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  I made a new version of my pretzel rolls to bring to my Cousin’s for Rosh Hashanah dinner along with some of my standard ones.  Everyone seemed to really like the new ones so I guess I must have done something right :). 

This version had some fresh ground rye along with some dark cocoa powder along with the Guinness which really gave the final dough a nice malty flavor.  

I used pretzel salt, black sesame seeds and everything bagel topping for the toppings.  As usual these were made with a lye bath

Give these a try and I think you will be very satisfied.

If you haven’t tried pretzel rolls yet, give these a try.

One note, if you use pretzel salt like I do on a portion of the rolls, you cannot cover the rolls with anything or the humidity in the air will react with the salt and you will get mushy salted rolls.  It’s best to freeze any you don’t use right away.

Lye really does make a big difference.  I know a lot of people are afraid to use it, but honestly you are using such a small amount in the water bath that unless you pour it in your eyes, it will do very little to your hands, etc.  The lye really gives you the authentic pretzel flavor and look.

Caution:  When using the Lye make sure you wear gloves, long sleeves and protective eye gear. Also, never add Lye to hot water or it will bubble over and probably burn you.

Formula

For Lye Bath (3.5% Solution

2 Liters (1836 grams) of Cold water

70 grams Sodium Hydroxide Crystals

Make the Levain

Add your seed starter (20 grams) to the indicated amount of flour and water and mix until incorporated.  Cover and let sit out at room temperature of in your proofer until nice and bubbly around 6-10 hours depending on your temperature.  Use immediately or refrigerate for a few days until ready to mix the main dough.

Procedure

Add the diastatic malt powder to the Guinness and stir.  Add the flours in your mixing bowl and slowly add the Guinness mixture.  Mix for about 1 minute until combined.  Cut your starter in pieces and lay on top of the flour mixture and cover and let rest for 30 minutes to 1 hour so the flour can absorb the water.  Note: if you are using the Ankarsrum mixer like I do, you add the liquid first, add the starter to the liquids and then the flour.  I mix just until everything is combined, reserving some of the liquid for after the autolyze.

Next add the salt and butter (Softened) and mix for 6 minutes on low.    Place the dough in a slightly oiled bowl and do a couple of stretch and folds.  Cover the bowl and let it rest for 10-15 minutes.  Do another stretch and fold in the bowl and let it rest another 10-15 minutes.  Do another stretch and fold and let the dough sit out in the covered bowl for another 1.5 hours.  Place the dough in the refrigerator until ready to bake the next day.

When ready to bake take the dough out and leave it covered in your bowl for 1 hour at around 75-80 F.  Next divide the dough into pieces that are 110 grams each or 135 grams for larger rolls .  Shape as rolls and place on a baking sheet and cover with either a moist towel or plastic wrap sprayed with cooking spray.  Let it rest for around 60 minutes to about 1/2 proof.

While the rolls are proofing, fill a large stock pot with 2 liters of cold water.  Measure out the Lye and slowly add it to the cold water.  (DO NOT EVER ADD LYE TO HOT WATER).  Cover the pot and bring it to a rolling boil and then shut off the heat.

Pre-heat your oven to 450 degrees.  When the rolls are proofed sufficiently, prepare to dip them for about 15 seconds in the lye bath upside down.  Let them drain on a bakers rack over a cookie tray covered with a towel or parchment paper.  After draining for a minute you can transfer them to a cookie/baking sheet that has been sprayed with cooking spray.  You want to use a stainless steel cooking sheet as aluminum may react with the lye and peel.   I know this from experience and I had to cut off the bottoms of half the rolls I made.  I actually use my Silpat non-stick sheets which work like a charm.

When ready to bake, score each roll as desired and sprinkle with pretzel salt or topping of your choice.  

Bake for about 15-20 minutes until they are golden brown and register about 200 F in the middle.  Let them cool on a bakers rack until you can’t wait any longer!

Note: you cannot store these in a plastic bag or covered really otherwise the salt will react with the moisture in the air and you will end up with soggy tops.  I place them in a paper bag and leave it open so the air circulates.

Enjoy!

This seems to a problem with almost every recipe that I try (see picture).

For these loaves I tried:

https://www.theperfectloaf.com/best-sourdough-recipe/

I followed precisely as written.

