Kummelweck rolls

Today’s meditation will be a culinary pilgrimage to Buffalo, New York.

Ah, Buffalo. Home of the erstwhile Bills of the National Football League, the NHL's vaunted Sabres, the American side of Niagara Falls, a vibrant art scene, and a thriving LGBTQ community.

Also this. Everyone's Polish on Dyngus Day!

As long as we're in town, let's stop at a deli and get some lunch. I hear the beef on weck is tasty.

Sure, you know what beef is. What's a weck?

It's a kummelweck roll, which is a white roll topped with caraway and salt. Cousin of a kaiser roll, and it makes a tasty roast beef sandwich, a fine hamburger, or a top-shelf conveyance for putting butter in your mouth.

And now – LET US BAKE!

That's the spirit!

Gather ye first thy edibles.

Three and one quarter cups of all purpose flour, divided.

One cup of warm water - 100 degrees F or 40 degrees C

One package (or 2 1/4 teaspoons) of active dry yeast.

One egg white.

Two tablespoons of vegetable oil.

One tablespoon sugar.

One-and-a-half teaspoons of salt

one teaspoon of honey.

That's for the bread itself, the next four are for the toppings.

One large egg white

Two teaspoons of water

one half teaspoon of caraway seeds (or to taste)

coarse sea salt (or Kosher salt) to taste. Table salt will not work so well here.

Hardware for this treat is:

A stand mixer with bowl and dough hook.

Sheet pan

Parchment paper.

various measuring cups and spoons

A two cup mixing pitcher

Whisk

Oven
Your biggest cutting board

This is one of my two-starter specials. We begin by making a poolish, which will consist of four ounces, by weight, each of water and all purpose flour, and a pinch of instant dry active yeast. All of it goes into a two cup container. Stir it up so it’s all combined and super sticky, then cover it with plastic wrap and let it sit on your kitchen counter for 12-24 hours.

Our second starter happens when it’s time to start mixing. Combine in the mixing bowl one half cup of flour, one cup of water, and your yeast. This is called a sponge, but we already covered that a few times, didn't we? Let it sit for at least fifteen minutes, or until it starts getting bubbly. A solid hour is best.

A word about dry active yeast. I wouldn't worry about brands. The store brand is probably just as good as the most expensive. I use Red Star, but that's because they had a two pound bag for five bucks at Costco, and even your Fat Guy can only go through yeast so fast. It's sitting in my cupboard in two tightly sealed containers. Lotta yeast up there.

If you don't want to do that, then go ahead and get the dark glass jar or the envelopes. I will say that of the two choices, I prefer the glass jars, simply because sometimes you don't need two and a quarter teaspoons, which is about what's in an envelope. What do you do with the rest if you don't need the whole envelope? Or if you need more?

On the other hand, what if you don't do a whole lot of baking? You choose for you, of course. As for me, I will get the glass jars once I use up the Costco stuff.

Something else to consider - dry yeast varietals. You have your active dry, instant active dry, and bread machine active dry.

The difference between them is the size of the grain. Active dry is the biggest, and will take the most time to get lively. It'll also stay lively the longest. That's the kind I like to use, and it lends itself well to starters because it needs to be soaked in water to wake it up. On the other end of the spectrum is bread machine active dry. Smallest grain, fastest to rise, fastest to die. Instant is, natch, in the middle. Instant is fine. Bread machine yeast is for using in bread machines, but it will work...ok if you're hand kneading or using a stand mixer. I prefer the biggest grain stuff, but you do you.

I think it's interesting.

And then there's fresh yeast. If I were you I wouldn't bother with fresh yeast, mainly because once you open the package you've got about a week to use it all up before it dies. For our purposes dry yeast will do quite well indeed.

Into your sponge combine your poolish starter, two tablespoons of the oil, egg white, sugar, salt, and honey, and then whisk smooth.

Pro-tip - in baking sugar is usually treated like a liquid. Weird, huh? It's because the sugar needs to dissolve or your final product can get gritty. Stirring it into your liquids can encourage dissolution. Here's something else to think on - sugar won't dissolve in alcohol.

Anyways...

Put the bowl on the machine and start slowly stirring with the hook. Gradually add the rest of your flour into the mixture as it's being stirred. Resist the urge to rush it and dump the whole works in at once.

Once the flour is all incorporated in, crank the mixer up to medium. Three to four minutes until sufficiently kneaded. You'll know that's happened if you can stick your impeccably clean finger in the dough up to the first knuckle and the dough springs back when you pull it out.

Appropos of nothing, Paul Hollywood is the sloppiest baker I have ever seen on TV. 

Transfer dough ball into a lightly oiled mixing bowl, cover with plastic wrap or a moist dishtowel and let rise for an hour or two, until the dough has doubled in size.

Once it's all nice and risen up, don't punch it down. Instead, transfer it to a floured surface. I prefer a big cutting board. Using your bare hands or a rolling pin or whatever you have handy (a wine bottle works well) shape the dough into a rectangle. With a knife or a pizza cutter, divide the dough into however many equal pieces you like. If you're into precision, you could put the dough onto a digital scale, divide its overall weight by your desired number, and cut accordingly.

Line your baking sheet with a silicon mat or a piece of parchment paper.

Be advised - this dough is sticky. Don't be scared to flour your hands as you feel necessary.

Using just the palms of your hands and the tips of your fingers, roll the cut bits of dough until they form nice little round balls. Once all twelve of them are done, place them on your baking sheet. Cover them and let them rise until they've doubled in size.

The ball of your hand and the tips of your fingers and roll, roll, roll.
It'll take practice.

Now, I realize this is sounding like a lot of work, but it really isn't. Trimming and shaping the rolls should only take about five minutes. Ten, tops.

The rise has completed, and now it's time to garnish. First, start preheating your oven to 425 F. Then, combine your egg white and two teaspoons of water and brush the tops of your rolls with a pastry brush. Sprinkle the caraway seeds and salt on top, and now you're ready to bake. The oven, however, probably isn't. So, I would wait until the oven gets up to temp before you dress your rolls. That way your rolls don't sit out in the open getting dry, waiting for the oven to catch up.

Don't be scared now. Brush it right on.

Once the oven is FINALLY ready, turn the heat down to 400 and put your rolls in to bake for nine to ten minutes. Then turn the pan around to ensure even baking and give them another nine to ten minutes. Once they're a lovely golden brown, they're done.

Let them cool completely on a rack before you slice them open. If they're still hot they'll lose much of their moisture to steam. Irritating, isn't it? Hot bread, smells great, butter's all ready, you can't dig in.

Well, really you can, it's your kitchen. If you're going to serve them with a meal, though, don't pre-slice.

See, fresh bread is a lot like a steak. Once a steak finishes cooking, you need to let it rest so the juices redistribute themselves and the heat dissipates. If you cut into one too early, the juice flows out and you have a dry and flavorless hunk of meat. The same goes for bread. If you cut into these rolls while they're hot they'll release their steam, and you'll have dry bread that gets hard and stale quickly. Once it's out of the oven, you have to let it cool completely.

So, what do you do with them now? They make great hamburger buns, or, if you want, you can make your version of Buffalo's favorite sandwich, the Beef on Weck.

We'll discuss how to roast beef another day, but go ahead and make as much of this bread as you like.

And top them however you like, too. This batch has sesame seeds, poppy seeds, and the traditional caraway and salt.

And there we have it. A taste of upstate New York, without the travel expenses.

Enjoy, have fun, keep your knife out of the dishwasher.