This is the 16th bread in the Bread Baker's Apprentice challenge, hosted by Pinch My Salt. I have always been intrigued by the star shaped pattern that defines a Kaiser roll.PR uses a pre-ferment to improve the flavor and texture of these rolls of these white flour rolls.
I did not use diastatic barley malt powder, but just found a store in SLC that sells it. I will be buying it on Friday and trying these rolls again, just to see if there is a difference.
I doubled the batch, weighed them in 4 oz. portions and ended up with 15 large rolls roughly 4" across and 1.5 " high.I used the rosette or love knot technique that I demonstrated earlier with my favorite hamburger buns, which is a honey whole wheat roll.
The Fresh Loaf shows another technique to forming these rolls.
I checked my sesame seeds and discovered that they were old. Ughhh.
I should have kept them in the freezer.
That reminded me that I also need to keep my poppy seeds in the freezer to keep them fresh. They will go rancid.
Since these rolls were essentially going "topless," I decided to use an egg wash on top to give it some color and shine.The rolls over-proofed slightly, but did not 'collapse' during baking.
The crumb was moist and tender, with a slight sweet flavor.
Next time, I will not be using the egg wash or the spritzing of the oven to crisp the crust. I prefer a softer roll. It will be interesting to see if diastatic malt powder will make a difference.... stay tuned!
