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Sourdough Italian Rolls

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

Sourdough Italian Rolls

Sourdough Italian Rolls

April 18, 2015

Those familiar with my San Joaquin Sourdough will recognize the rolls I baked today as its Italian cousin. Besides the obvious difference that these are rolls rather than bâtards, they also have around 20% Durum flour, some sugar and olive oil, and they have a sesame seed coating.

I developed this formula in 2011. Originally, it had both diastatic malt and suger. It was pointed out to me that the AP flour is already malted, and, as a sweetener, the malt is redundant. I really didn't need both malt and sugar. So, today's version omits the malt.

 

Total Dough

 

 

Ingredient

Amount (gms)

Bakers' %

AP flour

434

79

Fine Durum flour

100

18

WW flour

11

2

Whole Rye flour

5

1

Water

400

73

Salt

10

1.8

Sugar

14

2.5

EVOO

14

2.5

Total

988

179.8

  

Liquid Levain

 

 

Ingredient

Amount (gms)

Bakers' %

Liquid starter

40

40

Water

100

100

AP flour

70

70

WW flour

20

20

Whole Rye flour

10

10

Total

240

240

  1. Disperse the liquid starter in the water.

  2. Add the flours and mix thoroughly.

  3. Ferment at room temperature until expanded and bubbly (8-12 hours). If necessary, refrigerate overnight and let warm up for an hour before using.

 

Final Dough

 

Ingredient

Amount (gms)

AP flour

400

Fine Durum flour

100

Water

350

Salt

10

Sugar

14

Active liquid levain

100

EVOO

14

Total

988

Procedures

  1. In a large bowl, disperse the levain in the water.

  2. Add the flours and sugar to the liquid and mix to a shaggy mass.

  3. Cover the bowl and let it rest for 20-60 minutes.

  4. Add the salt and olive oil and mix thoroughly. (Note: I squish the dough with my hands until it comes back together, then do stretch and folds in the bowl until it forms a smooth ball and the oil appears completely incorporated.)

  5. Transfer the dough to a 2 quart lightly oiled bowl, and cover the bowl tightly.

  6. After 30 minutes, do stretch and folds in the bowl. Repeat 3 more times at 30 minute intervals.

  7. Refrigerate for 12-36 hours. (Today, I retarded for 23 hrs.)

  8. Divide the dough into 8 or 9 equal pieces and pre-shape as rounds or logs. Cover with a clean towel, baker's linen or plasti-crap and let rest for one hour. (Today, I scaled 6 rolls at 4 oz and 3 rolls to 3.65 oz.)

  9. Shape as long rolls and proof en couche or on a baking sheet for about 45 minutes. (Note: Optionally, roll the rolls on damp paper towels, then in a tray of sesame seeds. Alternatively, you can brush the loaves with water and sprinkle with sesame seeds.)

  10. One hour before baking, pre-heat the oven to 480ºF with a baking stone and steaming apparatus in place.

  11. Transfer the rolls to a peel. Score them, if desired. Transfer the rolls to the baking stone. Or, if the rolls were proofed on a baking sheet, score the rolls and place the sheet in the oven. 

  12. Steam the oven, and turn the temperature down to 460ºF.

  13. After 10 minutes, remove the steaming apparatus. (Note: If you have a convection oven, switch to convection bake and turn the oven down to 435ºF for the remainder of the bake.) Continue baking for another 6-8 minutes or until the rolls are nicely browned and the internal temperature is at least 205ºF.

  14. Transfer the rolls to a cooling rack. Cool completely before eating.

Sourdough Italian Roll crumb

My wife frequently asks me to make “soft” rolls to use for her sandwiches, but I seldom do so for some reason. I baked these while she was out. When she got home and saw them, she asked if she could use them to make sandwiches for the bridge group she is hosting next week. I know I can make more, so I just asked to save one for us to share with dinner. Well, after tasting the dinner roll, she started talking about getting rolls from the bakery for her bridge group and reserving the sourdough Italian rolls for us. I thought they were pretty good too. In fact, the flavor was so good I would hesitate to cover it with sandwich fillings.

