Lately, I’ve been focusing on my Pasta Madre a lot. While studying it and playing around with different flours I generated a considerable amount of pasta madre discards. Of course, I found a way to repurpose them instead of throwing them away. I made this fantastic sourdough fougasse with olives and thyme that is going to blow your taste buds! This is the most aromatic sourdough fougasse I’ve ever made! It’s definitely a delicious treat to share and a fantastic appetizer to keep your guests happy while dinner is finishing cooking!
What is fougasse bread?
In a world full of focaccias, baguettes, and sourdough loaves it’s easy for this incredibly delicious bread to go unnoticed. Let me tell you a bit about it!
Fougasse is a French bread typical from Provence although it has more variants in other regions of France. It’s somehow a flatbread and it’s shaped in an irregular shape with slits in the middle. In France is very common to add fillings such as olives, cheese, anchovies…
FUN FACT! this bread was originally used to test the temperature of the wood fire ovens they had back in the day. The bakers could estimate the temperature based on how long it took to bake a fougasse. So there you have it, delicious bread full of tradition!
What is pasta Madre?
In case you’re not familiar with it, let me make a quick summary of what pasta madre is: It’s a special stiff starter used in the making of Grandi Lievitati products, namely Panettone, Pandoro, Colomba… I said special because it’s not *just* a stiff stater. Pasta madre, (or lievito madre, or lievito naturale in some cases) is typically maintained under pretty specific conditions and methods. The method I use is the one where the starter is kept in water. The other method wraps the pasta madre and keeps it tied.
If you want to learn more about it you can check this post to learn how to create your own lievito madre, this post for information about the 3 preparatory refreshments before making panettone, and this post for a mini-guide to troubleshoot your pasta madre.
Stiff starter vs. Pasta Madre, two different things
Social media has done a very poor job of explaining what Pasta Madre is. And frequently people use starters at 60% hydration and call them Pasta Madre. But a real pasta madre s about 35-45% hydration (depends on the flour). And it has a very controlled maintenance process in order to keep a healthy ratio of bacteria and yeasts and promote specific types of LAB. The purpose of this special maintenance is to make a panettone (Grandi lievitati) that is very very very soft, packed with flavor, that can stay fresh for many days and that has not a single hint of acidy nor acidifies over time. Not just to leaven the dough.
Why do I generate so many pasta madre discards?
The thing is… because Pasta Madre is kept either in water or tied up, you can’t really use small amounts of flour because otherwise it’d disintegrate in the water very quickly or it’ll completely dry out in the cloth. My normal maintenance amounts are:150-200g of pasta madre, 150-200g of very strong flour, and 70-80g of water.
Basically, I generate about a pound of pasta madre discards every 24h. And that is a lot of perfectly fine and very strong pasta madre that could be used for other things. I usually keep it in the fridge and accumulate it over a few days and use it to make crackers. I also use it for sourdough loaves, or to make these delicious orange and cinnamon rolls.
And now we have another recipe! This sourdough fougasse is good! Trust me on this! And it uses about all the discard from one refreshment.
If you are using pasta madre discards, I recommend you start the fougasse dough right after the last maintenance refreshment. That is when the pasta madre is at its peak of activity.
Is this a sourdough discard recipe?
Yes, because pasta madre is still sourdough, and a very active one! It’s still a dough packed with wild yeasts and bacteria. And like sourdough discards, you can use it in pretty much anything! It’s also great for stiffer dough, you can use it to make bread like this sourdough challah, or my sourdough burger buns… The options are endless here!
What if I don’t have pasta madre?
Don’t worry! If you don’t have pasta madre you can either create a stiff starter and use it, or use your liquid sourdough starter (100% hydration), I got you!
How to create a stiff starter with your 100% hydration starter
I’m going to show you how to make a shortcut stiff starter at 55% hydration because if we lower the hydration too much, your bacteria will end up a bit stressed and there’s a chance it won’t be active enough to use. You can read all about adaptation periods and water content on this post. It’s about the science of your sourdough starter (without fancy words and easy to follow).
A 55% hydration starter would be very easy to make by mixing 100g of flour with 55g of water. But this will make a total of 155g of starter. We don’t need that much, so we need to scale it down to a total of 100g. So we need to scale down.
| Ingredients | For 155g of starter | For 120g of starter | For 100g of starter |
| Total Flour | 100g | 77.4g | 64.5g |
| Total Water | 55g | 42.6g | 35.5g |
Pay attention to the water
Now, water is our limiting factor here because we just need a little amount. Since we’re using our 100% hydration starter, that means that whatever weight of this starter is made of 50% flour and 50% water.
So, let’s say you want to make 120g of stiff starter (just to play safe). That starter will have 42.6g of water. This water comes ONLY through your liquid starter. Since water is only 50% of the liquid starter, we will need twice the amount. And then to make it stiffer we just add the flour difference. Let me show you!
