We Knead to Bake #26 -Kummelweck Rolls

It’s been 2 months since the ‘Dream machine’ arrived…and I haven’t baked bread for many months now. Ever since the Kitchen Aid arrived, I wanted to use it for Kneading bread dough. We Knead to Bake is in its 26^th month and I have missed baking many of the breads. For a while now, I have had an idea brewing in my head to make- to fuse the classic Misal-Pav flavours into a burger. I was being too lazy to try this though. On a whim yesterday, I decided to take care of all the above issues and baked these gorgeous Kummelweck Rolls.

“A Kummelweck (Kimmelweck) Roll is a crusty Roll sprinkled with caraway and coarse salt instead of sesame or poppy seed topping. They are German in origin ,“Kummel” means caraway seeds while “Weck” means roll. In Buffalo in New York, these rolls are used to make a speciality sandwich called the “Beef on Weck”, with thinly sliced rare roast beef and horseradish and it is typically served with fries and a dill pickle. These rolls are great for sandwiches and burgers’.

I made 8 large sized Rolls using the recipe below. The hot weather aided the proofing and I got supersized rolls. I am not sure whether it was the added Vital Gluten, or the Kitchen aid or the recipe itself, but these are one of the best rolls I have baked- Crusty tops and super fluffy inside. Thank you Aparna for this fabulous recipe.

Next time maybe, I will keep the size smaller. Also, I used Shahjeera, instead of Caraway seeds.

I made a Misal Flavoured patty to sandwich between these fluffy buns, along with some sweet and sour mango chutney. To enhance the Misal flavor, I also added a layer of the Onion-Tomato Masala that is served with the Masala Pav . All these elements gelled together in this fabulous Misal Pav burger – as per the family this was one of the best burgers they have had.Recipe for my Misal Pav burger coming up tomorrow.

Here’s the recipe for the Kummelweck/Kimmelweck Rolls

(Adapted from http://www.jewishfood-list.com/recipes/bread/rollskimelweck01.html )

Ingredients:

2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast, I used Instant yeast

1/2 cup warm water

1/2 cup warm milk

2 Tbsp oil

1 tbsp honey

1 egg white (optional)

1 1/2 tsp salt

3 to 3 1/4 cups bread flour*

Egg wash (optional)

Coarse sea salt and caraway seeds (Iused Shahjeera)

Method:

*To substitute for bread flour add 1 tbsp of vital wheat gluten to 2 to 3 cups of all-purpose flour.

Mix together the warm water and the warm milk and stir in the yeast. Let it sit aside for about 5 minutes. Knead by hand or with the machine.

In the bowl of your machine, combine the yeast mixture, oil, honey,the egg white and stir.

Now add the salt and about 2 1/2 cups of flour and knead, adding as much more flour as required till you have a smooth and elastic  dough that is tacky but not sticky. Shape the dough into a ball, and place it in an oiled bowl. Cover loosely with cling film and let rise for about an hour, until it is almost double in volume.

Deflate the dough well (not kneading), shape into a round and and allow it to rise, covered, for 30 minutes more.

Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces and shape each into a smooth ball, then slightly flatten it. Place them on lightly greased or parchment lined baking sheets. Spray or lightly brush with oil, loosely cover and let the dough rise for 30 more minutes. Brush with eggwash (or something else that will make sure the topping sticks when baking), then cut slits (like a +) on the top using a sharp blade or scissors.

Sprinkle the top of the rolls with sea salt and caraway seeds, and then mist with water. Bake the rolls at 220C (425F) for 5 minutes and then quickly mist with water again making sure you don’t keep the oven door open for too long.

Bake for another 20 minutes or so until they’re brown and done. Cool on a wire rack. This recipe makes 8 large burger bun sized rolls.