More Progress

Forget everything I have told you about garlic rolls and do this.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup high-gluten flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
4 ounces water (roughly)
1 level teaspoon instant yeast
1 teaspoon juice from sour cream or yogurt or kefir or something similar

Scale this up if needed; it makes 6 rolls about the size of racquetballs.

Mix everything but the yeast. You want it a little sticky, but you should be able to handle it without much trouble. Don’t knead it.

Plop it into a bowl and cover it with foil. Let it sit for at least two days. Room temperature.

Fold the yeast in. Doesn’t have to be perfectly mixed, but do a good job. It’s okay if some grains of yeast hang off the dough.

Flatten into a 6″ by 9″ rectangle. Cut into 6 long strips. Pull a strip off, stretch it to a foot in length, double it, tie it in an overhand knot, and put it on a seasoned pan. Repeat.

Oil the rolls lightly (cheap olive oil) and let them rise (covered with something airtight) until they are as big as racquetballs. The rise may take 2-3 hours. Bake at 550. Takes about 6 minutes. Toss in a mixture of pureed garlic, cheap olive oil, salt, and parsley flakes. Lots of garlic; maybe a third as much garlic as oil, by volume.

This is very similar to the recipe I put up a day or two ago, but this time, the sour cream bacteria woke up and made it a little sour. I think you could actually make an acceptable starter with that stuff. The dough formed tiny blisters when it baked, and that made the rolls better.

The only ways I can think of to improve this are as follows: 1) fresh grated cheese, 2) pizza sauce for dipping, and 3) anchovy sauce for dipping. I don’t have a recipe for anchovy sauce. That one just came to me. But it would be good, wouldn’t it? Hmm…anchovies fried in oil, with garlic puree tossed in at the last minute and also fried. With mashed pine nuts. Maybe.

Mike and I were thinking it might be possible to speed up the rise by mashing the yeast up with a little water before mixing it in, but you might have trouble mixing it in, and you might lose the blisters. I don’t know.

These are tasty. Give them a shot.

Boy, do I smell.