Sourdough dinner rolls

Woke up with a hankering for rolls Sunday morning, so decided to do something I'd never made: Pure sourdough (no commercial yeast) dinner rolls. I took my part-sourdough baguette recipe, ramped up the starter (levain) by a hundred grams, and left out the 1/4 teaspoon of yeast. The rolls didn't miss the yeast, as you can see from the photo. Fantastic a few hours out of the oven with braised short ribs that Anne made. Here's the recipe:

• 285 grams all-purpose unbleached flour
• 40 g corn flour
• 350 g levain (sourdough starter - see here for directions on making your own)
• 12 g salt
• 170 g water

1. A few hours before baking (or the night before) feed the levain
2. Mix all ingredients thoroughly. Cover and let sit 20-25 minutes
3. Knead by hand 4-5 minutes until dough is elastic
4. Return to bowl misted with oil; cover with oiled plastic wrap and ferment for 4-5 hours in a cool place
5. Preheat baking (pizza) stone on center rack with old cast iron pan on bottom rack at 550 degrees or as hot as your oven will go at least an hour before baking
6. On a floured countertop, divide dough in about 125g pieces. Form into rounds by gathering the dough and pulling down to the bottom, forming a small knot at the bottom. The idea is to create some surface tension by pulling tightly.  You can also form some into miniature baguettes, which is fun
7. Place rolls between folds of linen couche; cover and let rise about 1 hour
8. Transfer to peel and place in oven. Pour 1 cup water into cast iron pan (wear oven mitt!)
9. Turn oven down to 480 and bake until golden brown and interior is 208-210 degrees. Partway through cooking you may need to turn oven down to 440 or so if crust is browning too quickly.
10. Cool rolls on wire rack.

Bread article is food journalism award finalist

Devoted followers with exceptional memories and uncluttered brains (that is, my kids) may remember that last May I authored a cover story on American Bread in Saveur magazine. I've learned the the piece is a food journalism finalist for the 2013 IACP awards (that's International Association of Culinary Professionals) next month in San Francisco. I'd ask you all to stuff the ballet box, except there is none (and besides, that strategy didn't work for the Quill Book Awards in 2007). Win or lose, as Sarah Palin might say, "I'm just so proud to be nominated."

All Things Bread named to top food blogs

All Things Bread, the blog you are reading, has been named as one of 100 Magnificent Sites for Chefs by CulinaryPrograms.net, a site devoted to leveraging the Internet to chefs-in-training. This is what they have to say about All Things Bread:

Best-selling author William Alexander shares his passion for the baked loaf at this blog. His cookbook, 52 Loaves, is all about baking the perfect loaf of bread, and his blog takes that perfection even further.

In other words, they liked the pretzel dog recipe. Thanks to the kind folks at Culinary Programs for their recognition and check out the other sites, but not if it means you're going to read those blogs instead of mine.

Pretzel Dogs!

Since they first appeared on the scene (longer ago than you'd think) I've been a fan of pretzel dogs, food that is greater than the sum of its parts. At shopping mall pretzel stands, however, they have often been sitting out for hours, the poor hot dog shriveled and dry. So why not make them at home? Lye, that's why. Real pretzels are dipping in lye, which I was wasn't quite ready to tackle. But then I saw Harold McGee's article on getting the lye effect (which both adds flavor and gives you that great mahogany sheen) from plain baking soda, so I no longer had an excuse. I can't say that baking soda aspect quite worked out, but more about that later. Making pretzel dough is easy (I even made some with my beloved sourdough, but they didn't prove to be any better, so I'll give the basic recipe here, with a nod to the New York Times, from which it's adapted. The result? Absolutely fantastic! And I can attest to the fact that they reheat well.

Pretzel Dogs

6 hot dogs (preferably natural casing dogs such as Nathan's or Boar's Head
425 grams (about 3 cups) bread flour
236 grams (about 1 cup) tepid water
1 Tbl instant yeast
1 Tbl lard or unsalted butter (of course, I used lard)
1 1/2 teas kosher salt
1-1/2 teas brown sugar

1 cup baking soda (for dipping)
1 egg, mixed with 1 Tbl water (optional)
Coarse sea salt

1. Prepare the baking soda dip: sprinkle about 1 cup of baking soda onto a small pan and bake at 300 deg. F for one hour.
2. Mix flour, yeast, kosher salt, sugar, lard and water and let sit for 20-25 minutes, covered with a dish towel. If mixture is too stiff add up to another 10g water.
3. Knead on a countertop for about 8 minutes. Dough will be very stiff and tight, but should become glossy as you knead.
4. Cut dough into six equal pieces of about 115 g each
5. Cover and allow to rest 5-10 minutes
6. Roll out pieces into long ropes about 20-22 inches long
7. Spiral each rope around a hot dog. Cut off any excess.
8. Cover with dishtowel; allow to rest 30 minutes
9. Place in refrigerator for at least 1 hour, and up to overnight.
10. Preheat oven to 425 F.
11. Prepare you "lye" dip. Now here's where it get's interesting. McGee says to dissolve 3/4 cup of the baked baking soda with 2 cups water. I couldn't get that much soda to dissolve in only 2 cups water, and most other recipes that use baking soda use that much in 2 quarts of water. I think Mr. McGee may have a typo, and it should be 2 quarts. Whichever way you go, dip the pretzel dogs in the baking soda mixture, then rinse in clean water; pat dry and place on baking sheet.
12. Optionally paint with egg mixture (this shouldn't be necessary, but my first batch had no sheen at all) and sprinkle coarse sea salt onto top of each.
13. Bake for 15 minutes or so, until pretzels are deep golden brown. Let cool a few minutes before eating. Great with Dijon mustard and a cold beer

One Grain More

Occasionally, I get asked about gluten-free breads, a subject about which I'm nearly totally ignorant. But any of you have grappled with the difficulty of turning of delectable edible  gluten-free baked goods or lactose-free dairy  -- or anyone who's seen Les Miz -- or anyone with a sense of humor--  will devour this hilarious Les Miz parody.

Bravo, Michael and Lily!