Kaiser Rolls: BBA Challenge

For Day 16 of the Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge, we made Kaiser Rolls. Like several of the other formulas in the book, this version utilizes a Pâte Fermentée to improve flavor, texture, and color. It also utilizes diastatic malt powder to improve coloring.

When I was making the Pâte Fermentée (the day before I baked the bread), my son asked if we had any Kaiser Rolls to make a sandwich. I said, "funny you should ask, I'm making them for the BBA Challenge tomorrow". He had to wait a day for his rolls, but it was worth it. He likes them.

I decided to use freshly milled organic wheat flour because I ran out of store bought bread flour and it seemed rather silly to go out and buy more when I have a bunch of stored grains. I also used diastatic malt powder made from sprouted wheat grains. The formula calls for diastatic barley malt powder, but I didn't have any barley grains so I used wheat grains to make the diastatic malt powder. I'm going to try sprouting some barley grains soon. I plan on making these rolls again so I'll use the barley malt and let you know how it compares to this version.

You might also enjoy these other Roll Recipes.

Kaiser Rolls
Makes: 6 large rolls or 9 smaller rolls (I doubled the recipe)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups (8 ounces) pâte fermentée
• 2 1/4 cups (10 ounces) unbleached bread flour
• 3/4 teaspoon plus a pinch (.2 ounce) salt
• 1 teaspoon (.17 ounce) diastatic barley malt power
• or 1 1/2 teaspoons (.33 ounce) barley malt syrup
• 1 teaspoon (.11 ounce) instant yeast
• 1 large egg, slightly beaten
• 1 1/2 tablespoons (.75 ounce) vegetable oil
• 10 tablespoons to 3/4 cup (5 to 6 ounces) water, lukewarm
• Poppy or sesame seeds for topping (optional)
• Semolina flour or cornmeal for dusting

 

Directions:

Using Freshly Milled Flour

I milled several cups of white wheat flour Saturday morning right before I made the pate fermentee so it would be fresh. Then, I sifted the flour to separate the germ and bran.

 

 

Making the Pâte Fermentée 

You only use half of the pâte fermentée in this recipe so you can use the other half for a different bread or make a double batch of kaiser rolls. I decided to make a double batch of kaiser rolls.

Stir together the flours (bread flour and all-purpose flour) and the salt, and yeast in a bowl with a wooden spoon (or you can use your stand mixer if you prefer). I'm doing as many of these breads by hand as I can to get the artisan experience. Add 3/4 cup of the water

 

 

Stir until everything comes together and makes a coarse ball. Adjust the flour or water as necessary to ensure the dough is neither too sticky nor too stiff. I switched to the Danish dough whisk when the dough got too stiff to mix with the wooden spoon.

 

Transfer the dough to a counter sprinkled with flour. Knead the dough until it is soft and pliable, tacky but not sticky. About 4 to 6 minutes by hand.

 

 

As you can see from the photo above, the dough was a little too sticky so I sprinkled more flour and continued kneading a while longer.

 

Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl and roll it around to coat it with the oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it ferment at room temperature for an hour.

or until it swells to 1 1/2 times its original size.

Remove the dough from the bowl and knead it lightly to degas it.

Then return it to the bowl and recover with plastic wrap. Place the bowl in the refrigerator overnight. It will keep in the refrigerator for 3 days, or you can freeze it in an airtight plastic bag for up to 3 months. I kept mine in the refrigerator for a day and a half until it was time to bake.

 

 

Making the Dough

Remove the Pâte Fermentée from the refrigerator 1 hour before making the dough. Cut it into about 10 small pieces with a pastry scraper. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it sit on the counter for an hour to take off the chill.

Stir together the flour, salt, malt powder, and yeast in a bowl. Add the Pâte Fermentée, egg, oil, and 10 tablespoons of water.  Stir until the ingredients form a ball. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of water if necessary.

Transfer the dough to a lightly floured counter and begin kneading.  Knead for about 10 minutes and add flour as necessary to form a dough that is soft and supple, tacky but not sticky.  The dough is finally tacky but not sticky. It's time to move on!

