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Buns for Thirty - and an Experiment...

Reynard's picture
Reynard

Buns for Thirty - and an Experiment...

Thanks to some encouragement, I figured it was time to stretch myself some by experimenting... A bit like taking the training wheels off a bicycle I suppose. I begun with one of my favourite recipes for a basic wholemeal sourdough and modified it by adding a soaker and a little yeast, the latter to give me a bit more predictability - everything was scaled to give me a pair of 600g loaves.

Levain:

87g wholemeal bread flour

87g warm water

20g rye starter

Soaker:

30g porridge oats

30g seed mix

40g rye flour

100g water just off the boil

Dough:

Levain + soaker

5g dried active yeast

300g wholemeal bread flour

213g white bread flour

333g warm water

11g salt

Method:

I prepared the levain and the soaker the evening before. For the soaker itself, I took all the seeds (a mix of poppy seed, sesame, sunflower, millet, yellow & black linseed) and half the oats and toasted them in a dry pan until the seeds started popping. I let the seeds cool and gave them a few pulses in the food processor until the bits were smaller. This was added to the rest of the oats and the rye flour, I poured the boiling water over the mix and gave it a good stir. Covered both bowls with cling film and left them on the work surface overnight.

In the morning all the other ingredients were weighed out and prepared...

The soaker (left) and levain (right) on top of the flour mix. The soaker smelled wonderfully nutty, while the levain had a slight sour aroma. The dough was then mixed up...

Apologies for the fact that I had to use one of my large stainless steel cooking pots to mix the dough - I managed to break my large ceramic bowl and I can't find a suitable replacement...

Anyways, gave the dough a 2 hour bulk ferment at room temperature (that's about 22C here) with two sets of stretch and folds at roughly 40 minute intervals. Then I degassed the dough, divided it in half, shaped each portion into a batard and set them in the bannetons to rise. One I kept at room temperature, the other went into the fridge to slow the proof down; I only have one suitable chicken brick, so have to bake the loaves sequentially.

After an hour's bulk proof, the room temperature loaf went into the greased and floured brick, the top was scored, I put three teaspoons of water in the bottom of the brick, on went the lid and into a preheated oven at 230C it went. After 25 minutes I removed the lid and lowered the temperature to 200C.

At that point, I removed the second banneton from the fridge. After 20 mins the first loaf was done and removed from the brick, the brick was re-floured and the oven upped in temperature again. In went the second loaf into the hot brick, it was scored, I added three teaspoons of water, then back on with the lid and into the oven at 230 for 25 mins and then 20 mins at 200 with the lid off. I think the results were rather pleasing... The first loaf to be baked is on the left, while the second one is on the right.

One loaf I gave to a friend in return for free range eggs from her chooks (I succumbed to fried egg sandwiches) while the other is umm... mostly eaten...

The crust smelled wonderful, a deep, toasted kind of aroma. It was thick and crunchy with a lovely flavour. In contrast, the crumb is almost creamy-soft, very mild and sweet in its taste, and not at all what I was expecting. I had been aiming for something a bit more robust. I'm thinking I could up the quantity of the soaker next time, and maybe substitute the rye for buckwheat...

I found that the roasted onion hummus that I had for lunch rather overpowered the delicate flavour of the crumb. It went down far better with the butter and cheese I had for supper...

And where do the buns for thirty come in? At the weekend I catered pastries for a local charity function - and made buns, mainly because everyone seems to like them. Used Gordon's recipe for the dough, but a triple quantity - kneading that lot by hand is quite a workout, and of course, I was ably supervised by Poppy and Lexi...

One third was filled with fruit (standard Chelsea bun mix), another with brown sugar, butter and cinnamon then topped with cream cheese frosting, and the last batch were filled with a mixture of chocolate spread and bashed up chunks of dark chocolate and drizzled over with white chocolate...

(L-R: Chelsea buns, cinnamon rolls, chocolate buns)

Needless to say they went down really, really well, not a crumb was left. I even managed to sneak one of the chocolate ones for myself when no one else was looking ;-) It was soft, sticky and oh-so-gloriously chocolatey... *sigh*

 

Comments

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Hi my....those buns look purely evil!  Bread looks great as well.  I've made a similar loaf in the past And yours looks excellent.

Happy baking and look forward to your next bake .

Ian

Janetcook's picture
Janetcook

Nice bakes.

I couldn't help but notice your proclivity towards baking buns so I felt inclined to mention the following book in the event that you haven't already purchased a copy of your own.

The Book of Buns

It is full of delicious recipes from around the world and one that you may enjoy baking through at some point.

Have Fun!

KathyF's picture
KathyF

Those buns look absolutely delicious! And it looks like you have mastered baking bread in a chicken brick. Look at those loaves! They look great!

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

looks prefect for sandwiches and those buns are to die for - bet they sold out quick.  I've been baking seeds and nut cakes for desert lately and need to think about something to bake with my cherry yeast water that isn't sour. -)  Buns are the choice for now!

Well done and happy baking 

Reynard's picture
Reynard

Thanks for the lovely comments :-) But no one's ever called my buns evil before LOL!

The fruit ones were the most popular, followed by the cinnamon rolls and then lastly the chocolate ones. I guess not everyone has the same view on chocolate as I do.

To be entirely truthful, outside of Christmas and Easter I don't bake that much sweet stuff for myself - most of what I do is for charity fundraisers. But sometimes, an itch needs scratching, and I'm always on the look out for new recipes... ;-)

The bread was actually better today - the flavour had developed more, which was nice, and it made lovely chicken and apricot chutney sandwiches. I do think this is a recipe that needs to be kept for a couple of days before being eaten.

Have to say, the chicken brick has been brilliant, and I'm looking at buying a second one that's similar in shape so that I can bake more than one bread at the time. Those are the best loaves I've had out of it - I think the tablespoon of water in the bottom helped too. Am hoping I can have as much luck with my pizza stone and upturned stock pot for larger loaves - my oven has vents in the door, so adding steam is kind of pointless...

Jane Dough's picture
Jane Dough

Your yeast baking is lovely.  I wouldn't be surprised if your stall at the fund raiser is the main draw!  I'd start there if I was attending.

As for the chicken brick if you don't find another I think a Romertoph is probably a reasonable substitute. Plus they are lovely also.

And last but not least, can I ask what your Chelsea mix is?

Thank you for sharing.

 

Reynard's picture
Reynard

Thanks for the kind comments :-)

I've seen both chicken bricks and romertopfs for sale, so I have both options. The latter would certainly be better for boules...

Anyways, my chelsea bun filling mix is as follows (for an 850g quantity of dough):

75g caster sugar

65g melted butter

300g mixed dried fruit

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon clove

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

pinch of cardamom

P.S. You're very welcome :-)

Truth Serum's picture
Truth Serum

Thanks for posting all the details. The buns and loaves  look great!