rolls

My travels are over,  and I'm back....

Soft Cheese Bread from Peter Reinhart's - Artisan Breads Every Day

The Mill Loaf (Adapted)  - Baked last week,  with my 2 mths dormant sourdough

More details in this blog.

I am interested in improving my roll shaping skills. This is a very basic sourdough formula of about 67% hydration, bulk fermented for about 3 and a quarter hours in a warm city kitchen, then shaped and proofed for about another hour and a quarter, baked with steam.

I tried some fendus, which, while they had the right shape, were rather bloated for my taste. I prefer the slimmer shape, with a nice point for rolls. I think this will require a wider "hinge" and a narrower body.

I also tried a shape I believe I saw here, although I am not sure. A dowel is pressed into the side of a round roll and a flap is rolled. This flap is then pulled over the top of the roll, making a lovely effect. If this sounds familiar to anyone, I'd appreciate some guidance.

The rolls shown, in a "teardrop" shape, are, as far as I can tell, an original idea, cut to a point with a bench knife from a round shape that has been lengthened a little. People seem to have fun eating them.

Additional discussion about rolls, especially shaping, would be welcomed.

I'm including an additional crumb shot of the batard just because I like the picture.

2 bakes in a day.  This wholemeal roll is a mixed of bread flour and wholemeal.  Wanted to try something else for a change  small rolls using the water roux starter,  with 2 bites and they are gone.  I didn't expect it to turn out so tiny,  measured carefully at 40g per piece.  Anyway,  the most difficult I find is try to shape this.  I read the instructions and  after the 5th ball, I think I got it.  Shape the ball into a cone shape,  roll flat into triangle,  and roll it up from the bottom (wider part of the triangle).  Give it a few roll to tighten it a little. Let it proof for about 1 hour, until it is puffy.  I always wonder if I proof enough?  Well, it had a good oven spring,  and certainly the taste is pretty good,  soft and sweet and a little salty.  To read more:  here's the link.  

My attempt of french dimpled rolls last night , I would say turn out ok.  But I felt that I had to proof longer,  this is one thing I can't seem to get it right. The dough is a little dense, or is the roll suppose to be like that??

I went into a bakery to buy their rolls just to compare,  there's lots more holes,  the rolls felt much lighter.  As for the taste,  it was a little more salty than what I normally like,  I'd probably reduce it.  

For more details,  see attached.  

http://sites.google.com/site/jlohcook/home/breadmaking/french-dimpled-rolls

My third Scali

I'm adding this to my blog. It's also in Sylvia's post for Scali bread.

 I'm very happy with this bread. Yesterday I made a double batch and made 7 rolls and one braid. I didn't take a photo of the braid but the rolls are shown below. They were delicious with that stretchy pull apart crumb that I like in Italian breads. To make yesterdays batch I made the starter as given in the KAF recipe very early in the morning, let it sit 7 hours, mixed the dough, let it rise 90 min., deflated it and put it in the fridge overnight. In the morning it was risen about half way, I divided it, let it rest for an hour then shaped, let rise and baked. The flavor was delicious in the rolls and like I said a nice stretchy holey crumb. I didn't taste the braid, it was a gift. I did not make the strips 24" long like the recipe called for. I only made them about 17". The loaf was much higher and I liked it that way.

Last night I made up another starter and today made the recipe as written but made batons instead of the braid and used poppy seeds because I had used up all my sesame seeds. It probably can't be called a Scali anymore :o)  I was surprised with the high rise of todays loaves. They were a good 3 1/2"-3 3/4". Todays bread tastes very good but not as delicious as yesterdays and I'm wondering if it's because today I used the dry milk called for instead of using the whole milk I used yesterday or because the dough for the rolls was retarded overnight. Still very good but not quite up to the other. Todays crumb is not as open either.

Anyway, thanks again for introducing us to this KAF recipe. It's become a favorite. Wish I had some of that cherry jam! A friend gave me 5 lbs of the huge dark sweet cherries. I couldn't get out to her place to get them right away so she froze them for me. Do you think I could still make cherry jam with them?

weavershouse

The rolls shown below were made with the Scali dough

• edit
• reply