Care for a rosemary bread roll which is light and crumb filled with lots or air pockets? You arrived at the right place…

 

– What is hydration in bread language?

This bread contains 80% hydration, which means for every 100g of flour 80g of water is added to the dough…in another word, it is the percentage of the liquid in relation to the flour in weight.

Regular bread usually the hydration is in between 58 and 65%, so you can imagine 80% hydration, the dough is super wet, sticky, therefore impossible to knead…but using a simple method of stretch and fold almost like magic will be able to produce a bread with a crumb that is super light, airy, with lots of air pockets and a crispy crust.

– What is poolish?

Yes, it is a sort of starter, pre-fermented dough added to the final dough and consist of a mixture of same weight of flour and water with a little bit of the leavening agent such as yeast.

Adding polish to the final bread dough adds flavor and more texture, and somehow, I feel that increases the speed of the bulk fermentation.

It is not a big deal to make polish, you just must plan…if you plan to make bread, before going to bed make your poolish and it will be ready when you wake up.

– How about a hint of fresh rosemary?

Absolutely wonderful, you will be amazed of what just adding fresh minced rosemary to the dough will do…it will wake your sense of smell, you will want to inhale every bit of the aroma of the bread and rosemary in the air…got the feeling?  Okay…

– Now it is time to get working…

Ingredients:

Poolish

  • 150 g water
  • 150 g bread flour
  • 1 pinch yeast

Dough

  • 150 g water
  • 225 g bread flour
  • 4 g salt
  • 2 g yeast
  • 4-6 sprigs of rosemary, minced
  • Extra flour for dusting or cornmeal

Method:

Poolish

Place all the ingredients under the poolish in a medium to large bowl.  Using a fork or a Danish dough hand whisk, mix well until all the water is absorbed by the flour. The dough very, very sticky. Cover the bowl and place in a warm place overnight or up to 16 hours.

Dough

Add the 150g of water and the yeast to the poolish and mix well. Add the remaining ingredients and mix with a fork or Danish whisk into a wet dough.

Using the stretch and fold method (see the description here) go around the bowl 40 times stretch and fold, 4 times stretch and fold make a complete circle around the bowl.

Leave the dough to rest for 45 minutes.

Repeat the stretch and fold around the bowl once (set of 4 stretch and fold), followed by a 45 minutes rest, 3 more times, totaling 4 times.

On last time of stretch and fold, followed by 1 hour rest.

Turn the dough out on to a lightly floured surface and stretch and fold once, placing the seam under.

Cut the dough into approximately 12 portions (I used a scale, 56g each roll). Let the dough rest for another 10-15 minutes.

Stretch and fold each portion and place the seam under. Place the rolls on a baking pan lined with parchment paper dusted with flour or cornmeal.

Lightly dust the rolls with more flour before covering and let it rise for 1 to 2 hours, until double its size.

Preheat oven to 4750C. Place a pan with water at the bottom of the oven to create steam.

Spray generously each roll and score the rolls or use a scissors.

Let it bake for 5 minutes and repeat the water spray. Another 5 minutes in the oven and spray again with water and turn the pan around so the rolls bake evenly.

Let it bake for another 5 minutes or until the crust turns brown.

Remove the rolls from the oven and cool on a wire rack.

Please allow to cool before devour it…

I hope you enjoy this simple method to make great bread…

– More bread recipes?  Take a look at the recipes below.

Did you know that rosemary has been used since ancient Greeks? Rosemary has its origins in the Mediterranean region. Apparently rosemary contains essential oils known to boost memory and contain high levels of antioxidants.

Thank you for visiting Color Your Recipes…have a colorful week!

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