Vienna Hard Rolls Recipes

VIENNA BREAD

Steps:

• Remove the pâte fermentée from the refrigerator 1 hour before making the dough. Cut it into about 10 small pieces with a pastry scraper or serrated knife. Cover with a towel or plastic wrap and let sit for 1 hour to take off the chill.
• Stir together the flour, sugar, malt powder (if using), salt, and yeast in a 4-quart bowl (or in the bowl of an electric mixer). Add the pâte fermentée pieces, egg, butter, malt syrup (if using), and 3/4 cup of the water. Stir together with a large metal spoon (or mix on low speed with the paddle attachment) until the ingredients form a ball. If not all the flour is absorbed, add the remaining 2 tablespoons water, or as much as is necessary to make the dough soft and supple, not firm and stiff.
• Sprinkle flour on the counter and transfer the dough to the counter. Knead for about 10 minutes (or mix on medium speed with the dough hook for 6 minutes), adding flour if needed to make a firm but supple dough, slightly tacky but not sticky. The dough should pass the windowpane test (page 58) and register 77° to 81°F. Lightly oil a bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling it around to coat it with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.
• Ferment at room temperature for 2 hours. If the dough doubles in size before then, remove it from the bowl and knead for a few seconds to degas it (the "punch down") and then return it to the bowl to continue fermenting until 2 hours have elapsed or until the dough doubles in size again.
• Remove the dough from the bowl and divide it into 2 equal pieces for loaves, or into 9 to 12 smaller pieces (3 to 4 ounces each) for pistolets. Shape larger pieces into boules (page 72) or smaller pieces into rolls (page 82). Mist the dough lightly with spray oil, cover with a towel or plastic wrap, and let the dough rest for 20 minutes.
• Shape the larger pieces into bâtards (page 73) or the smaller pieces into pistolets (page 80). Line a sheet pan with baking parchment, dust with semolina flour or cornmeal, and transfer the dough to the pan. Mist the dough lightly with spray oil and cover the pan loosely with plastic.
• Proof at room temperature for 60 to 90 minutes, or until the loaves or rolls have risen to approximately 1 3/4 times their original size.
• Prepare the oven for hearth baking as described on pages 91-94, making sure to have an empty steam pan in place. Preheat the oven to 450°F. Just prior to baking, mist the loaves or rolls with water and dust lightly with bread flour by tapping some through a sieve or by flinging the flour across the surface of the dough. Score the loaves or rolls down the center as shown on page 90, or leave the rolls uncut.
• Slide the loaves directly onto the baking stone, parchment and all, or place the sheet pan with the loaves or rolls in the oven. Pour 1 cup hot water into the steam pan and close the oven door. After 30 seconds, open the door, spray the oven walls with water, and close the door. Repeat twice more at 30-second intervals. After the final spray, lower the oven setting to 400°F and bake for 10 minutes. Rotate the breads 180 degrees, if necessary, for even baking and continue baking until they are a medium golden brown and register at least 200°F at the center. This should take anywhere from 5 additional minutes for rolls to 20 minutes for loaves.
• Remove the loaves or rolls from the oven and transfer them to a cooling rack. Cool for at least 45 minutes before slicing or serving.
• BREAD PROFILE
• Enriched, standard dough; indirect method; commercial yeast
• DAYS TO MAKE: 2
• Day 1: 1 1/4 hours pâte fermentée
• Day 2: 1 hour to de-chill pâte fermentée; 10 to 12 minutes mixing; 3 1/2 to 4 hours fermentation, shaping, and proofing; 20 to 35 minutes baking
• Commentary
• This version of Vienna dough is improved by the pre-ferment method that I've been touting throughout this book. You will rarely find another version made in quite this same way, as most Vienna bread formulas are made by the direct-dough method. But the use of more than 100 percent pre-ferment adds so much character to the bread that I'll never turn back. Vienna rolls made from this dough are a huge hit at Johnson & Wales, where students eagerly line up for sandwiches whenever we send these rolls to the dining hall.
• BAKER'S PERCENTAGE FORMULA
• Vienna Bread %
• Pâte fermentée: 108%
• Bread flour: 100%
• Sugar: 4.2%
• Malt powder: 2.1%
• Salt: 2.1%
• Instant yeast: .92%
• Egg: 13.8%
• Butter: 4.2%
• Water (approx.): 54.2%
• Total: 289.5%
• GRACE NOTE: Dutch Crunch or Mottled Bread
• Dutch crunch is one of many names given to bread made with a special mottled topping. It doesn't refer to any particular formula, as the crunch topping can be spread on pretty much any type of bread. But if you grew up with a certain brand of Dutch crunch, you may associate it with particular styles of bread, like a chewy white bread or a light wheat loaf. Dutch bakers were among the many northern European bread makers who popularized this style of garnishing loaves, and the method caught on quickly in certain regions of America when it was first introduced. I find that Austrian-style bread, with its slightly enriched but chewy texture, is particularly suited to this treatment, which is a slurry paste made with rice flour, sugar, yeast, oil, salt, and water. However, feel free to use it on any type of sandwich dough or enriched breads (but not on lean French bread dough, with its hard crust). The paste is brushed on the dough either right before the final proofing stage, or just before the bread goes into the oven. (If you brush it on before proofing, the separation and mottling is greater and more dramatic; brushing it on just before baking results in a more even coating.) The paste is fermented by the yeast, and it grows while the dough grows. But because the rice flour has very little gluten to hold it together, it spreads apart and then gelatinizes and caramelizes when the bread is baked. This leaves a mottled, slightly sweet, crunchy coating on the bread that kids find especially mesmerizing. You can use the topping on loaf-pan bread as well as on freestanding loaves.
• Rice flour is available at most natural foods markets. You can use either white or brown rice flour or even Cream of Rice cereal. Alternatives would be fine cornmeal, cornstarch, potato starch, semolina flour, or cake flour (it's low in gluten), but they each deliver a different flavor and texture. Rice flour or Cream of Rice cereal is the most commonly used because it is, well, perfect for the job.
• To make the topping, whisk together, 1 tablespoon bread flour, 3/4 cup rice flour, 3/4 teaspoon instant yeast, 2 teaspoons granulated sugar, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 2 teaspoons vegetable oil, and 6 to 8 tablespoons of water to make a paste. If it seems too thin to spread without running off the top of the dough, add more rice flour. It should be thick enough to spread with a brush, but not so thick that it sits like a lump of mud. This makes enough for 2 to 4 loaves.

