Like the Aberdeen buttery, bread dough layered with good sweet butter is a constant in the baking traditions of northern Europe. Butter and can slow down the fermentation, and a way to add richness without losing speed is by layering the butter through the dough. This way the fat does not coat the grains of flour and prevent yeast from accessing sugars to ferment. This is a slow dough, made over two days, weakening the flour and resulting in a tender crumb. On the first, the dough is mixed, kneaded lightly, and kept in the refrigerator overnight. On the second the dough is rolled with the butter, and made into shapes that are left to rise and then baked.
Ingredients
500g strong white flour
300g milk at 20C
2 tsp (15g) fresh yeast
1 1/2 tsp (10g) fine sea salt
175g unsalted butter
Method
Mix the flour and the salt in one bowl. In another bowl or jug, whisk the yeast and milk together so that all the ingredients are evenly mixed. Mix both together with your hands until you have a firm dough, then scrape any remaining from your fingers, cover the bowl with a cloth and leave for 10 minutes.
Rub a tsp of oil on the work surface and knead for 10 seconds, ending with the dough in a smooth round ball. Give the bowl a quick clean in a sink with warm water, then dry and rub lightly with another tsp of oil. Place the dough back in the bowl and leave for a further 10 minutes. Remove the dough, knead once more on the oiled surface, returning the shape of the dough to a smooth round ball. Now, place the dough into the refrigerator and leave overnight.
The following day, remove the dough from the refrigerator, and leave covered at room temperature (20C) for an hour to loose some of its chill. Get the butter out of the refrigerator too, and let that soften to something like the consistency of the dough. On a floured worksurface, roll the dough out until it is 1cm thick.
Cut the butter into thin slices and lay it out over 2/3 of the dough. Fold the remaining third back over to cover the butter, then fold the dough over to cover that. Now, all of the butter should be wrapped up inside the dough. Check that the dough is lightly floured on both sides, then roll the dough out carefully until it is again 1cm thick. Fold the dough in by thirds once more, then cover it with a cloth and leave in a cool place for 1 hour. Then roll the dough once more, but this time fold it in by quarters. The way to do this is by folding each end in so that they meet in the centre, then folding these sides on top of each other. This is called a book fold. Cover the dough and leave to rest for a further hour.
To shape the breads, roll the dough out on a floured surface until the dough measure 1cm thick. Cut circles from the dough measuring 10cm - 12cm in diameter, and pinch the edges in towards the centre to make a round or oval bun shape. Upturn these and place on a tray line with non-stick baking parchment. Cover with a cloth and leave to rise for 1 1/2 hours in a warm place (22C - 25C).
Preheat the oven to 200C. Place the butter buns on the centre shelf in the oven and bake for 25 minutes, or until a light brown in colour and crisp. Remove from the oven, and leave to cool on the tray. I like to eat these warm, stuffed with a piece of crisp bacon, or spread with a little runny honey.
Reproduced by kind permission of Dan Lepard from his book, 鈥淭he Handmade Loaf鈥, published by Mitchell Beazley, ISBN: 1840009667 |
听
