Sourdough Meat-and-Potato Rolls

One of my friends online once said I could make anything into either bread or soup and asked if I’d ever make venison bread.

The idea stuck with me, hence this recipe. I adapted it from a sourdough potato roll recipe and used some stock I’d made myself that’s pretty strong- I cooked the venison for three days in a slow cooker before straining. If you try this yourself, you might not get the sheer meatiness I did unless you either make your own stock or concentrate some down. If you do boil down some store-bought stock, watch the salt! Cut the salt in the recipe by half or you might really overdo it.

100 g (1/2 cup) fed sourdough starter, 100 percent hydration.

1 cup strong stock, divided

1/3 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup instant potato flakes

1 large egg, beaten

1 1/2 tsp kosher salt (adjust to suit the saltiness of the stock you’re using)

450-500 g (about 3 1/2-4 cups) all-purpose flour

1 tsp crushed dried rosemary

1 1/2 tsp melted butter

Heat up 1/2 cup of the stock and mix the potato flakes into it. Let stand a few minutes to let it hydrate.

Mix the potatoes, the starter, the remaining stock (lukewarm or slightly warm), the softened butter, the sugar, the egg, and the salt with the flour in a bowl. Once it comes together, knead either with a dough hook or by hand until it’s soft and springy and just slightly sticky but cleans the side of the bowl if using the hook. If the dough is too wet, add flour a spoonful at a time. If it’s crumbly, add a little more warm stock or water.

Form into a ball and place in a lightly greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap or a lid and let rise 4 hours.

If you plan to bake them the same day, let it rise 4 more hours. If not, place in the fridge to hold for up to 3 days. When you take it out, let it come to room temperature and then rise another hour or two after that, until it’s puffy.

Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured board. Gently deflate and fold into thirds (like a letter) twice, first one way and then turn sideways to do it again. Divide into sixteen roughly equal pieces and roll into balls to make buns. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet and let rise two more hours until they are once again soft and puffy. Bake in a preheated 375 degree F oven for 15 minutes, until the tops are lightly browned. Let cool a few minutes on the sheet, then remove to a rack.

Brush the tops with melted butter while they’re still warm. Eat warm or wrap in plastic to keep for later. May be frozen if you’re not going to finish them off in two or three days.

Sourdough Milk Bread (Tangzhong)

So, this is not the easiest bread, but the results were amazing- sweet, soft, toasts like a dream, with only the faintest sourdough aftertaste. Worth the work.

This is adapted from the Japanese milk bread recipe on the King Arthur flour website: https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/japanese-milk-bread-recipe A tangzhong is a pre-cooked mix of liquid and flour that gelatinizes the starch to make the bread softer.

Ingredients:

Tangzhong
3 Tbs water
3 Tbs milk, whole preferred
2 Tbs bread flour

Dough
Tangzhong
100 g sourdough starter, 100 percent hydration (equal flour and water in starter)
350-400 g bread flour (about 3 cups- start with 350 g and add a little at a time when kneading)
2 Tbs nonfat dry milk
1/4 c sugar
1 tsp salt
1/4 c milk, whole preferred
1 large egg
4 Tbs butter, melted

To make the tangzhong, combine the ingredients in a small, heavy-bottomed pan over low heat. Whisk to break up the lumps and make it smooth, then continue whisking while it cooks until the mixture thickens and the whisk leaves lines across the bottom of the pan as you stir. Remove from pan to a bowl to cool to room temperature.

Once the tangzhong is cool, combine it with all the other ingredients and mix. I recommend a stand mixer with a dough hook, as kneading this bread by hand would take a long time. Watch the dough- it should still be slightly tacky but easily come off hands or the sides of your bowl when it’s come together. If it’s wetter than that, add a little flour a spoonful at a time. Knead it until it’s smooth and stretchy, about 15 minutes. Shape the dough into a ball and then place in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover and leave to rise until soft and puffy, about 4-6 hours. It may not necessarily double.

Divide the risen dough into four roughly equal pieces. Stretch each piece into a 5″ x 8″ rectangle, then fold the short ends in towards the middle in thirds, like folding a letter. Flatten the resulting piece again into a 3″ x 9″ rectangle, then roll up from one of the short ends. Place the rolled dough seam-side down in a 9″ x 5″ loaf pan that’s been lightly oiled. Do this to all four pieces, making a loaf with four bumps across the top. Cover and let rise until the dough starts to peek above the top of the loaf pan, another 2-3 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Brush top of dough with milk for a golden crust. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until an instant read thermometer in the center of the loaf reads 190 degrees F.

Place on rack in pan for 10 minutes, then remove from pan to rack to finish cooling completely.