Idle mind, idle hands
The story behind it is rather boring, unfortunately. There's been a crock-pot full of pulled pork and chicken sitting on our counter, and all I wanted was some soft bread rolls to make a sandwich out of it all. My original intention was to make only baguette bread rolls (which I did end up making as well), but I mistimed how many extra hours I would have while waiting for the preferment to settle, and my hands and mind grew idle. Intensely idle. Halfway through the wait time, I realized that I wanted a softer bread roll, something with a texture akin to a challah, for the sandwich, not something crusty like a baguette. I'm afraid I didn't have any eggs on hand though, so challah was out of the question. I toyed with the ideas of making bread with just the egg whites in the freezer, then with adding parts of the baguette sponge to other ratios of flour, before I remembered Tangzhong!
Tangzhong is an Asian method of baking bread where a roux is first prepared on the stove and then added to final dough; these breads can be made with or without eggs. The roux, or cooked flour, helps water retention overall later on, and keeps the crumb fluffy and moist - for those of you who have had Asian buns and toast before, you know what I mean. Asian buns have ridiculously fluffy, soft, and sweet crumbs. I didn't want something so sweet or so pillow-like, but I definitely wondered if adding a roux to my dough would moisten it enough to give it the same fluffy texture that egg usually imbues to the bread. So while I was waiting for my baguette preferment to finish up this morning, after a little research, I put together these suckers and had them out of the oven and ready to eat in a less than 3 hours.
I can't believe they came out so well!
Let me tell you though, there was definitely an hour or so of endlessly checking to see if the bread was going to rise, where I held my breath and kept my fingers crossed for what seemed like eternity. I was already flustered from forgetting to add sugar to the yeast earlier on (forgot to give them something to feed on), so the relief that came over me when the rolls actually rose was almost overwhelming. In fact. I think I spent the greater half of an hour wondering why the hell my yeast was so sleepy, starting batch after batch, before I realized I forgot to feed the yeast some sugar. I was on batch 3 when I realized my mistake, so was able to salvage batch 2 and turn that into pizza dough later on. We're going to be eating bread forever.
I'm glad I did this experiment - this onion roll recipe is a keeper for me, and I'm always over the moon when bread turns out well. I know I might not be so lucky the next time. I also have to give it to the Fresh Loaf for being such a wonderful resource for beginning bread bakers, like myself. It's my go-to source for many bread questions. Floyd does a great job explaining Tangzhong so I'm not going to reiterate its facts here, since I pretty much followed his ratio of 5 : 1 for my own roux. Here's the link for his Hokkaido Milk Bread, which I certainly will also try another day...once we're done eating all these onion rolls. Ah yes, the land is vast and plentiful.
Soft Onion Rolls
6 large onion rolls
tangzhong
125 grams whole milk (~1/2 C)
25 grams bread flour
2 TB unsalted butter, cut into smaller cubes
dough
2.5 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/2 C warm water
1/4 C warm whole milk
1/4 C warm whole milk
1 TB sugar
2 C bread flour
1 TB sugar
1/2 TB salt
2 teaspoons buttermilk powder
other
1 medium onion, sliced into strips
2 teaspoons olive oil
salt and pepper
sea salt and sesame seeds, to sprinkle
egg white wash
vegetable oil
First prepare your caramelized onions. On low heat, heat your olive oil until smooth and slick, then add in your onion strips to the pan. Cook low and slow until the onions have caramelized and turned a nice, even brown color. Remove from heat and salt and pepper to taste. Once cool, dice up caramelized onions into smaller pieces.
Then prepare your roux. In a small saucepan, simmer 1/2 C of whole milk and 25 grams of flour together, stirring vigorously until the mixture becomes a paste (it will start off as liquid at first, but around 65 degrees C, firms up) aka a roux. At this point, before the roux dries out too much, turn off the heat and stir in your small cubes of butter, until the butter is pretty evenly incorporated. Let cool the tangzhong cool.