KUMMELWECK ROLLS OR VIENNA BREAD

Steps:

• 1. Sprinkle the yeast over 1/4 cup of the lukewarm water in a small bowl. Set aside to proof until bubbly, about 5 minutes. Combine the remaining 3/4 cup lukewarm water, the oil, sugar, salt, barley malt syrup or honey, and 1 egg white in a large mixing bowl. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Add 1-1/2 cups of the flour and mix until smooth. Add the yeast solution and slowly stir in an additional 1-1/2 cups of the flour. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead the dough for 5 to 7 minutes, until smooth and elastic but still slightly tacky to the touch, adding only as much additional flour as necessary to keep the dough from sticking. Transfer to a large greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and set aside at room temperature to rise until doubled, about 1 hour. Punch the dough down, cover the bowl again, and let the dough rise a second time, for about 30 minutes. Return the dough to the work surface and divide it into 8 equal pieces. Shape each piece into a smooth round, then flatten the rounds slightly. Place on a parchment-lined or greased baking sheet, well spaced to allow spreading. Cover loosely with a towel and set aside at room temperature for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 425°F. Combine the remaining egg white and the 1 tbsp. water in a small dish and blend. Brush the rolls lightly with the egg white wash. Using the tip of a sharp knife or razor, cut 4 crescent-shaped slits into each roll, radiating out from the center. Sprinkle the rolls with the coarse salt and caraway seeds and spritz, with water, and close the oven. Bake the rolls for about 20 minutes more, until browned and crisp. Cool the rolls on wire racks.
• 2. VIENNA LOAF: Follow the recipe directions for Kimmelweck Rolls with the following exceptions: After the second rise, divide the dough in half and shape each half into an oval with tapered ends. After the final rise, apply the egg wash and cut a 1/2" deep slit down the top of each loaf; omit the salt and caraway sprinkle, if desired. Bake in 400°F oven, baking for about 30 minutes more after the second spritz with water (for a total of 35 minutes).
• 3. For Salt and Pepper Sticks: Follow the recipe directions with the following exceptions: Omit the second rise. Divide the dough into 13 equal pieces, roll each piece out into a 12" rope of even thickness, and space the ropes 1-1/2" apart on the prepared baking sheet. After the final rise, apply the egg wash, but do not make any cuts into the do dough; sprinkle with coarse sea salt crystals and coarsely ground or cracked black pepper instead of with salt crystals and caraway seeds. I like to vary the topping by sprinkling some with salt, some with pepper, and some with a little of both. Do not spritz with water. Bake for about 18 minutes.

