It’s after Christmas and I’m guessing that the last thing you think about is making new bread. That’s why we’re making rolls instead.

Jest po Świętach i podejrzewam, że ostatnie, o czym teraz myślisz to robienie chleba. Dlatego zrobimy bułki.

We’ve made a quick and simple bread, I hope you liked it. Now I would like to make something with a levain. The only complication arising from this is the need to make the levain done time ahead, and the profits are numerous: richer aroma, less yeast, enhanced gluten mesh. And you’ll make a Poznań roll – my favourite.

The recipe is taken from the “Chleb. Domowa piekarnia” book by Piotr Kucharski (ISBN 978-83-764-2418-7, Polish only). Santa brought it this Christmas. So far it appears to be yet another celebrity cook book, with a couple interesting recipes inside.

Planning

You need to make a levain 12-16 hours before making the dough, and the rolls will be ready 3-4 hours after.

You’ll also need a thin rolling pin or a wooden spoon.

Ingredients

Levain

• 200 g strong white wheat flour
• 200 g water
• 2 g dried yeast

The actual dough

• The levain
• 400 g strong white wheat flour
• 200 g water
• 10 g dried yeast
• 10 g salt

Preparation

1. Mix all the levain ingredients and leave them for 12-16 hours

   

   Mature levain

2. Combine the levain with all the remaining ingredients

3. Knead the dough on a worktop to form a nice gluten mesh – 5-7 minutes. With mixer, mix the dough for two-three minutes, then use a higher speed for two-three minutes again. After that, fold the dough once or twice anyway

4. Place the dough in a bowl, cover it and leave for some two-three hours in a warm place. It should at least double in volume

5. Divide the dough into nine portions, roughly 110 g each. After measuring the right weight of dough, preshape it

   

   Cutting out portions

   

   Preshaped rolls

6. Do the final rounding of each roll and make a split using the rolling pin or a wooden spoon handle [youtube https://youtu.be/OkGRfDV3C8A]

   

   Shaped rolls

7. Place the rolls on a dusted baking tray for a final rise for 30-45 minutes. About twenty minutes before the end set the oven to 230 C, preferably without a fan (know your oven)

   

   Before the baking

8. Steam the oven (I put water in a roasting tray) and brush the rolls with water before putting them in the oven

9. Bake for 10-15 minutes, then put on a cooling rack

   

   Poznańskie rolls

Summary

My errors:

• I did not dust the tray for final rise – the rolls stuck to it and the bottom looks like the crumb

  

  Base of a roll stuck to the tray

• I placed to many rolls on a single tray

• The final rise took to long – the rolls lost the shape a little

You need to plan in advance to get these done, but it’s sure worth it. The taste is unlike anything else.

The crumb

Now excuse me, I suddenly got hungry.