Home › Recipes › Superfine Buns
Superfine Buns
1 pound white-bread flour or whole-wheat flour 1 cup and 2 tablespoons lukewarm water 1 cake compressed yeast 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 1/3 cup sugar 3 tablespoons cooking oil 1 egg, beaten Dissolve the yeast cake in the water. Add the salt, oil, sugar, and beaten egg; mix well. Turn this mixture into the flour, and mix to a dough. Knead thoroughly, and then proceed as in making buns.
An enriched, fairly stiff bun dough that relies on a companion recipe for its shaping, rising and baking. The notes below fill in what the original leaves to the reader's experience.
- Flour by weightA pound of flour is about 3 1/2 cups scooped and levelled. Weigh it if you can: with only 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons of water plus one egg and 3 tablespoons oil, an extra half cup of flour will give you a noticeably drier, stiffer dough.
- The yeast cakeOne cake of compressed yeast corresponds to roughly 0.6 oz of fresh yeast in modern terms, though cake sizes varied. Substitute 2 1/4 teaspoons (one envelope) of active dry or instant yeast. Fresh yeast was dissolved in liquid as directed here; instant can simply go in with the flour.
- Lukewarm means about 100FCompressed yeast begins to suffer above roughly 115F and dies at around 130-140F. Water at 100-110F is safe for both fresh and dry yeast.
- Dough consistencyThis is a stiff, moderately sweet dough: 1/3 cup sugar to a pound of flour. Knead 8-10 minutes by hand or 5-6 in a mixer, until it pulls into a smooth ball.
- "Proceed as in making buns"The original points back to the book's basic bun method. In practice: cover and let rise until doubled, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours; divide and shape; let the shaped buns rise until puffy, 30-45 minutes; bake at 400F for 15-20 minutes until well browned.
- Whole-wheat optionIf you use whole-wheat flour as permitted, expect to need a few extra tablespoons of water, a slightly longer rest before kneading, and a denser finished bun.
- YieldAbout 12 to 16 buns of 2 oz each, or a dozen larger ones.
- Egg washThe egg is worked into the dough here rather than brushed on. For the glossy top most people now expect, reserve a spoonful of the beaten egg before mixing and brush it on the risen buns.