring 40's have cranked it up a notch and I can hear trees falling down out there so not a good place for me to go a roaming today methinks!

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    1. thanks fran..it's the same here..trees and branches are coming down everywhere..a car was literally flattened down the road from me yesterday..thankfully i haven't heard about anyone getting hurt..glad you're all snug indoors away from malevolent forces..

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  2. We never stop learning when it comes to bread do we Jane? I know what you mean about bread instincts too. Your rolls look beautiful...I might give them a try one of these days.

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    1. thanks jane..i think one of the secrets about bread making is learning to 'read' the dough and that's a huge part of its sometimes elusive magic..

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  3. A big yes to bread instincts from me too. I quite often find it difficult to give bread instruction or advice as these days it's all about instinct and how it all looks. I've come undone many a time when following a recipe, and sometimes need to remind myself that recipes can be quite often just used as a guide and not bible.

    ps. I'm hooked on that Murray river salt, no other salt compares.

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    1. same here brydie..as i said to jane bread making is so much about getting a feel for the dough..there are so many variables that affect its behaviour like temperature, the flour and so on that have to be considered and it seems that practice and experience are the best tutors..

      ps..after using murray river salt for many years i now find 'ordinary' salt horrible..

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