Poznańskie rolls
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.
Time 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
Instructions
Mix all the levain ingredients and leave them for 12-16 hours
Mature levain Combine the levain with all the remaining ingredients
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
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
Divide the dough into nine portions, roughly 110 g each. After measuring the right weight of dough, preshape it
Cutting out portions 
Preshaped rolls 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 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 Steam the oven (I put water in a roasting tray) and brush the rolls with water before putting them in the oven
Bake for 10-15 minutes, then put on a cooling rack
Summary
My errors:
- I did not dust the tray for final rise – the rolls stuck to it and the bottom looks like the crumb
- 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.
Now excuse me, I suddenly got hungry.
