Crumb Buns
3/4 pound whole-wheat flour 1 cup coarse-ground zwieback crumbs 1 cup and 2 tablespoons lukewarm water 1 cake compressed yeast 1 teaspoon salt 1/3 cup sugar 3 tablespoons cooking oil Mix the crumbs and flour. Dissolve the yeast in the water; add the salt, sugar, and oil, and stir this liquid mixture into the flour and crumbs. Take out onto a bread board, and knead till the dough is smooth and free from lumps, except the crumbs, then follow the usual method in making buns. Unless buns of all kinds are kept warm, 75 degree to 80 degree F., it would be better to mix the dough in the evening. If it is mixed in the morning and not kept warm, it will rise so slowly that the buns may not be ready to bake till some time in the night.
A plain yeasted whole-wheat bun enriched with oil rather than butter or egg, with zwieback crumbs standing in for part of the flour. The original assumes you already know the bun routine, so the missing steps and temperatures are the main thing to supply.
- The hinge: crumbs stay crumbsThe instruction to knead until smooth "except the crumbs" is deliberate. Do not soak or work the zwieback into a paste; the little dry granules are what give these buns their texture, and over-kneading or extra water erases them.
- YeastOne cake of compressed yeast is about 0.6 oz, equivalent to a scant tablespoon (roughly 2 1/4 teaspoons) of active dry or instant yeast. Dissolve dry yeast in the lukewarm water as written; instant can be stirred into the flour.
- Flour by weight3/4 pound of whole-wheat flour is about 12 oz, or roughly 2 3/4 cups scooped lightly. Weighing is worth it here, since whole-wheat measures inconsistently and the dough is already on the stiff side.
- Zwieback crumbsZwieback is a twice-baked sweet rusk, still sold as toddler teething biscuits and in German bakeries. Coarsely crushed dry rusk, Melba toast, or oven-dried slices of a plain sweet bread all work; you want gravel, not powder.
- The "usual method"Cover and let rise until doubled, punch down, divide into about a dozen pieces, shape into rounds, and set them to rise on a greased pan until puffy and nearly touching.
- OvenNo temperature is given. Buns of this size bake at 375-400F for 18-25 minutes, until well browned and hollow-sounding underneath.
- Rising times and the overnight trickThe 75-80F warmth the recipe insists on is warmer than many kitchens now run. A turned-off oven with the light on, or a cooler set with a jar of warm water, holds that range; alternatively follow the author and mix at night, letting the dough rise slowly overnight in a cool room -- or, as a modern equivalent, in the refrigerator -- for shaping in the morning.
- YieldRoughly a dozen buns, depending on how large you shape them; the recipe itself gives no yield.