There was very little change to the dough appearance/behavior after an overnight cold ferment. It was pretty solid. When I went to move it from banneton to dutch oven I could feel it deflate more (not that there was a lot to begin with).

Flours:

Bob's Red Mill Whole Weat

Dove Farms strong white.

Advice?

This loaf is a slightly changed version of the bread in my previous 50% einkorn post

https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/72901/50-einkorn

Here's what I changed:

1. Used KA bread flour for all the white flour, as I had intended all along;
2. For the soaker, I used more water with the bran (about 30g) and heated the mixture to about 150° F;
3. During initial mixing I withheld about 50g of the planned water (see below);
4. The hydration ended slightly lower - about 20g of water less;
5. I proofed the loaf in a proofing basket;
6. I retarded the loaf in the refrigerator overnight.

Here's the formula from before:

Formula
========
220g sifted einkorn (Locke's mill)
all the soaker
200g KA bread flour
150g white sourdough starter
270g water (but see #3 below)
10g salt

For #3, after I mixed everything by hand and worked all the water in by repeatedly squeezing the dough, I thought the dough could handle more water.  I was mindful that in reading, it's always said that einkorn either can't absorb as much water or that it absorbs water slowly.  My plan was to get gluten development started and then work in more water.

This seemed to work - the dough was not sticky or hard to handle, so I added about 30g more.  It didn't absorb much, so I let the dough rest covered for half an hour with the unabsorbed water sitting in the bottom of the bowl.  Then I mixed by squeezing and kneading, and all that water got absorbed.  The dough felt good and easy to handle, so I didn't add any more water.  This means the total water was about 250g, not the 270g originally planned.  This makes the overall hydration including water and flour in the starter about 66%.

After this, I did a first S&F after 30 minutes - basically coil folds, though I took the dough out and stretched it in my hands for the last two turns.  A second S&F after a further 40 minutes, also between my hands.  The dough was getting extensible, but was willing to hold a shape, and was not sticky.  Altogether, the dough was much easier to handle compared with the previous einkorn loaf.

After a 5 hour bulk ferment, the dough had more than doubled and was growing rapidly.  I shaped it into a log without making a preform, and put it seam side up in the rattan proofing basket. Shaping was easier than the previous loaf because the dough was firmer and not sticky.  I covered it with a thin cotton hand towel.

After 45 minutes the loaf was rising well and possibly proofed well enough to bake, like the previous loaf after the same BF and proof times.  Instead, I put the loaf into the fridge.

The next morning I preheated the oven to 410° F for an hour. I took the loaf out of the fridge 10 minutes before bake time.  The top (while in the basket - i.e., the seam side) was pretty dry so I wiped it with water.  I inverted the loaf onto a parchment-covered cutting board, slashed it, and baked with initial steam for 37 minutes, to internal temperature 208° F.

The results were very pleasing.  The loaf was not overproofed during the overnight retardation, the crumb was a little more open than the previous loaf and was on the soft side (like the previous loaf).  The shape of the loaf was more pleasing because it had not had a chance to spread sideways much, and the overall volume was good.

Overall, I'm happy with this loaf, and the experience makes me more confident about raising the proportion of einkorn in the future.

In the pictures below, the slice may look smallish because it is the first slice off the end.

50%-einkorn_take-2_1.jpg

50%-einkorn_take-2_slice.jpg

Please see here and here to learn more about concentrated lactic acid sourdough (CLAS). 

While in Hong Kong, I sampled pineapple buns (called 'ball-law-bao' 菠蘿包 in Cantonese) from EVERY Chinese bakery I passed by. To my disappointment, they didn't live up to my childhood memories. Some lacked that satisfying bounce after a bite, and some had an odd taste in their pineapple crust. However, my disappointment quickly faded because I had found the perfect, authentic recipe to recreate the ball-law-bao of my youth. This recipe comes from the book Hong Kong Bread by Chef Yung Ling Yau. P.S. There's a newer edition of this book with a revised title and additional recipes, including two more of my childhood favorites: egg tarts and coconut tarts.

Since decent ball-law-bao is hard to come by, I feel compelled to share this recipe with those who long for the delectable taste of this classic treat. 

