STOP Using Bakers Yeast for Quick Fermentations
Improve the Flavour & Texture of Your Bread EASILY
The combination of an overnight sponge and wholewheat flour gives these little rolls a real character and depth of flavour. The addition of the butter keeps the crumb nice and soft. You can finish the top with milk or flour before baking, both giving very different surface textures.
This is the perfect dinner roll and also great for adding fillings for a quick and tasty lunch or packed lunches.
The overnight sponge is really easy, it’s a small pre-fermentation that is mixed and left out for 12-24 hours depending on temperatures. The mixture slowly ferments, rising up the bowl, before dropping back down, leaving a layer of tiny broken bubbles on the surface. The next day it’s used in the main dough in place of larger quantities of yeast. It really improves the final product and I strongly urge you to try if you haven’t already.
Ingredients
Overnight sponge
5g fresh yeast
130g room temperature water
50g wholewheat flour
100g strong white bread flour (mine has a protein content of 13%)
Main dough
285g overnight sponge
350g Strong white bread flour (mine has a protein content of 13%)
100g wholewheat flour
10g salt
270g water
15g unsalted butter
Times & temperatures
Kitchen temperature: 28c / 82f
Oven setting: Bake mode (top & bottom heat with the fan turned off)
Cooking times & temps for 9 rolls: 225c / 435f - 20 mins
Cooking times & temps for 12 rolls: 250c / 480f - 15 mins
Watch the tutorial on YouTube
Method
1. Mix the overnight sponge ingredients together, cover and leave out at room temperature to ferment. This should take anywhere between 12-18 hours. If your kitchen is very warm then you may need to slow the process down a little in the fridge.
2. The next day you can mix the sponge with the water, bread flour, whole-wheat flour and salt. Mix to bring everything together and make sure the ingredients are well combined. Pop the butter on top of the dough and cover and leave out to rest for 30 minutes at room temperature.
3. Turn the dough and the butter out on to your bench and knead for about five minutes until the butter has been well incorporated and the dough is nice and smooth. Shape into a ball and pop it back in to your bowl, cover and proof at room temp until doubled in size (mine took 2 hours).
4. Shape into either 9 or 12 individual rolls as shown in the video. Cover and proof again until risen appreciably. Mine took 1 hour.
5. Finally you can brush the rolls with milk and dust with a little flour before baking. This is optional, you’ll have a softer texture on the rolls if you do this, but experiment and see what you prefer.
6. Bake in an oven set to bake mode with no fan. Cooking times & temps for 9 rolls: 225c / 435f - 20 mins. Cooking times & temps for 12 rolls: 250c / 480f - 15 mins
Oven temps vary! Always keep an eye out while your bread is baking!
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