Garlic Dough Balls
Jack
November 22, 2023
Reviews
Ingredients:
Adjust Servings
| 20g bread flour (for the tangzhong) | |
| 105ml whole milk (for the tangzhong) | |
| 440g bread flour | |
| 205ml water | |
| 8g instant dry yeast | |
| 6g caster sugar | |
| 7g sea salt | |
| 45g olive oil | |
| 75g unsalted butter | |
| 2 garlic cloves | |
| 30g panko breadcrumbs |
Directions
1.
Make the tangzhong
The tangzhong is the game changer -- this pasty mix of milk and flour will revolutionise how you make bread. Add the milk and 20g of bread flour to a small saucepan over low heat, and stir/whisk until it just begins to turn into a thick paste. Don't take your eye off this, it turns quickly. Remove from the heat for 10 minutes while you mix the dough.
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2.
Mix the dough
Into the bowl of a stand mixer (dough hook attached), combine the bread flour, water, instant dry yeast, caster sugar, sea salt, and olive oil. Add the cooled tangzhong mixture to the top and knead on medium speed for 4 minutes.
Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface, form into a ball (it will be sticky, but form a floury crust that should make it easy to work with) and drop into a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with some equally lightly oiled cling film. Allow to rise for an hour, or until doubled in size.
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3.
Roll the dough balls
Once proofed, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and press the air out. Cut with sharp clean knife (or dough scraper) into equal portions, depending on your form factor. If you want bite-sized dough pieces, aim for 20g balls. If you want chunky pieces, aim for 45g pieces.. If you want dinner rolls, or burger buns, aim for 90-100g pieces. For each dough piece you'll process them in the same way:
Take your dough piece, flatten into a circle on your work surface. You'll work around the dough like a clock -- starting at 12 o'clock, pull the edge of the dough up, and fold into the centre. Do the same at 2 o'clock, 4 o'clock, etc so that you have folded the edge into the centre six times. Then flip the dough over so the seam is facing downwards. With a loose claw grip, rest your hand over the dough and make clockwise circles with your hand. This should form the dough into a taut ball.
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4.
Line the pan
I've found the easiest thing to use is a cake tin with a removable base, but anything ovenproof will work. Start by making your garlic butter -- mix softened butter, garlic cloves, a teaspoon of olive oil, and a pinch of salt and pepper in a bowl. Blitz this in a microwave for a few seconds until melted. Add about half to your pan of choice, and spread over the base and up the sides. Once generously coated, add your panko breadcrumbs and swirl around until every surface is coated with panko. Tip out the excess.
Add your doughballs to the pan, leaving some room for them to prove. For reference, this image is 45g doughballs. Cover with a lightly oiled piece of cling film and allow to prove for another hour. They should puff up enough to fill the gaps and connect to each other.
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5.
Bake
Preheat the oven to 160°C (fan-assisted) while you're waiting for the dough to prove. Once ready, you can egg wash them (one egg yolk and a splash of double cream or milk) or if you prefer them a little softer, you don't have to bother. Either way, sprinkle generously with flaky salt and bake for 20 minutes.
Once there's a nice golden colour on top, they should be just about done. You can probe with a thermometer or even just a skewer to check, but I've found these to be incredibly forgiving in their bake. Remove them from the oven and allow to cool. I used a cake pan, so I popped off the removable ring after a couple minutes.
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6.
Butter up!
Depending on what you're aiming for these to do (I've started incorporating this recipe into my burger buns, hot dog buns, dinner rolls, basically whenever I fancy bread in the slightest), you can lather up with any number of ingredients. To serve alone or with pasta or pizza, I like adding the rest of the garlic butter and shaving over a little parmesan.
For burger buns, I tend to omit the garlic from the butter and generously sprinkle over sesame seeds. Chives, parsley, dill, black and white sesame seeds, the world is your oyster.
These reheat exceptionally well, a quick blast in the microwave or I tend to leave them in the top of my double-oven setup and they are nice and warmed through with whatever I've just cooked. Enjoy this recipe, the tangzhong has truly revolutionised how I view bread. Thanks to Matt Adlard for a wonderful book and an even better recipe.
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