November 2, 2022 - 4:12pm
Biscuit shaping technique for yeasted buns
I came across this recipe for whole wheat sourdough burger buns. Oddly (to me), they're shaped by rolling the dough out (after bulk fermentation), cutting them out with a biscuit cutter, then doing the second proof. I've never done this with yeasted buns--I've always shaped them into balls and then proofed. Does this make any sense?
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Yes, it does make sense. That is how dough dividers work in a bakery or a factory, by cutting a slab of dough into equal portions.
This person's photos show that they shape buns afterwards, just like you described.
And their photos show that it does not matter how you do it, because the pieces stick together into one slab of buns after baking anyways.
Except that in the recipe I linked to they DON'T shape the dough after dividing. They cut the dough into circles and then just leave them as-is to rise, just like when you make biscuits. Isn't creating skin tension a component of making rolls, in contrast to biscuits, which are otherwise minimally handled?
I read the recipe. You can shape it or skip the shaping portion, it is up to you. The photos show that they were shaped, therefore rolling out and cutting out circles was done for
1) punching down the dough to eliminate bubbles
2) divide the dough into equal size and weight portions without a scale.
Tension is created by rolling the dough out, it stretches gluten. They will shrink a bit afterwards, release tension somewhat (unlike buiscuits). Once the circles are proofed they will bake into a slab of connected rolls anyways. The sides will be indistinguishable from the shaped buns.
In hamburger buns a flat top shape of the roll is preferred, like so
So, even if you shape a piece of dough into a ball , you would have to flatten it then with your hand or a rolling pin before proofing it.