flour girl: Whole Wheat Santa Lucia Buns

I’d prefer to call these `S` buns. I’m ‘S’; they’re ‘S’. They’re my buns.

Kinda like ‘S’ cookies that I loved as a kid (and that I still love now because they are amazing with coffee or tea). I deemed them mine and mine alone because they bore my initial.

These buns have a soft crust and crumb that makes them great for sandwiches and they`re good toasted after a few days as well. The flavour is hearty and slightly sweet, but more subdued than sprouted grain bread.

Whole Wheat Santa Lucia Buns

From the book Whole Grain Breads

Soaker

1 3/4c. whole wheat flour
1/2 t. salt
3/4 c. soy milk

Day 1:
In a bowl stir together the soaker ingredients until they form a ball of dough. Cover and leave at room temperature overnight.

Starter

1 3/4 c. whole wheat flour
1/4 t. quick rise yeast
1/2 c. water
1 egg, beaten

Day 1:
Combine all the starter ingredients together in a bowl. Knead the starter dough by hand for a few minutes. Place the dough to a clean bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight. Remove from the fridge a few hours before needed for the final dough.

Final Dough

starter
soaker
3/4 c. whole wheat flour
1/2 t. salt
2 1/4 t. (one packet) instant yeast
1/4 c. honey
1/4 c. vegetable oil

1 egg white, beaten with 1 T. water (for egg wash) and 1 t. honey
raisins for topping

Day 2:

Chop the starter up into 8-10 pieces and place in a large mixing bowl. Add all the remaining dough ingredients to the bowl.

Stir the ingredients together with a spoon until the mixture begins to form a ball.

Transfer the dough to a floured surface and knead for 5-10 minutes. Add extra flour as needed so the dough is firm and a bit tacky.

Let the dough rest for 5 minutes, then continue kneading for another few minutes until the dough passes the windowpane test so you know the gluten is developed.

Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise at warm room temperature until almost doubled in size (about 1 hour).

Punch down the dough. Divide it into 12 pieces and roll each piece into a ball. Let the dough balls rest for 10 minutes. Roll each ball out into a 10” long snake.

Shape each snake into an ‘S’ by rolling the ends in toward each other on the same side, then flip one spiral over to get an ‘S’.

Place the shaped buns on a foiled lined baking sheet. Cover again with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature again until 1.5x original size (~1 hour).

Brush the buns with the egg wash and place a raisin in the centre of each coil.

Bake in a 350F oven for 30 minutes rotating the pan 180 degrees after 15 minutes until it sounds hollow when thumped on the bottom and/or has an internal temperature of 195 degrees fahrenheit.

Cool on a rack before serving.

Submitted to Yeastspotting

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