The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Marks Portuguese Sweet Rolls

ehanner's picture
ehanner

Marks Portuguese Sweet Rolls

Wow, I thought you guys were maybe exaggerating about the aroma from this bread. This is a terrific smelling bread and it looks wonderful!

I decided to make 2- 2# loaves on a sheet pan. I used a plastic banneton to shape the dough and patiently waited for the 1-1/2 hours suggested for proofing. The crust is very soft coming out of the oven. This is definitely going to find its way to the table as a roll also.

Eric

LazySumo's picture
LazySumo

Eric, those are beautiful! Looks awesome.

holds99's picture
holds99

I like the shape the bannetons gave your loaves.  Very nice loaves and scoring.

Howard

Yerffej's picture
Yerffej

Where would I find the recipe for this bread?

Jeff

ehanner's picture
ehanner

Here is the link to the page where Mark has the recipe shared. It's a PDF file. If you have problems with that Howard has it posted aboe in the same threaad.

Sweet Bread Recipe.

Eric

mcs's picture
mcs

Great color and scoring too.  We just had some PSB burger buns with pulled pork and it works great.  Also, if you have friends who aren't crazy about 'crusty' breads, this one is perfect.  Like in video #1, sometimes I fill them with stuff, then you can eat them completely by themselves.

-Mark

ehanner's picture
ehanner

I saw in the video you were stuffing the rolls with something. Was that a sweet bean Chinese style fill? Last night when I sampled the end cut, it was telling me I should try golden raisins.

This bread is interesting in that it's soft outside and I thought it was going to be hard to cut, but it's just a smooth easy slice. Very nice combination.

I have a standard non convection oven and used 380F for 25 minutes then covered the top for another 6 minutes at 350F. It was getting done on top and the internal was only 170 after 25 minutes.

Eric

mcs's picture
mcs

Yes, that was a sweetened bean paste (azuki beans), but I've also used ube jam (purple sweet potato).  I think a paste consistency filling works better than something loose like a jam.  You could also treat it like a manapua or bao and fill it with BBQ pork or something like that.  I fill them similar to the way Bridgestone did in this thread:
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/9047/sweet-filled-buns
Instead of using the cookie cutter, I make them into rolls, flatten them, give them covered rest time (20 minutes or so), then use the rolling pin to make them flatter, and fill.  They don't rise up quite as high as the non-filled because of the over-working, but they're still nice.  Then I mark them to ID which ones have which filiings.
Note: Just don't overfill them or you'll be kicking yourself when they don't seal up right.
I think in the standard oven I cooked them at 350 to avoid the overbrowning like you mentioned.  Traditionally, they were made boule shaped and brushed with milk to make them more brown than gold, but with all of the honey, they get too dark with a wash.

-Mark

Yerffej's picture
Yerffej

If these are even remotely similar to the breakfast rolls that I have had in Portugal I shall be quite pleased.

Thank you for the directions to the recipe.

Jeff

cdnDough's picture
cdnDough

Just to confirm, I assume that Mark's recipe (linked above) uses unsalted butter.

mcs's picture
mcs

I use salted butter in the recipe, so the added salt in the dough is pretty low.  Just to clarify, the PDF and the recipe posted by Howard are two different recipes.  One is with a biga and a higher hydration (PDF), the one Howard posted is a little drier and is a straight dough.  My wife says 'both are yummy'.

-Mark

cdnDough's picture
cdnDough

Many thanks for the quick reply!

I'm really looking forward to trying the biga version tomorrow :)

gaaarp's picture
gaaarp

Mark et al, is the timing on the biga critical?  I would like to make this bread this week or weekend, but my schedule is such that the biga will sit for closer to 24 hours.  Should I refrigerate it like I would a sourdough starter, or will it be OK sitting out longer than the 12-16 hours called for in the recipe?

mcs's picture
mcs

I think the idea is to use it before it 'collapses' similar to overproofing.  If it's going to be for 24 hours, I'd just mix it with cool water (60 degrees or so).  If it's warm in your house, just use cold water.  Either way, after a couple of hours it'll be room temperature anyway.  I wouldn't refrigerate it, but that's just me.

-Mark

gaaarp's picture
gaaarp

That's kind of what I thought, although I'm more familiar with sourdough starters than biga.

cdnDough's picture
cdnDough

I only made 1/2 of the recipe as a test, but they turned out great.  I'm playing with 3 oz rolls at the moment as my wife volunteered me to make a few dozen for a potluck meal.  An attempt at ww sourdough 'miche' rolls are on the left.

WW Miche and Portuguese Sweet Rolls

gaaarp's picture
gaaarp

cdn, those look lovely!  I see you like to play with slashing, too.  I especially like the diamond pattern on the mini-miche.

cdnDough's picture
cdnDough

Thanks.  I think I need to change out the razor blade on my lame or turn it arround as it is tugging at the dough far more than it used to.  I resorted to using my serrated bread knife which worked better than I thought it might.  I thought I'd try scissors and a few different slashes on the sourdough rolls... I need to be more aggressive with the scissors.  For rolls, a single slash seems to work best for me.

gaaarp's picture
gaaarp

I've been using a single blade razor for my slashing.  I just ordered a lame from KA but haven't used it yet.  Oddly enough, from reading here it sounds like a lot of people prefer serrated knives.

gaaarp's picture
gaaarp

I made Mark's Portuguese Sweet Bread today.  I did them as rolls, and they came out great!!  Thanks, Mark, for another amazing recipe.

