Scotch Bap and Irish Blaa (Vegan Bread Rolls)

This is a Vegan version of the Scotch Bap and/or Irish Blaa bread roll, which I find to be quite similar. The primary difference is small: the Irish Blaa is always square and powdered on top whereas the Scotch Bap can be either floured or given a light oil / sugar glaze akin to a classic European dinner roll or Bap. I've used this recipe several times with small tweaks and have come to find it quite reliable and versatile.

Makes: 10 Dinner Rolls
Time: Approximately 3 hours (with about 40 minutes of actual work)

Ingredients
350g bread flour (I use Robin Hood here in Canada)
228g water (65% hydration)
18g shortening (5% fat)
2g lecithin powder (powdered or small granule soy lecithin is best)
1tsp yeast
0.5tsp salt

For a traditional Bap use the above water amount. For a Blaa or a more moist, softer dough, use 67% hydration (235g water). For a more firm Bap that is intended to carry spreads or sandwich slices, you can lower the hydration to 63% hydration (220g water) and 3% fat (11g shortening).

Utensils
Small whisk
Kitchen scale
Bread kneading knife or putty knife (hardware store!)
3 small mixing bowls, one microwaveable
1 large mixing bowl
8" round baking tray, such as a pie tray
Rubber spoon or silicone spoon -- make sure it can scrape / squeegee the side of a mixing bowl.

Starter 
Mix the yeast, half the sugar, about 1-2 tablespoons of flour, and 100g of the water in a small bowl. Cover the small bowl with the large bowl and leave it in a warm place for 45 minutes.

When the starter is about 6 min from being finished, place the shortening in a separate small microwaveable bowl and add the powdered lecithin to it. Microwave on high for 1:30 or until the shortening is fully melted. Remove and whisk vigorously but gently. The lecithin is difficult to fully dissolve but whisking for 5-6 minutes straight will go a long way.

Put the rest of the sugar into the dry flour into a third small bowl and mix it around with a fork or dry spoon.

After the starter has had a chance to sit and expand, add the salt and the shortening/lecithin mixture to it and mix them together gently. This allows for the salt to dissolve and for the lecithin to emulsify the fat and water.

Doughball
In the large mixing bowl you'll now make your doughball. Add your emulsified starter mixture, then the remainder of the water. Think of your remaining flour as being divided into roughly four parts. Mix the first part of that flour in and stir it until you have a batter-like consistency. Keep mixing until the lumps are out, producing a thin batter-like dough. When the batter is smooth, add the second quarter of the flour.

Now repeat the stirring with your rubber spoon, scraping residues from the side of the bowl and mixing them back into the batter. This stirring kickstarts your gluten formation and you may notice the thin batter start to stretch and "snap back" when you move your spoon around. It is much easier for most people to do this than it is to apply the force necessary to knead all the flour into the moisture at once by hand. You'll spend about 3-4 minutes mixing like this.

Kneading
When you notice the batter getting a bit stretchy, mix in the third part of the flour. At this point, it will start getting more doughy and will be too difficult to mix with the spoon. Dust your kneading surface and hands with a small bit of your flour and start to knead the dough by hand. Only add small amounts of flour at a time, kneading as you go. Use the bread folding knife to gather the dough into a ball, then flatten that ball out with your hands. Aim to spend about 10 minutes kneading like this as you add the remainder of the flour. Leave only about a tablespoon of the flour out, which you'll use for the final dusting.

Shaping
You should be left with a large doughball of about 550-590g. Use the folding knife to place the doughball on the scale and divide its weight by 10. Put a small amount of oil in your baking pan and spread it around with a paper towel so that it's ready to receive the smaller doughballs.

Now place the entire doughball on the counter and use the knife to cut and measure a small slice of dough of exactly 1/10 the weight of your large doughball. Once you have this smaller piece, roll it into a ball between two hands as you would roll an orange or piece of clay. If you have a round pie-shaped baking plate, you can arrange these doughballs into rows of 3-4-3.

When you're done shaping the small doughballs, cover the baking tray with the large mixing bowl (or some other large bowl that can contain the rise) and place it on top of the fridge or some other warm place. Let this rise for 1.5-2 hours. A longer rise will get you more gas formation and lighter crumb, but also a little more flavour. At 10 min before the end of the rise, preheat the oven to 360F without convection.

Baking
Use the very last of the flour to dust the tops of the rolls. This is the classic Waterford Blaa finish, but you can also brush on a small bit of canola oil for a more classic Bap or European dinner roll glaze. A small bit of powdered sugar is also an option.

Don't worry that the balls have "risen" into each other. They will still tear apart nicely. Take a close look at how the rolls have risen in the pan. If the rolls have "spread" horizontally, this means the pan was too large. You want the rolls to have spread only slightly to fill the pan but then risen mostly upwards.

Place the rolls in the oven and bake for 24 minutes at 360F. This dough offers some versatility: If you want a very moist crumb under a thin but soft crust, you can bake for 21 minutes at 380F, or if you want a drier crumb and a firm crust you can bake for up to 28 minutes at 340F.

Serving
These buns are honestly best served plain when they are fresh and make a great appetizer that way. If you plan on using them to carry a spread or a sandwich, I would consider dialing back the hydration by a couple percentage points in order to get a firmer crumb. By default, they are almost as light as a cake (though they are a yeast bread) when fresh.

Enjoy!