CRUSTY HARD ROLLS

Steps:

• The Starter:
• Mix the starter ingredients together until smooth, cover, and let rest at room temperature overnight.
• Combine all of the dough ingredients and mix and knead them together -- by hand, mixer or bread machine, until you've made a soft, somewhat smooth dough; it should be cohesive, but the surface should still be a bit rough. Allow the dough to rise, covered, for 3 hours, gently deflating it and turning it over after 1 hour, and again after 2 hours.
• Turn the dough out onto a lightly greased or floured work surface. Divide it into 12 pieces, shape the pieces into balls, and firm them up by rolling them under your lightly cupped fingers on an unfloured work surface. Place the rolls on a parchment-lined baking sheet, cover them, and let them rise for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, until they've doubled in size. Refrigerate them for several hours, or overnight.
• Remove the rolls from the refrigerator, and brush them with a wash made of 1/2 cup water mixed with 1 tablespoon egg white (you won't use up all the wash). Slash a 1/4-inch deep cut across the top of each roll, and bake them in a preheated 425°F (220°C) oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until they're a deep golden brown. Remove them from the oven, and cool on a wire rack. For an extra-crisp crust, allow them to cool in the turned-off, door-propped-open oven.
• Yield: 12 rolls.

VIENNA ROLLS (BREAD ROLLS)

Steps:

• Sift the flour, salt, dried yeast and sugar into a bowl. Make a well in the centre and pour in the milk.
• Mix in and knead to form a smooth dough, then turn the dough onto a work surface and knead for about 10 minutes.
• Put the dough in a greased bowl, cover with clingfilm and leave it to rise in a warm place for 1-1 1/2 hours until doubled in size.
• Punch the dough down in the bowl to knock the air out, and then gradually work in the softened butter a little at a time.
• The dough will now be very sticky to work with, but just continue working on until the butter is blended in evenly.
• Turn it out onto a lightly floured work surface and shape the dough into a ball and cut the ball into 16 bits.
• Roll each ball out into a long sausage-shaped roll, and then tie each roll into a knot.
• Place each roll onto a greased baking tray and brush the top of the rolls with the beaten egg.
• Loosely cover the baking sheet with a clingfilm and leave it to rise again in a warm place for about half an hour.
• Meanwhile, pre-heat the oven to gas mark 5/375°F/190°C.
• Bake in the centre shelf of the oven for about 20 minutes or until golden brown.
• Remove from oven and transfer on to a wire rack to cool.

VIENNA HARD ROLLS

Steps:

• Mix warm water and yeast in a large bowl. Allow to stand until yeast is dissolved, about 5 minutes.
• Add to the yeast, next 1 cup water, sugar, salt and shortening. Stir well.
• Continuing to stir, add next 2 to 2 1/2 cups of flour. Mix until thoroughly blended.
• Fold the beaten whites into the soft dough. The dough will be very wet and sticky at this point and have a "blob-like" consistency.
• Gently stir in the flour for stiffening, use more or less as needed, until dough is still soft but no longer wet.
• Sprinkle part of the kneading flour on a cool, flat surface. Turn dough out, sprinkle with flour and knead until smooth and elastic, about 7 minutes. Sprinkle remaining flour over the surface of the dough as you knead until all stickiness is gone.
• Oil a large bowl well, turn dough into bowl, coat with oil and cover with a muslic cloth.
• Let rise for 1 to 1 1/2 hours until double.
• Push the risen dough down gently in the middle, let sit for a few minutes, then turn out onto a clean, cool surface and knead very gently for about a minutes. The dough will change consistency just a little in that time. Don't add any more flour and don't overwork the dough.
• Let the dough rise again for another hour, until doubled.
• Again, press the dough gently, don't punch it. Let it rest for about 5 minutes then turn out on a clean surface. Divide into whatever portions you need, 6 for long "hoagie-type" rolls, 12 for smaller 2 1/2 buns.
• Form dough as desired.
• Let the formed dough rest on the work surface, covered with a clean towel for up to 10 minutes, while preparing cookie sheets. Transfer dough to baking sheets which have been dusted with cornmeal. Cover with cloth and let rise for another hour, until doubled.
• While your dough is resting, preheat oven to 425.
• Put a 13 x 9 inch metal (DON'T USE GLASS!) baking pan on the bottom rack of the oven while preheating.
• When oven is hot, pouring boiling water into pan in bottom of oven and immediately place a baking sheet of rolls onto the middle rack.
• Lightly beat the yolks and milk, set aside.
• After rolls have "popped", brush the tops with the yolk/milk mixture, return to oven.
• Bake at 425 until golden brown and crusty, about 20 minutes.
• Remove from oven and cool on wire racks.