These potato-softened buns are a delight for children and seniors alike, providing a welcome, tender wrap for your favorite tube steak. This dough can be portioned into burger buns or loaf bread too, all of which taste great, hold up to the chewiest, most mustard-drenched meat treats, and freeze easily.
Note: The mashed potato portion of this recipe makes enough for three dough batches, plus some left over for snacking as you cook.
Yield: five, 100-gram (3 1/2 ounce) buns.
Time to make: 30 minutes active. 1 hour dough rest. 1 hour dough proof. 75 minute oven dwell..
Tools needed: Stand mixer with paddle attachment. 9 X 13 X 2 cake pan. 12 inch X 16 inch piece of bakers parchment. Plastic work surface. Rubber gloves (optional). 2 small bowls. 1 1/2 quart saucepan. Microwave-proof small bowl. Potato masher or sturdy spoon. Measuring cups and spoons, or scale.
Ingredients
Notes:
Fresh-ground buckwheat flour has much better flavor, and you can make it easily from buckwheat groats by grinding in a spice or coffee grinder. Commercial buckwheat flour is an acceptable alternative. This recipe will work better if the buckwheat is finely ground.
"Sleeping" sourdough starter is made from regular sourdough starter by following this procedure: To put a starter to sleep, first weigh it. Divide the weight by half, and add that amount of flour. (Example: if the starter weighs 200 grams, divide this number by half to get 100, then add 100 grams of flour.) Stir this very heavy dough (a power mixer helps) until thoroughly blended, then transfer to a ziplock bag. Squeeze out the air, seal the bag, and place in your refrigerator. The starter will now sleep soundly a week or two.
Mashed potato ingredients
Note:
The mashed potato recipe makes enough for three dough batches, plus some left over for snacking as you cook.
Procedure:
1) Make mashed potatoes: Peel the potatoes and cut into half-inch sections. Place in a small saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook until fork-tender, about 20 minutes. Warm the milk in a microwave-proof container, about 25 seconds on the high setting. Drain potatoes. Add butter and mash slightly in the sauce pan with a potato masher or sturdy spoon. Add the milk and salt and beat with a spoon or sturdy fork until all chunks are tenderized. Transfer to small bowl and set aside to cool.
2) To the bowl of a stand mixer, add the tapioca starch, the brown rice flour, the oat flour, the rolled oats, the buckwheat flour, the xanthan gum and the salt. Stir on low speed until all ingredients are thoroughly blended. Add the "sleeping" sourdough starter and the water and mix on medium-low until all ingredients are wet. Cover the mixer bowl with a cloth and allow to rest for one hour.
3) Heat oven to 425. Prepare a plastic work station by coating with a thin layer of canola oil. Prepare a 12" X 16" sheet of bakers parchment by creasing in half. To the contents of the mixer bowl, add the instant yeast, the sugar, the butter, the mashed potatoes and the large egg. Mix on medium speed until ingredients are well integrated and a ragged dough has formed.
4) Remove mixer bowl from stand and use a wide spatula to scrape dough into a ball at the bottom of the bowl. If you have a kitchen scale, place mixer bowl onto scale and zero scale out. Now, whenever you remove anything from the bowl you will see a negative number, which is the weight of the amount removed. Put on rubber gloves if you have them, and grease with canola oil, or grease hands with canola oil. Remove 115 gram balls of dough, one at a time, resetting the scale to zero after you have removed each ball. Smooth the balls and place on the prepared work surface . If you do not have a kitchen scale, turn out the dough onto the prepared work surface and gently roll into a cylinder that is about 3 inches thick. Divide approximately into five pieces and roll each piece into a smooth ball.
5) Keeping the work surface well-oiled, gently roll each ball into a smooth cylinder approximately 6 inches long. Place these next to one another on half of the creased parchment, taking care to put each cylinder about 1/2 inch from its neighbor. When all cylinders are in place, dust lightly with oat flour and loosely fold the other half of the parchment atop the rolls. Proof 60 minutes, or until the rolls all touch each other.
8) Place rolls on folded parchment into oven. Close oven and immediately turn heat down to 350 F. Bake for 60 minutes, or until rolls are walnut brown. Remove to a cooling rack and allow to cool enough so you can handle safely. Place into a zip-lock bag and seal to create a soft crust and maintain tenderness. Rolls should be eaten within 3 days, or frozen.