Herbed Whole Wheat Potato Sourdough Rolls
A close friend is having a dinner party today down here in Fort Lauderdale so I offered to bring rolls. I’m almost out of bread flour to in order to ensure that I have enough for one last bake I’ve been adding some whole wheat to my bakes, even for company. I switched Alan’s starter to whole wheat and it seems fine with it. Instead of a bread flour tangzhong I used whole wheat. Another change I made is that I added the butter to the tangzhong while cooking it. Although the tangzhong’s consistency obviously changes, by adding the butter to the tangzhong I have so far found that I am able to reduce the number of slap and folds while developing the dough by hand in half. That is a big savings in work and time. This may be what I do going forward, at least when hand developing enriched doughs that use a tangzhong.
For this bake I decided to add the dried herbs, rosemary and thyme directly to the dough rather than just from melted butter infused with herbs. I hope that there will be more herb flavour this way.
For four by six rolls in a 7.5 x 11.5” pan
Dried Herbs 0.5% each
Rosemary 1.8 g
Thyme 1.8 g
egg wash: 1 yolk and 1 tbsp milk, beaten…
Prepare the stiff sweet levain overnight or the day before and refrigerate when ready.
Cook Tangzhong mixing flour and milk constantly until it becomes a thick roux. Let cool before adding to final dough. Or add to cold milk and egg to cool it down. Add the levain and break it up into small pieces with your spatula.
Whisk together dry ingredients flour sugar salt herbs and yeast (optional).
To mix by hand, add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients (milk, tangzhong and egg) to dissolve. Next add the flour and mix with a silicone spatula until no dry flour remains. Rest 10-20 mins. Next perform French folds until the dough is well developed. Smear the butter onto the dough and then fold to incorporate and then perform further French folds until well developed. Gradually add the mashed potato and knead to incorporate it well into the dough. Form into a tight ball and place in a bowl covered with plastic or a damp cloth @ 82°F for 2-3 hours, some rise will be visible. Alternatively, you could mix the mashed potato and butter and then add the mixture to the developed dough until well incorporated.
Butter a large baking pan or line the pan with parchment. Punch the dough down and then divide into 24 equal portions. Form each into tight boules. Place in the buttered baking pan seem side down. Cover them and allow them to fully proof about 4-6 hours, they should pass the poke test.
About 30 mins before the end of proofing time, whisk your remaining egg and milk and then brush the small boules.
About 30 mins prior to end of final proof preheat the oven to 350°F.
Immediately prior to baking brush the dough again with the egg and milk mixture.
Bake the rolls uncovered for 30-35 minutes or until the internal temperature is at least 190F. Cover if your rolls get brown early in the baking process.
Remove the bread from the oven but not the pans, brush the tops with the melted butter while hot, and then let cool for 10 minutes before pulling the bread from the pans. You may need to slide a butter knife down the sides of the pan to loosen the bread, but I have found parchment paper to be unnecessary. Sprinkle with fleur de sel if you wish after brushing with butter.
Comments
If you want to take a quick 20 or so hour drive to Long Island I would love to try these 😆. Interesting idea to add the butter to the Tangzhong. I bet these tasted fantastic as always.
Best,
Ian
You could always drive down here, it is only about 20 hours as you say 😂. They were well received and long gone now after the dinner party. Thanks as always Ian.
Benny