Activate the active dry yeast with 1 TB of sugar in 1/2 C warm water and 3/4 C of milk (after about 15 minutes, the yeast should be frothing and have formed a foamy head). While you are waiting for the yeast, sift together the bread flour, the 2nd tablespoon of sugar, the salt, and the buttermilk powder in a large bowl. Add the diced caramelized onions. When the yeast mixture is ready, add your roux or tangzhong to the flour. Then add the wet yeast mixture into the flour, and with a fork or spatula, stir everything together until the dough comes together. It should be a bit sticky. If it seems too dry, feel free to add in a teaspoon or two more of water.
On a floured surface, knead the dough until it becomes elastic and springs back to its original shape when pressed on. Try to resist adding too much flour, and only sprinkle when necessary to prevent excessive sticking (I used a pastry scraper to help with that). Once smooth and elastic, place the dough in an oiled bowl and let rise for 1 hour in a warm and moist place, or until doubled in size.
After the dough has doubled, remove from the oiled bowl and pat down until it is in the shape of a rectangle. Divide into 6 even pieces, then roll the pieces into spheres. Place each bun in an oiled baking dish, each about 1 inch apart from another, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise again until doubled in size (~30 minutes). Preheat oven to 375 F during this second rise.
Once the rolls have doubled in size, and are touching or nearly touching, brush tops with egg wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds and sea salt. Bake at 375 for 18 minutes, until browned on top. Remove from oven and immediately brush with oil (this will give you a shine later on). Alternatively, you could use a egg wash containing yolks; that would be crustier brown as well. Cool, then make a sandwich!
First prepare your caramelized onions. On low heat, heat your olive oil until smooth and slick, then add in your onion strips to the pan. Cook low and slow until the onions have caramelized and turned a nice, even brown color. Remove from heat and salt and pepper to taste. Once cool, dice up caramelized onions into smaller pieces.
Then prepare your roux. In a small saucepan, simmer 1/2 C of whole milk and 25 grams of flour together, stirring vigorously until the mixture becomes a paste (it will start off as liquid at first, but around 65 degrees C, firms up) aka a roux. At this point, before the roux dries out too much, turn off the heat and stir in your small cubes of butter, until the butter is pretty evenly incorporated. Let cool the tangzhong cool.
Activate the active dry yeast with 1 TB of sugar in 1/2 C warm water and 3/4 C of milk (after about 15 minutes, the yeast should be frothing and have formed a foamy head). While you are waiting for the yeast, sift together the bread flour, the 2nd tablespoon of sugar, the salt, and the buttermilk powder in a large bowl. Add the diced caramelized onions. When the yeast mixture is ready, add your roux or tangzhong to the flour. Then add the wet yeast mixture into the flour, and with a fork or spatula, stir everything together until the dough comes together. It should be a bit sticky. If it seems too dry, feel free to add in a teaspoon or two more of water.
On a floured surface, knead the dough until it becomes elastic and springs back to its original shape when pressed on. Try to resist adding too much flour, and only sprinkle when necessary to prevent excessive sticking (I used a pastry scraper to help with that). Once smooth and elastic, place the dough in an oiled bowl and let rise for 1 hour in a warm and moist place, or until doubled in size.
After the dough has doubled, remove from the oiled bowl and pat down until it is in the shape of a rectangle. Divide into 6 even pieces, then roll the pieces into spheres. Place each bun in an oiled baking dish, each about 1 inch apart from another, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise again until doubled in size (~30 minutes). Preheat oven to 375 F during this second rise.
Once the rolls have doubled in size, and are touching or nearly touching, brush tops with egg wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds and sea salt. Bake at 375 for 18 minutes, until browned on top. Remove from oven and immediately brush with oil (this will give you a shine later on). Alternatively, you could use a egg wash containing yolks; that would be crustier brown as well. Cool, then make a sandwich!
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