While working with Chef Yau's recipe, I noticed something interesting: no salt was used. Surprisingly, the absence of salt didn't result in any unusual taste, thanks to the sweetness of the bread that masked the blandness. However, it's worth noting that the blandness becomes quite apparent in other salt-free bread dough, like Montreal-style bagels. So, generally, it's not a good idea to skip the salt.

The format of today's CLAS version recipe differs from my usual ones, as I prepared the instructions for a friend who adores my ball-law-bao but lacks experience in bread baking.

Ingredients for the Pineapple Crust 

- enough for 16 buns; use half for one bake

- Pastry/cake flour: 168g

- Sugar: 112g

- Butter: 14g

- Milk powder: 14g

- Egg yolk: 1

- Lard: 66g

- Condensed milk: 28g

- Evaporated milk: 28g

- Ammonia carbonate: 2g (available at Michael’s or online)

- Baking soda: 1g

- Yields approximately 454g of crust

Instructions

1. Mix the above ingredients until they are just homogeneous.

2. Use half of the batch for one bake. The crust per bun should be approximately 28g. Roll it into a ball, flatten it into a disc by hand, then gently roll it out once. Rotate the disc 90 degrees and roll it out again. Repeat this process until you've come full circle. The discs should be large enough to cover the proven dough balls' top. Refrigerate the discs while the buns are proving.

3. Refrigerate the remaining crust for the next bake.

Hong Kong Pineapple Buns

Ingredients (for 8 buns):

A.

- All-purpose flour: 243g

- Whole egg: 1 (about 50-60g)

- Sugar: 38g

B.

- Warm water: 84g (divided)

C.

- Whole-wheat CLAS (flour + liquid): 19g

- Kosher salt: 3.8g (optional)

- GOLD yeast: 1.8g

D.

- Butter: 23g (diced)

E.

- Milk: 51g

Instructions:

1. Mix

  - Add ingredients from A. to the mixer with a paddle attachment.

  - Start the mixer.

  - Gradually add B. until a dough forms and all ingredients are moistened. Reserve any unused water for later use; you may not need all 84g, depending on how absorbent the flour is.

2. Rest

  - Cover the dough in the mixing bowl and let it rest at room temperature for 30 minutes to an hour.

3. Mix (again)

  - Switch to the dough hook.

  - Add C. and mix until all ingredients are well incorporated. Add a little water to moisten if needed.

  - Mix with the dough hook until the dough gains strength and starts pulling away from the mixing bowl's sides.

  - Gradually add D. until well incorporated.

  - Gradually drizzle E. while the mixer is running. Add more after each drizzle is well incorporated into the dough.

  - If, at any point, the machine sounds labored or heats up, stop mixing and put the mixing bowl into the fridge to cool for 10 minutes before resuming mixing.

  - If you feel that the dough can take in more water or it feels dry (though not likely), and you have water reserved from above, drizzle it into the dough while the mixer is running and mix until it’s well incorporated.

4. Bulk Ferment – 1st rise

  - Place the dough in a straight-sided container and let it rise in a warm place until the volume doubles.

5. Divide and Preheat Oven

  - Divide the dough into 8 portions, approximately 63g each, and shape them into dough balls.

  - Prepare the crust, dividing it into 8 portions, approximately 28g each. Flatten and roll them into discs large enough to cover the top of the dough balls.

  - Preheat the oven to 392°F (for a darker crust) or 375°F (for a golden crust).

6. Final Proof - 2nd rise

  - Cover the dough balls and let them rise in a warm place (around 30°C) for about 30 minutes or until the dough appears slightly puffy.

7. Bake

  - Place a crust disc on each dough ball.

  - Apply an egg wash (whole egg whisked) on top.

  - Bake on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper at 375°F for 15-20 minutes or until the top appears golden. Rotate halfway through.

P.S.20231205

Here's a video that tells the story of pineapple buns:

https://youtu.be/yTEnzSLh6Aw?feature=shared

I enjoy savoring a plain, warm bun with a thick slab of COLD butter,  known as 'ball-law-yau,' where 'yau' refers to oil (butter), as shown in the video below at 2:36:

https://youtu.be/9vcYsFKTmec?feature=shared

Hong Kong-style milk tea paired with 'ball-law-yau' is a classic afternoon tea combo. Have you tried it?