breadsecrets blog

This recipe is by the Michelin starred chef of “The Fat Duck” in Oxfordshire, England, voted best restaurant in the world a few years ago. His TV series “In Search of Perfection” showed his experiments with some popular dishes that many people cook at home (spaghetti bolognaise, pizza, baked alaska, trifle, etc.). Until now, I’ve not had much luck with recipes for soft bread rolls, they always turn out crusty on top. Don’t get me wrong, I like crusty - but sometimes it’s good to have a change. The recipe is from Heston’s book “Further Adventures in Search of Perfection” which you can buy from amazon.co.uk or amazon.com.

Preferment:

400g very strong bread flour - I used Allinson Premium Very Strong White with a protein content of 13.9%
400g cold water
1g (a good pinch) of instant dried yeast

Final Dough:
700g prefermented batter (there will be some left over which can be incorporated into another bread recipe)
200g egg yolks - I weighed out eleven yolks from large organic eggs!
60g water at 20°C
400g Very strong bread flour
100g unrefined caster sugar
70g skimmed milk powder
15g salt
14g instant dried yeast
60g browned butter, strained and cooled (see note below)
30g grapeseed oil
35g Trex solid vegetable oil

Egg Wash:
1 whole egg
1 egg yolk
5g water
2g salt
Sesame seeds as needed.

Method
To make the preferment, combine the flour and yeast and water and mix in a mixer with a dough hook on low speed until a liquid batter has formed. Cover with cling film and refrigerate for 24 hours.

Weigh out 700g of the preferment, add the egg yolks and water and mix on low speed with the dough hook until evenly mixed and very liquid. Sift the flour, sugar, milk powder, salt, and yeast into a separate bowl and then add them gradually to the wet mixture, keeping the mixer on low speed. When all the dry ingredients are added, increase the speed to medium and continue to mix for 2-3 minutes. The dough will still be very wet and sticky.
Brown the butter in a pan over a low heat until it has a very nutty aroma. Strain out the solids and discard, and allow the liquid to cool, then add it to the dough with the grapeseed oil and Trex. The recipe in the book didn’t make it clear if you’re supposed to start with 60g of butter and use what’s left after the solids have been removed, or to use enough butter to get 60g of liquid once it has been strained. I hedged my bets and used 80g of butter, which left around 50g of liquid after straining. Continue mixing the dough with the fats for another 3 or 4 minutes, until everything is well combined. Stop the mixer and let the dough rest for 10 minutes to absorb the liquid, then continue to mix on medium speed for 4 more minutes.

Cover again with cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes. The dough will firm up during this time.

While the dough is refrigerating, cut a piece of baking parchment to fit a large baking sheet, and prepare 8 rings from aluminium foil, as follows. For each ring, cut a sheet of foil 50cm long, and fold it in half lengthways, repeatedly, until you have a strip 50 x 1 cm. Tape one end over the other with some overlap, to make a ring 12cm in diameter.

When the dough has chilled, weigh out eight 85g portions and freeze the remaining dough for use another day. Roll each portion of dough into a small ball with lightly floured hands. Put the ball in a ring on the parchment. Wet your hands and lightly pat the balls down flat, then cover with oiled cling film and leave in a warm place for 1½ -2 hours.

When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 225°C/425°F/Gas mark 7. Mix all the ingredients for the egg wash except the sesame seeds. Wet your hands again and lightly flatten the dough balls within the foil rings. (I didn’t get a picture at this stage, but the dough had expanded widthways to fill the rings, and nearly risen to the top of the rings.)

Before baking, pour some water into the oven to generate steam to prevent the crust getting too thick and cracking on top.

Bake the buns for 7 minutes, then remove and brush with the egg wash and sprinkle generously with sesame seeds. Return to the oven for a further 7 minutes or until done. Cool the buns completely on a wire rack before cutting.

The verdict …
So how were the results? The buns were very soft and light as a feather. The tops looked overcooked - I cooked them at 210°C in a fan assisted oven - but they didn’t taste burnt. I will try a slightly lower temperature next time. On their own they tasted rather eggy. With a burger inside, however, they were strangely like a really good version of the dreadful buns you get from fast food places, so full marks to Heston for authenticity. It was an interesting exercise in making a really enriched dough, and in handling probably the wettest dough I’ve ever used, but I don’t think the results were quite exciting enough to make me want to repeat the process regularly. There are just too many other recipes to try out there …