In making the rolls, I weighed out all the ingredients, per the recipe.  As I went I annotated some of the ingredients with measurements other than weight (e.g., the eggs and butter).  Below are my annotations, which may make it easier to reproduce this recipe at home.

Portuguese Sweet Bread w/biga

Biga

White AP flour 269g

Water 169g

Salt 7g

Yeast 1/6 tsp

 

Final Dough

White AP flour 709g

Milk, warm 257g (1 1/8 cups)

Honey 149g  (scant 1/2 cup)

Eggs 125g  (3 large)

Butter, softened 110g  (1 stick)

Sugar 55g

Yeast, instant 8g  (2 1/2 teaspoons)

Salt 6g

Biga 445g

Total 1864g (4.1#)

1. Prepare biga, mix/knead until a smooth ball forms. Cover and set

aside for 12-16 hours.

2. Mix final dough ingredients together on speed 1 adding biga as

dough comes together. Set timer for 3 minutes.

3. Mix on speed 2 for 3 more minutes scraping dough occasionally

(once per minute) from side of bowl and dough hook. Dough forms

a loose ball on the hook, but is too sticky to clean the bowl.

4. From the mixing bowl, transfer to a lightly floured table and form

into a loose boule before placing in a lightly oiled bowl to rise.

5. Cover and set aside for 2 hours, folding after 1 hour.

6. Shape.

7. Final fermentation (covered with plastic or in a humid

environment), about 1.5 hrs at 75°.

8. Three ounce rolls baked in a convection oven at 325 take 15

minutes (no steaming); 1.5# pan loaves take 35 minutes (no

steaming) to reach 200 degrees internal temperature.

RFMonaco's picture
RFMonaco

Thanks for the tips gaaarp!

director517's picture
director517

Eric,

 

Those pictures look wonderful. I'm new around here, but actually this recipe is on my list to make for our family's christmas eve graze, so I was enthused by all of the discussion here.

 

Question: has anyone tried freezing this dough and thawing later? With six brothers and sisters plus nieces, nephews, and extended family, the majority of them cooks and foodies, sometimes it's hard to get a square inch of counter space for bread making when we all gather at my mom's. I was thinking I might make it ahead and schlep it up north in my cooler. Just curious.

All best.

 

Sam

mcs's picture
mcs

I've frozen this dough as both rolls and loaves after final proof and before baking and also shipped dough frozen like this cross-country.  If you've never baked and had it fresh before, you'd think it's great.  If you've had it fresh, it's not quite as nice.  The frozen stuff has a thicker (and a little tougher) crust and the inner texture isn't quite as creamy.  Anyone who's made it will know what I'm talking about.  You'll actually end up with a better product on 'game day' if you fully bake it, cool it, and freeze it - then reheat it when you need it.  It reheats well and if you're worried about it drying out you can wrap it in foil.

-Mark

holds99's picture
holds99

Mark's right: "You'll actually end up with a better product on 'game day' if you fully bake it, cool it, and freeze it - then reheat it when you need it."  He should know, he's the source for this great recipe.

FWIW.  After it completely cools you can also slice it, putting the slices back together (in a loaf) in the order they were sliced, then freeze it.  That way you don't have to thaw the entire loaf out to get the number of slices you need for meals, sandwiches, etc.  After slicing just be careful when reassembling the loaf that you don't press the ends of the loaf together too tightly or the slices may stick together as they freeze and you'll have to use a knife to seperate them.

Howard

director517's picture
director517

thanks Howard.

 

All of this information is well appreciated. going to give it a test run this weekend... and freeze some of it.

 

sam

 

director517's picture
director517

Thanks, Mark.

 

Not sure what I'll do, but, as the bulk of the cooking for Christmas will fall to me, I'm going to have to work out a combination of what to cook here, what to schlep. Also intrigued by your suggestion of using the dough to make pork buns. After comparing with a few standard pork bun recipes, it's not that far off. I might try that as well.

In any case, I'm going to give the dough a practice run this weekend.

 

BTW, Went to your website and your place looks great.

 

Sam

director517's picture
director517

Hi Mark,

 

Today's the big day. The Portuguese rolls are shaped and proofing in the oven. I can't wait for the final product. I didn't freeze this first batch, but ended up slowing it all down a little in the fridge because of an emergency. We'll see if they're affected, but I don't think so. as I was shaping the rolls (following your video, more or less), the dough felt and seemed fine. With the pulled pork recipe I'm going to make on for christmas eve, I'm sure they will be perfect.

 

Did have one perhaps dumb question: in your video you're shown mopping up flower on the countertop as you knead. Is that extra flour, or flour from the bowl that didn't get fully incorporated while you were stirring/mixing? I tried to stick exactly to the weights you gave and not add any extra flour at the end, which, of course, makes a sticky dough that's less easy to knead, but after the two risings, it seemed like the way to go.

 

Thanks, and i hope you have great holidays.

 

Sam

mcs's picture
mcs

Sam, sounds like you have the perfect project going.  Believe it or not, I'm having PSB rolls with pulled pork for lunch today (and for dinner last night).
The flour you see in the video is part of the recipe, nothing extra. 

-Mark