 

I also made some blueberry muffins. The recipe is from The Best Recipe, by the America's Test Kitchen folks. 


They were delicious as well.

 

Happy baking!

David

Submitted to yeastspotting

Comments

nmygarden's picture
nmygarden

Could those rolls get any better?!! Soft, open, custardy crumb and crispy, seeded crust. Put nothing in/on mine, This the type of roll I'll pull the innards out and eat them separately from the crust in two perfect courses.

And the blueberry muffins look terrific. I noticed you spoke of them in the past tense,,, that's how they would go here, too - quickly. Thanks for sharing your talents with us.

Cathy

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

For your kind remarks.

I should have been more specific perhaps. One of the blueberry muffins was delicious. I looked the other way for a moment, and there were ten left, not counting the crumbs on my wife's chin. So, 10 muffins made it to the freezer. 

David

shoshanna673's picture
shoshanna673

David, your rolls look great.  I am a great fan of your SJSD and would love to try these rolls.  A quick query .. being from downunder, I do not know what EV00 is.  Could you or someone else please enlighten me.  Thank you in anticipation.

Sondra

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

I'm glad you have enjoyed the SJSD. I think you will really like this version as rolls or larger loaves.

EVOO = "Extra Virgin Olive Oil"

David

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

world when folks know exactly what SJSD is ....but don't know EVOO!   Beautiful rolls David.  Being a diabetic i think i would use Red Malt instead of white and drop the sugar too:-)  These have to be tasty little loaves.

Well done and

Happy baking David

shoshanna673's picture
shoshanna673

Thanks very much David for your prompt response to my query.  Not a secret ingredient after all, just an abbreviation of an everyday item!!!

Sondra

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

who appeared on the Food Network for years and popularized 'EVOO' for all American cooks.  Now she has her own daytime TV talk and interview show too and is even more popular than ever.  Rachel Ray must not be as big in Australia as she is in the stares.  It is great to known that David's fine SJSD is more well known in Australia than EVOO!  The thought alone made my day!

Happy baking

alfanso's picture
alfanso

Lovely little critters!

I love 'em, but the errant sesame seeds that get away during the slicing add to the kitchen counter mess during cleanup!  A small price to pay in my book.

A question that I failed to ask before was how did you come up with 20% semolina as a component of the final flour mix?

alan 

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

Gather up those seeds! They are the tastiest.

The percentage of durum was probably arbitrary - enough to make its presence known, but not enough to make it a durum bread. Note that I did not use Semolina. This is the finely ground/reground/Extra Fancy durum.

David

alfanso's picture
alfanso

Hello David,

For the record, here's a picture of four of the flours which I use.

Upper left: Pillsbury Best AP

Upper right: Arrow Mills Rye

Lower left: Caputo semola rimacinata

Lower right: KA WW

In terms of softest to most granular texture: AP & Semola (just about a tie although hard to really see well from the photo), then bringing up the rear - WW and finally Rye.  So I believe that I am getting the type of milled product that I want from the semolina here.

Apparently with the right brand, we can get a finely milled product.

And yes, those counter-bound seeds hardly ever miss eventually traveling down my gullet.

alan

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

David

hanseata's picture
hanseata

Copied and put on my list! 

After my upcoming trip to Germany I will bake your Götz Challenge bread - wish I had more time, also for posting.

Cook's Illustrated's recipes are usually the best, I haven't tried those Blueberry Muffins, yet, but their Blueberry Pie rocks!

Happy Baking,

Karin

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

Have a great trip!

David

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Great looking rolls David.

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

Very tasty, too!

David

keepycooks's picture
keepycooks

muffins look great but you didn't do that swirl on top that America's test kitchen does. I always do it and tey come out beautifully

keepycooks's picture
keepycooks

muffins look great but you didn't do that swirl on top that America's test kitchen does. I always do it and they come out beautifully

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

But I think I can imagine it.

David

ANNA GIORDANI's picture
ANNA GIORDANI

Splendida produzione, mi invieresti 10 panini e 12 muffins....se vuoi ti allego l'indirizzo...

Bravo, complimenti sinceri.

Un abbraccio,

Anna

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

David