Cast Iron

Regardless of how well you form your rolls, hydration is key. I used a cast iron skillet this evening to produce these rolls. They came out very well.

Kaiser Rolls

If I were going to teach someone to bake bread by giving them some "how not to" lessons, today would have been a good day to begin.

I made the dough yesterday by using what I learned from reading three different recipes, and then used none of them. I substituted egg-replacer for eggs, and almond milk for cow's milk. Then I miscalculated the measurements of the sugar and salt by an order of magnitude and compensated for the inadequate amount by guessing.

Next, while preparing the evening pizza, I forgot that I left the dough sitting on the kitchen counter top covered with an "unbreakable" Corelle porcelain plate.

I woke around 3 AM wondering what I had done with the dough. If I left it on the counter top, it probably leavened to the point where it would lift the plate right off the bowl.

Sure enough, I turned on the kitchen light to see tiny shards of broken porcelain all over the floor, and the dough looked like The Blob That Ate Kansas City. I was more upset about the dough than the plate.

Anyway, I cleaned up the mess and punched down the dough so it would re-hydrate, turned on the oven and eventually shaped the dough into small loaves placed on an oiled 13 inch pizza pan. After an hour or so of final rise, I put them into a 425 convection oven for 20 minutes and this was the result.

They're cooling now. Mary and I sampled one and declared it was quite suitable! Next, Kummelweck rolls!