Fermenting the Dough

Transfer the dough to a lightly oil large bowl and roll it around to coat it with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap to begin the fermentation. Let the dough ferment at room temperature for 2 hours, or until the dough doubles in size.

If it doubles in size before 2 hours, knead it lightly to degas and let it rise again, covered, until it doubles from the original size.

My dough doubled in size after an hour so I degased it and let it rise another hour. The dough after rising another hour.

Shaping the Loaves

Remove the dough from the bowl and divide it into 6 to 9 equal pieces. Form the pieces into rolls (page 82).  Since I doubled the recipe, I divided the dough into a baker's dozen pieces.

Shape the pieces into ball

 

Spray the counter with water. Then, place the pieces in the palm your hand. Roll the pieces around on the wet counter to create friction and shape them into balls.

That was fun! Now we have thirteen dough balls that need to rest on the counter. Mist the rounds with spray oil, cover with plastic wrap, and let them relax for 10 minutes.

Here are the dough balls after resting on the counter for 10 minutes.

Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper, lightly mist it with spray oil and then dust it with cornmeal.

Prepare the individual rolls by cutting them with a Kaiser roll cutter or knotting them as shown on page 82. Since I don't have a Kaiser roll cutter, I decided to use the knotted method.

Start by rolling out each ball into a long strand.

Then tie a simple knot as shown in the next 2 photos.

Then, loop the two ends through the center a second time. One end should go down through the loop and the other will come up through the loop, leaving a small nub in the center.

 

It took me a few tries to get the hang of tying the knots. I kept tying and untying the knots and rolling the dough back into balls and starting over again until the knots looked right. It's not really hard, it just takes a little practice.

 

Proofing the Rolls

Place the rolls, fold side down, on the parchment, mist them lightly with oil, and cover loosely with plastic wrap.

 

Proof the rolls for 45 minutes at room temperature, then flip them over so the folded side is facing up. Mist them with spray oil again, cover and let them continue proofing for another 30 to 45 minutes, or until the rolls are doubled in size.

 

 

Baking the Rolls

Place the oven rack on the middle shelf and preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Uncover the rolls, and prepare them for baking. Mist them with water and sprinkle poppy seeds and sesame seeds over the top. I sprinkled about half with poppy seeds and the other half with sesame seeds

.

Place the pan in the oven and spray the oven walls with water, and close the door. After 10 minutes, rotate the pan for even baking and lower the oven setting to 400 degrees F.  Continue baking until the rolls are a medium golden brown, about 15 to 30 minutes for large rolls.

Cooling the Rolls

Remove the rolls from the pan and transfer to a cooling rack. Wait at least 30 minutes before serving.

 

Now it's time to eat! This is the ham and cheese sandwich I made for my son.  I even forgot to put mustard on the rolls, but he still thoroughly enjoyed it! So I made a sandwich for me too!

 

---

I'm submitting this bread to BYOB (Bake Your Own Bread) hosted by Sandy of At the Baker's Bench.







Thanks for joining us this week in the Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge. See you next time...

The next bread in the challenge is Lavish Crackers. 

Happy Baking!
Cathy

Italian Semolina Bread

This month in the bread baking blog, we've been focusing on artisan breads. Today, we made Italian Semolina Bread using the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes method.

Semolina (Durum) is a high-protein wheat flour that is used in pastas. In these free-form loaves, the semolina flour is paired perfectly with the sesame seeds to provide a wonderful aroma and flavor.

I really like this method. It simplifies the bread making process by reducing the amount of hands-on preparation time and the rising time required to make beautiful artisan loaves. It truly is artisan bread in five minutes.

You might enjoy some of these other Italian Bread recipes.

 

Italian Semolina Bread

Makes: Four 1-pound loaves.

You can easily double or halve this recipe.

I used 1 pound of the dough for this recipe. I was going to make Armenian Lavash with the rest of the dough, but we're making Lavish in the Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge so I decided to make a no knead deep dish pizza instead.

