Ingredients

The following ingredients have 9 Servings
  • 250 g / 2 cups AP wheat flour, plus extra for dusting
  • 250 g / 2 cups bread / strong flour*
  • 2 tsp fine salt
  • 8 g / 2 tsp instant dried yeast*
  • 50 g / ¼ cup vegan butter or odourless coconut oil or liquid oil

Instruction

  • Place both flours, salt and dried yeast in a large bowl. Mix well.
  • Melt vegan butter (or coconut oil) over low heat. Combine it with 300 ml / 1 and ¼ cups of lukewarm water.
  • Pour the liquids into the flours and mix with a spoon to combine roughly. Be aware that if you make any changes to the types of flours (or their ratios) used, you may need to adjust the amount of liquid a little. Also, your brand of flour may be slightly more or less absorbent than mine so be prepared to add (or hold back) a touch more liquid.
  • When the dough starts looking scraggly and mostly stuck together, turn it out on to a work surface. If it feels dry, add a touch more water. The dough should not be too sticky and quite easy to work with.
  • Knead the dough by holding one end of the dough in one hand and stretching it out by sliding the heel of the other hand into it. Reform the dough, rotate it a few degrees and start again. Repeat this for about 8-10 minutes, until the dough is elastic and smooth.
  • Put the dough in a large clean bowl and cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel. Set aside, in a warm place for 1-1½ hours, until the dough doubles in size. A very low (25°C / 77°F) oven works well too.
  • While the dough is proofing, cut out eight or ten 10 cm / 4" squares of baking paper, one for each bun.
  • Once the dough has doubled in size, punch all the air out of it and divide it into 8-10 identical portions - depending how big you want your roll. I made 10 and each roll was 84 g / 2.95 oz.
  • Shape into a money sack. Place it, seam down, on a lightly floured surface. Cover it with a cupped head and roll it against the surface for about 30-60 seconds until you start feeling the bun's surface getting taut.
  • Place each roll on a square of oiled (that's important) baking paper. Cover with a kitchen towel and allow to proof until the dough balls double in size (second proofing) - about 20-30 minutes in a warm place.
  • Just before the second proofing is finished, put a large pot (20 cm / 8" dia is ideal) filled with 1 L / 4 cups of water and baking soda to the boil. Allow the mixture to come to a gentle simmer but keep an eye on it as it has a tendency to boil over.
  • Meanwhile, heat up the oven to 225° C / 425° F.
  • One by one, lift each roll on its paper square off the tray. Flip the ball in your hand very gently so that the seam is at the top. Be very gentle as you don't want to knock any of the air out of the buns at this stage.
  • Go around the perimeter of each ball and pinch the surface of the dough very gently between your thumb and index finger creating a seal in the middle of the bottom. This step helps the buns keep their shape during simmering.
  • Place 2-3 (depending on the size of your pot) buns in the simmering baking soda solution. Allow them to simmer gently (low heat, small bubbles are preferable) for 60 seconds, then flip them gently to the other side using a large spoon. Simmer on the other side for a further 60 seconds. Fish them out and place them on a drying rack. Carry on with the remaining dough balls.
  • Once the buns are completely dry, use a razor or a very sharp knife to make a shallow criss-cross incision at the top of each roll and sprinkle with salt (or sesame or poppy seeds).
  • Bake for about 17-19 minutes, depending on the size of the buns. Consume on the day - they don't keep that well.