Hands on time less than an hour. Total time, about 3 hours. Makes 6 medium or 8-10 small buns.
There’s nothing better for a meal starter than those small freshly made buns that good restaurants provide. They have a nice crunch when opened up, and a soft interior that’s light and easy to eat (with or without butter). I’ve been trying now for quite some time to get better at making this kind of bread.
Most people, when they start out baking end up with heavy loaves that are borderline inedible, even when following instructions quite closely. For me, I got a lot better after I read a few books on baking, then I understood a few things:
- Firstly, conversely to what you may think, the crisp or crunch of the bread crust comes from moisture and heat at the same time (there needs to be a good bit of moisture in the oven and it must be hot).
- Secondly, you cannot short-cut the mixing, kneading and proving, I.E. the dough must be left to double in size at least once and then after shaping it must double in size again. It should be left covered in a warm place.
- Don’t underestimate the ingredients, flour makes up the vast majority of the ingredients, so buy a good quality flour, organic if you can. I like using fresh yeast if I can find it too.
- Lastly, it is better to over bake than under-bake (the more it bakes, the thicker the crust)
I’ve read a few books on bread making, but to me the golden source of information to get you started is the River Cottage book on bread; which covers the main steps needed very clearly and concisely as well. At some point I’ll write up all the books I’ve read with a brief overview. Also, now and again, as I get better at baking, I update the photos with better attempts!
Bread making needs very few tools and devices to get started, but useful tools are discussed in the about page
Coming back to the task at hand (making these buns), given these buns are made with a malted flour, I didn’t bother to add any extra seeds, but you could easily incorporate some seeds either on the top just before baking, or incorporate them during the mixing stage if you like. However, if you’re starting out with baking, get the ingredients as accurate as you can initially, especially the flour/water ratio which should be close to 60% water to 100% flour.
Ingredients
You can either go with 100% malted flour, or go 50%/50% with strong white flour depending on the taste you prefer. If you use 100% malted flour, depending on the brand you may need to add a little more flour, during the first kneading, if the mixture is just too sticky then add a little more flour. You’re better starting out using the 50/50 method, it is more forgiving.
Did you know that only Hovis can call their malted flours and breads Granary, it is a trademark that is owned by them so most other companies use terms around “malted” instead. The batch you see above were made with Doves Farm Malthouse flour but most good quality malted flours should do equally well.
For the 50/50 malted/plain option:
- 250 gram of good quality malted flour
- 250 gram of good quality strong white bread flour
- 300 gram of water
- 5-7 gram (1tsp) salt
- pinch of sugar (type not that important)
- 5-7g yeast (approx 1 heaped tsp)
- Extra flour or semolina for dusting
For the 100% malted option:
- 500 gram of good quality malted flour
- 300 gram of water
- 5-7 gram (1tsp) salt
- pinch of sugar (type not that important)
- 5-7g yeast (approx 1 heaped tsp)
- Extra flour or semolina for dusting
Method
Kneading, proving and mixing
Personally, I’m a bit lazy and often make my doughs in the bread-maker using the dough setting. It does a very good job of kneading, warming and proving. In fact it gets near perfect results every time. If you go with this approach, put in the liquid ingredients first followed by the dry. Either way, measure in the ingredients carefully.
No matter if you use a bread-maker or mixer with a dough handle, at the end of the first kneading stage the dough should not be too sticky and should hold its shape while resting, if not, add a bit more flour. As we said earlier with malted flour the quantity of flour to seeds and grains differs, so actual amounts really depend on the mix.
If you’re using fresh yeast, crumble this into the water at the very beginning and give it a few minutes before going further. Always keep the salt away from the yeast until the mixing starts.
If you’re making the dough by hand, knead and prove until the dough is double in size at twice.
Preparing into buns
I normally roll the dough into a long tube that’s approximately as thick as you want the buns. Then using a dough scraper (or a knife if you don’t have one) cut the dough in half. Then cut the dough again and again until you get as many buns as needed. Work each bun slightly to get it into approximately the right shape.
If you wanted seeds on the top of the buns, you can oil slightly the tops and roll each bun in the seed mix. Another option is to roll them in semolina as this also works really well.
Lightly oil a baking tray and put the buns onto the tray, spread out on the tray allowing for them to double in size during cooking. Cover the buns and leave for about 30-40 minutes somewhere warm to double in size again. We’ll need a hot oven for the next stage, now is the time to put the oven on, and pre warm it to at least 220C fan.
Buns spread out on wooden board to rise before baking
Cooking the buns in the oven
The crispy crust comes from moisture on the surface of the bread, I recommend a water mist spray bottle, the ones for ironing or plant use are absolutely fine, but make absolutely sure they’ve not been used for anything else.
Once the oven is fully up to temperature then get the buns in along with some moisture, and close the door quickly. This is critical to good results. My usual process is, pre-spray water mist over all the buns, open the oven, a few more spays of mist into the oven then straight in with the buns and close the door. Do not open the oven again for at around 10 minutes. After a couple of minutes I turn the temperature down to around 180C fan.
Malted Buns cooking and expanding in oven
Depending on the size of the buns the total cooking time will change, rule of thumb is small buns take about 12-15 minutes, medium buns take about 15-20 minutes, larger buns 20 minutes or more. It is better to leave for longer if unsure. Lastly, always wait for them to cool before cutting into them, they’re still cooking when they come out of the oven.