 

Ingredients:

• 3 cups lukewarm water
• 1 1/2 T granulated yeast (2 packets)
• 1 1/2 T Kosher salt
• 3 cups Durum flour
• 3 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 to 2 tsp Sesame seeds for sprinkling on top
• Cornmeal for dusting the pizza peel (I used parchment paper)
• Cornstarch wash

 

Directions:

Mixing and Storing the Dough

Mix the yeast and salt with the lukewarm water in a 5-quart bowl, or a lidded food container.  Mix in the flours without kneading. This dough is very easy to work with so I used my favorite wooden spoon to mix it, however, you can use a food processor or heavy stand mixer if you prefer.

 

If the dough gets too hard to stir with the spoon, just wet your hands and reach in the container (or bowl) to incorporate the last bit of flour (but don't knead it). I like to use the Danish dough whisk for this part. It works really well without having to mess up my stand mixer or my hands.

 

Cover the dough and allow it to rest at room temperature until the dough rises and collapses, approximately 2 hours.

You can use the dough after the initial rise, however, it is easier to handle when it's cold. Refrigerate in a lidded container and use over the next 14 days. I put the dough in the refrigerator and left it overnight and for most of the next day.

Shaping the Loaves

When you're ready to bake, take the dough out of the refrigerator and dust it with flour and cut off a 1-pound (grapefruit-size) piece.

I decided to weigh the dough to see if the piece I cut off was close to 1 pound, and it was. I only had to add a wee bit more dough to make 1 pound.

Dust the piece with more flour and shape it into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating it as you go.

Elongate the ball to form an oval-shaped free-form loaf.  Transfer the dough to a pizza peel covered with cornmeal-dusted parchment paper and allow it to rest and rise for 40 minutes.

Baking the Loaves

About 20 minutes before you're ready to bake the bread, preheat the oven to 450°F. Place a baking stone on the middle rack and an empty broiler tray on the shelf below it. This setup seems to work the best for my oven so the bread browns on top without burning on the bottom.

Just before baking, paint the surface with cornstarch wash. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Slash the surface diagonally, using a serrated bread knife. I usually use my lame for this, but the serrated knife seems to work well so I decided to use it instead.

 

Slide the loaf (with the parchment paper) directly onto the hot stone.  Pour 1 cup of hot water into the broiler tray, and quickly close the oven door. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until deeply browned and firm. If you have a smaller or larger loaf, adjust the time accordingly.  I rotated the loaf a couple of times to make sure it baked evenly.

 

Cooling and Slicing the Loaves

Allow the loaves to cool on a wire rack before slicing or eating.

Here is the finished and cooled loaf of Italian Semolina Bread.

 

Storing the Bread

To store the bread, place it in a plastic bread bag. It will keep for a few days.

 

 

Bread Baking Day #23

I submitted this bread as my entry in Bread Baking Day #23: "Something You’ve Never Made Before". I've never made Italian Semolina Bread before and it tastes great so I think that's a good reason to enter it.

For more information on Bread Baking Day #23 click here.

Look at all of the beautiful breads in the Bread Baking Day #23 Roundup

 

 

Happy Baking!
Cathy

Italian Bread: BBA Challenge

For Day 15 of the Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge, we made Italian Bread. This Italian Bread is made with a biga. A biga is the Italian version of a firm pre-ferment. This formula also incorporates diastatic malt powder to give the loaves a beautiful color. The bread is really good!

There are many different kinds of Italian breads. Italy was once made up of a number of independent states, and each developed its own favorite bread. The distinguishing characteristic of most Italian bread is not with the dough itself, but in the shaping, slashing and baking of the bread. -- Ingram, Christine and Shapter, Jennie. Bread: The breads of the world and how to bake them at home

You might enjoy these other Italian Bread recipes.

