ITJB Week 8: Onion Rolls
I love this recipe! I followed the recipe pretty closely, just made 3/4 the amount of dough and 1/2 the amount of onion filling (used filling no. 1), which turned out to be just the right amount, resulting in 9 3-oz rolls, just the right size. The recipe in the book called for 5 tsp. of instant yeast, but I only used 2 1/2 tsp, and it worked just fine. I mixed the malt in the water mixture (saved the onion soaking water--thanks to Eric's earlier post!). I photographed just the end results, with no crumb shot, as I made them late in the evening and we were eating dinner and watching the 49'er/Giant game while they were baking. (Not recommended! Can't believe we resisted! But wait til tomorrow's lunch!) The dried onion flakes worked very well; I have the Safeway brand, and they are cut quite fine. I had tried using them as a bagel topping but never knew how to handle them. Leaving them in boiling water for 30 minutes was the secret, then mixing in the poppy seeds, oil and salt. I baked the rolls on the preheated stone at 400 with light steam (spritzed twice), raised the temp to 425 after 10 minutes as they looked a bit pale; at 12 minutes decided to turn the oven to convection (375 being equivalent of 400), and left it that way for another 5 minutes, so 17 minutes total. They browned up quickly once I set the oven to convection (I probably missed an important play retrieving them, but first things first!). I found the directions clear enough, which suggested putting the onion mixture on waxed paper to press the boules to 1/2" after they rested for 15-20 minutes. I did forget to press the middle down with my thumb before loading them, so I did a little push at half bake (no burns encountered, done quickly). It worked well enough. I have luscious memories of onion pletzels from my Brooklyn childhood, so I think I'll try that variation next time. And I love this smooth, silky
dough; it mixed up easily at speeds 1 and 2 in my K/A Pro 6. Next on the list will be Kaiser rolls.
Very Joyful!