Buttermilk Rolls

I really wanted to share this recipe with you as I have found it to make one of the softest dough's I have made.

Having made some Soda Breads recently I had a carton of buttermilk lurking at the back of my fridge with its Use by Date up, so rather than make the usual batch of Scones I looked for a yeasted dough recipe to make.

A quick Google search led me to Dan Lepards Buttermilk rolls recipe on the Guardian's Food Blog, so I set about making them.

I didn't strictly follow Dan's recipe and as it happens I had some egg yolks that needed using up from some Macaron testing I did on Monday so I replaced the butter in the recipe with the egg yolks. On following the recipe I did note that my mix took a lot longer to 1st prove than what it stared in the recipe, there are always variables in any recipes.

Ingredients:
500g Strong White Flour
8g Salt
7g Yeast- I used Dried Fast Active
2 Egg Yolks
250 ml Butter Milk
120 ml Water

Method:
1. Mix together the Yeast, 100g of the flour, 50ml of the Butter milk and 50ml of the water, set aside, cover, and leave it alone for 30 minutes. This is your pre-ferment
2. Mix the rest of the flour and salt together in another bowl.
3. Mix the rest of the buttermilk, water and egg yolk together with the pre-ferment and add to the flour, bring it together, cover and leave for 10 minutes. You are looking for quite a wet dough, add a little more water if needed.
4. Knead in the bowl for 10 seconds, cover and leave it alone for 10 - 15 minutes, repeat this 4 times.
5. After 4th time, cover and leave to prove until doubled in size. (mine took 2.5 Hours).
6. Divide into 12 and shape as desired. Cover and leave to prove again, ( I left mine 1 hour).
7. Dust with flour and bake in a pre-heated 200oC oven for +/-15 minutes, (my oven is quite fierce).
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I am going to play around with this recipe and make some sweet buns using the buttermilk....

Les Kouginettes

Having discovered on a recent holiday to Brittany, the delicious sweet & buttery Kougin Amman (Breton Butter Cake). I decided there and then to make these Bretagne delicacies. So on my return armed with a boot full of T45 & T55 flours, beautiful Bretagne butter (and of course wine) I set about researching for recipes.

It was then I came across the Les Kouginettes, this is a smaller individual version of the Kougin Amman. Looking at published recipes it became apparent that they were a little reminiscent of our lardy cake. Maybe this was adopted into Brittany during the times when it was under British rule, that however is one for the historians to confirm....

So to make these buttery Sugary, Flaky delights you will need:

235g Strong White Flour
3g Salt
15g Melted Butter
5g Fast Action Yeast/Dried Active Yeast
130g Tepid water
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90g Softened Butter
50g Brown Sugar
1 tsp. Mixed Spice

You will need a 6 or 12  hole muffin tin- depending how big you want them,

Oven Temp: 180oC Fan

1. Place your flour, yeast  and salt in a bowl, give it a whisk up to distribute everything.
2. Rub the melted butter in, add the water, bring to a soft dough, cover and leave to sit for 10 minutes.
3. Knead the dough for at least 10 minutes until smooth, cover and leave to prove at room temperature for around an hour
4. Roll the dough into a rectangle and spread over two thirds of it half the butter, sugar & spice.
5. Fold as per puff pastry and give half a turn. Its going to be sticky!!
6. Repeat steps 4&5 using the other half of the butter, sugar & spice.
7. Leave the dough to rest for 10  minutes and roll out again to give another half turn, repeat once more.
8. Roll out again to a rectangle, roll up like a sausage roll, divide the sausage up into 6 or 12 equal portions, place in the tins, cover and leave to prove for 30 minutes, brush with milk, sprinkle with a little sugar and bake in your preheated oven for 15 -20 minutes depending on how big you cut them 

Eat warm with a French blend coffee or even an English tea.
Variations can include filling with nutella, or even a lemon curd.. love to hear your feedback.