My laptop is acting crazy and making weird sounds. Looks like I have to give up on it and get a new one. The good part is that I had thankfully taken pictures on my phone and I am able to use them here. Else it would be tragic that, for once, I was ready with the dishes for a theme before time and yet I am unable to post on time. So pardon the photo quality in the three buns post. I will hopefully be able to update the pics once my laptop issues are sorted.

I have been baking a sourdough bread at the rate of two a week for the past month. It is a constant learning process and I am enjoying myself immensely. One thing I discovered in the past month is the importance and benefit of autolyse. Autolyse is when you mix only the flour and water and keep it covered for sometime before adding salt and the starter / yeast. This process softens and fully hydrates the flour and eases the gluten development. It reduces the kneading time for the dough. The dough becomes more stretchy and extensible and thus gets a better loaf volume.

You can always skip the autolyse but I would recommend it. Some bakers also add starter at the point of autolyse leaving out only salt. But the pure mixing of flour and water is what autolyse really is about. Secondly it is easier to mix in the salt along with the starter into the dough rather than by itself.

I have made burger buns with yeast and egg previously. I decided to convert it to an eggless sourdough recipe.

Makes 4 Burger buns

WHAT WE NEED

100 gms Sourdough starter, fed (See Notes)

140 gms All purpose flour

60 gms Whole wheat flour

25 gms Butter

120 gms Water

20 gms Sugar

11 gms Salt

WHAT TO DO

• Mix the all purpose flour, whole wheat flour and water into a shaggy mix.
• Do not knead. Just mix it all in to ensure no dry flour remains. This process is the autolyse
• After 1.5 to 2 hours, add the sourdough starter, butter, sugar and salt and mix it all to form a dough
• Stretch and fold the dough 4 times at an interval of 30 minutes each

• Strech and fold is a technique by which you aid gluten formation and help trap the gases in the dough for a good rise
• As the name suggests, strech and fold involves stretching the dough on one side and folding it on top of the rest of the dough. This needs to be done on all four sides like an envelope
• When you stretch be careful to not tear the dough. Stretch gently only till you feel resistance and then fold it on top of the rest of the dough.
• At each stretch and fold, you will feel the dough developing and the gluten network getting stronger.

• After that, refrigerate the dough for a long bull fermentation / first rise for 15-18 hours
• Take the dough out and transfer it to a lightly floured surface
• Divide the dough into 4 equal parts
• Shape each piece of the dough into a ball
• Cover and set aside for 3 hours or until it has visibly puffed up and nearly doubled

• Preheat the oven at 190C
• Bake for 20-25 minutes till the top of the buns turn golden brown
• Take it out and cool on a wire rack
• Enjoy!

NOTES

1. Fed starter means the starter which has been fed and has bubbled up and / or doubled in volume in 6-8 hours
2. I have used the starter at 50% of the flour weight because I was worried the dough wont rise. You can use anywhere between 20%-40% depending on the taste you prefer. The rising of the dough will be slower as you reduce the ratio of starter to flour.
3. A higher amount of starter will give true tangy and slightly sour taste. If you like that, you can use around 35-40% starter and /or leave the dough to ferment for longer hours

For burger recipes check out Paneer Burger, Mixed Veggie Burger and Potato Burger

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This is my post for the Blogging Marathon for the theme, ‘Roll and fold like a bun’

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing this BM