Italian Bread

Makes: 2 Loaves

 

From: The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart

Ingredients:

Biga:

• 2 1/2 cups unbleached bread flour
• 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
• 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons to 1 cup water, at room temperature

Final Dough:

• 3/12 cups biga
• 2 1/2 cups unbleached bread flour
• 1 2/3 teaspoons salt
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon instant yeast
• 1 teaspoon diastatic barley malt powder (optional)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil, vegetable oil, or shortening
• 3/4 cup to 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons water 
• Semolina or cornmeal for dusting

Directions:

First Step: Make the Biga

Stir together the flour and yeast in a bowl or you can use your stand mixer if you prefer. I like to do it by hand whenever possible.  Add the water and stir until everything comes together and makes a coarse ball.  Adjust the flour or water as necessary to ensure the dough is neither too sticky nor too stiff.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it ferment at room temperature for 2 to 4 hours, or until it nearly doubles in size.

Remove the dough and knead it lightly to degas.  Return the dough to the bowl and recover with plastic.

 

Place the bowl in the refrigerator overnight or for up to 3 days. You can also freeze it at this point for up to 3 months. Just make sure you use an airtight plastic bag. I kept mine in the refrigerator for a couple of days until I was ready to bake it.

Next Step: Make the Dough

Remove the biga from the refrigerator 1 hour before making the dough.  Cut it into about 10 small pieces with a pastry scraper.

Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it sit on the counter for an hour to take off the chill.

Stir together the flour, salt, sugar, yeast, and malt power in a bowl. Add the biga pieces, olive oil, and water and stir together until a ball forms. The dough should be slightly sticky and soft, but not batter like or too sticky. Adjust the flour or water as necessary.

 

 

Transfer the dough to a floured counter, and knead for about 10 minutes or until the dough is tacky, but not sticky, and supple.

 

 

Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl and roll the dough around to coat it.

 

Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let the dough ferment at room temperature for 2 hours or until it doubles in size.

Shaping the Loaves

Remove the dough from the bowl and transfer it to a lightly floured counter.  Cut the dough into 2 equal pieces (about 18 ounces each).

Form the pieces into batards making sure to degas them as little as possible. Start by gently patting the dough into a rough triangle.

Being careful not to degas the dough, fold the bottom third of dough, letter style, up to the center and press to seal, creating surface tension on the outer edge.

Fold the remaining dough over the top.

Use the edge of your hand to seal the seam closed and to increase the surface tension all over.

Lightly dust the loaves with flour.

Cover the loaves with plastic wrap and let them rest for 5 minutes.  After the batards have rested, extend the loaves to about 12 inches in length.

 

Proofing the Loaves

Line a sheet with baking parchment and dust with cornmeal. Place the loaves on the pan and lightly mist with spray oil. Cover loosely with plastic wrap.  Proof at room temperature for about an hour, or until the loaves have grown to about 1 1/2 times their original size.

Prepare the oven for hearth baking (described on pages 91-94)

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F. Score the loaves with 2 parallel, diagonal slashes or 1 long slash. I painted the loaves with water first so that the lame wouldn't get stuck in the dough. It seems to help a little bit.

 

Baking the Loaves

Dust a baker's peel or the back of a sheet pan with cornmeal and very gently transfer the batards to the peel or pan. I used a baking pan without sides and parchment paper sprinkled with cornmeal.  Transfer the batards to the baking stone. Pour a cup of hot water into the steam pan and close the oven door.  After 30 seconds, spray the oven walls with water and close the door. Repeat 2 more times at 30 second intervals.

 

Then lower the oven setting to 450 degrees F. and bake for 10 minutes.  Rotate the loaves for even baking and continue baking another 10 minutes, or until the loaves are a rich golden brown. It should take about 20 minutes for the loaves.

Cooling and Serving the Bread

Remove the loaves from the oven and cool on a rack for at least an hour before slicing or serving.

 

 

 

Thanks for joining us this week in the Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge. See you next time...

For Day 16 of the Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge, we be made Kaiser Rolls.

Click here to see all of the breads we made in the challenge.

Happy Baking!

Cathy