French Baguette Buns

Highly recommend this recipe, if you like sour dough, but don’t know how/ don’t want to maintain a starter. It has 0g sugar and oil. But, the flavour is full body and the texture is light and chewy and with a bite, definitely not gummy due to the high temperature of baking. The crust when freshly baked or lightly toasted is crispy. Very delicious bread just with butter.

Dough is really super sticky, good news is no need for window pane.

Recipe

starter

50g bread flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/16 tsp or pinch of yeast
40g water

main dough

250g bread flour
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp yeast
1g honey (optional, just to get yeast going)
160g water

fillings (optional)

walnuts

Method

1. Prepare starter by mixing starter with a spoon. Cover and proof on counter for 1-3 hours. Place in fridge for 1-2 days. You can see the strands formed.

2. Mix starter with all main dough ingredients. It will be very sticky and wet dough. Let the stand mixer knead for about 15 min, stopping every 2 min to turn the dough. Knead till a coarse dough forms, and you can pull a thick pane. Using well oiled hands, try to shape into a round dough. Cover and proof in an oiled container, for 1 hour.

3. After proofing, turn onto a floured counter, divide into 6 equal doughs ( about 80 plus g). Pat away large bubbles and add the walnuts if using. Form into round doughs. Cover and rest 20 min.

4. After resting, press down the dough with hands to remove large bubbles. Fold the dough 1/3 inwards from the top and bottom, then fold in half again and pinch the seam close. Place seam side down on baking tray. Repeat for all doughs.