Dinner Rolls with Sun-dried Tomatoes

Dinner Rolls with Sun-dried Tomatoes

I really love to bake bread. I love the feeling of the soft bouncy dough. The sweet smell of fresh baked bread makes me think of my mom. She baked the best birthday rolls/buns and a great whole milk bread (sødmælksbrød), sadly the recipe are lost forever, but I can still remember the smell.   

Making bread can be a daunting project, but with a little preparation it's surely manageable. This recipe is fairly straight forward. The stand mixer is doing all the hard work. These rolls can be changed up. Add your favorite herbs, leave out the sun-dried tomatoes or add some chopped olives. The options are endless.

Ingredients:

• 50 g live yeast or 4 teaspoons dry yeast 
• ½ teaspoon sugar - if using dry yeast
• 600 ml warm water (when using live yeast, not hotter than 38℃)
• 900 g bread flour (save 25-50 g to mix with the sun-dried tomato)
• 1 teaspoon (7 g) salt
• 1 tablespoon flat-leaved parsley, minced
• 60 g sun-dried tomatoes, minced
• 1 egg
• 3 tablespoons melted butter

Sprinkles:

• Egg wash
• coarse salt
• puppy seeds
• sunflower seeds   

Directions: 

In a large bowl (the one for the stand mixer) dissolve (live yeast) sprinkle (dry yeast) over the warm water. If using dry yeast, add ½ teaspoon sugar, this will help to wake up the yeast. Let stand for about 5 minutes. Stir in the flour, and stir until just combined. Let the dough rest for about 20-30 minutes. This lets the flour absorb all the water completely, and helps activate the natural enzymes in the flour, and improves the gluten development in the dough.

Chop/mince the tomatoes and parsley and mix it with the reserved flour.

Add the rest of the ingredients to the dough and knead the dough for about 10 minutes, until elastic, add more flour if the dough gets to sticky. 

Let the dough rise for about 60 minutes or until doubled in size. 

Pour the dough unto a lightly floured surface and divide the dough in 16-18 balls. Place the balls on a parchment paper lined baking sheet ½-1-inch apart in a circle pattern. The balls will grow into each other while rising and baking. This will give the rolls the soft sides.

Let the rolls rise for another 30-40 minutes, until the rolls are “grown” together. 

Preheat the oven to 400℉ (200℃). Place a baking sheet on the bottom shelf of the oven. Place 2 very wet kitchen towels on the baking sheets. This will fill the oven with steam, while heating.

Brush the rolls with beaten egg and sprinkle with coarse salt, puppy seeds and or sunflower seeds. Bake for 30-40 minutes, until deep golden brown.

Let the rolls cool on a wire rack. 

Serve the rolls with dinner.

Enjoy!

The ultimate Hamburger Buns / Light Brioche Buns

The ultimate Hamburger Buns / Light Brioche Buns

There are certainly thing I never made my self. Hamburger buns was one of those things. It was so easy to grab a bag of buns in the store. But after we figured out how to make our favorite burger on the BBQ, we needed a better bun, one that didn't crumble under the patty.

I found a recipe on Foodfanatic.dk, the recipe originated from NY Times and chef Michael Symon.

The first times I made these hamburger buns, the dough was very sticky, so I made some corrections. This is how I made them:

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons Milk
• 1 pack Dry Yeast (7 g)
• 240 g Water (warm)
• 2 tablespoons Sugar
• 465 g All-Purpose Flour
• 35 g Butter (salted, room temperature)
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon salt (8 g)

Toppings: 

• 1 Egg (beaten)
• Sesame Seeds or what ever topping you like. 

Directions: 

In a bowl, combine warm water, milk, yeast and sugar. Let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. 

In the stand mixer bowl, whisk flours with salt. Add butter and mix it with a flat beater until the flour looks like crumbs. Stir in yeast mixture and a beaten egg until a dough forms. Knead the dough for 5-8 minutes on medium, (8-10 minutes if kneaded by hand), until smooth and elastic. 

Shape dough into a ball and let the dough rise covered for 1-2 hours until doubled in bulk.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using dough scraper, divide dough into 8 equal parts. Gently roll each into a ball and arrange 2 to 3 inches apart on baking sheet. Cover loosely with a clean kitchen towel and let buns rise in a warm place for 1 to 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 400℉ (200℃) with rack in center. Beat remaining egg with 1 tablespoon water and brush some on top of buns, sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake, turning sheet halfway through baking, until tops are golden brown, about 15 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!

Gourmet Burger.