Twice the amount of 42.6g (of water we need) is 85.2g. We need to take 85.2g of liquid starter (42.6g of water, and 42.6g of flour). And according to the table above, to make 120g of stiff starter we need a total of 77.4g of flour. From our liquid starter, we already have 42.6g of flour. The difference we need to add is: 77.4 – 42.6 = 34.8g
Let me do the math for you!
Too much math for a beautiful day such as this one? Then let me do the numbers and just pick on the table below the amount of starter you prefer to make:
| Ingredient | For a total of 120g of stiff starter | For a total of 100g of stiff starter |
| 100% hydration starter | 85.2g | 71g |
| Extra flour | 34.8g | 29g |
You can now pick how much stiff starter you want and mix the ingredients. Knead the dough by hand for a couple of minutes. You don’t need to develop the gluten perfectly but make sure there aren’t dry flour particles or dry chunks of dough. The idea is to have a dough that is stiff but workable and not sticky. Aim for a bagel dough kind of consistency.
Once mixed put it in a container with a loose lid and wait until at least doubles in size. It’d be helpful to have a narrow and taller container rather than a wider and shorter one. That way it’ll be easier to see how much it grows. Once you see it doubles wait for a while, if it stalls then it’s at the peak, if it continues growing then it’s not at the peak yet. Wait a bit longer and test again.
You also need an active starter to make sure the stiff starter can grow fast and you don’t need to refresh it again to make it stronger. Remember, the purpose of this recipe is to reduce waste 😉
If this is not a method you like, I got you! You can go ahead and use your liquid starter
How to make sourdough fougasse with liquid starter
If you just don’t really care about making a stiff starter or don’t have pasta madre, you can still make this delicious sourdough fougasse with your liquid starter. Just add 100g of the starter and then 21g LESS of water and 21g MORE of flour to the base recipe and you’re good to go! (This is to keep the total dough hydration the same regardless of the starter you’re using).
About this sourdough fougasse recipe
For this fougasse, I chose strong-flavored fillings because pasta madre doesn’t have the sour punch that liquid sourdough has. It’s a milder flavor that I wanted to balance with something savory. Olives and thyme are a combination that I love and along with olive oil and the bread (once is baked) is just perfect.
You can use other ingredients of your preference, although traditionally fougasse has more savory and umami fillings. This can also be an opportunity to let your creativity flow and experiment with how you cut the slits when you’re shaping your bread. Fougasse is truly a gorgeous bread that can just be the perfect centerpiece for a table.
How to prepare this sourdough fougasse
As with any other sourdough bread, we need to start mixing the ingredients. If you know my baking style, you know that I add starter and salt all at the same time. And this case is no different. However, due to the nature of pasta madre, you probably can’t dissolve it in the water the same way you do with a liquid starter.
What I like to do is hold back about 20% of the water to start with a bit of stiffer dough, and then progressively add the rest of the water and finally the wet fillings. This is what works for me, but if you want to add all the water right away and just knead directly it’s fine too.
This is a lovely dough to work with, honestly. You can use your stand mixer but if you want to try doing it by hand, I think it’s a beautiful recipe to do so!
If you’re using a liquid starter just dissolve it in water and proceed with the rest of the ingredients. You don’t need to add water slowly.
When should I add the fillings?
I like to classify fillings into two groups: wet and dry. Wet fillings are those that carry a considerable amount of moisture with them and that could, potentially, alter the dough. These are things like olives, roasted peppers, capers… Dry are those that don’t carry with them much moisture like spices, herbs, cured cheese, dry things preserved in oil (sundried tomatoes, caramelized onion…).
Why this classification? When we need the dough we usually apply pressure to the ingredients that are in the dough. Wet ingredients will release that moisture if we “squeeze” them as we knead the dough. And our somehow stiff dough can become sticky in no time!
What I like to do is add the dry ingredients mixed with the flour and wait until the dough is developed to add the wet, then I just have to knead enough to incorporate the fillings, and not for incorporating them filings and developing the gluten at the same time.
For this sourdough fougasse, I used black olives and thyme. Thyme is not a problem, it’s a “dry” ingredient (even though I used fresh herbs, but you get the idea), you can add it at the beginning with the flour and the other ingredients. Olives, on the other hand, are preserved in brine, they carry quite an amount of moisture. So I added them at the very end. Once the dough was ready and the gluten was where I wanted it to be, I added the olives and kneaded just enough to incorporate them.
Don’t worry if by doing this you still have a couple of olives that aren’t incorporated, just put them on top of the dough, after they bake they’ll give your fougasse a rustic look!
How to ferment this sourdough fougasse
Since fougasse is a flatbread of sorts, it’s okay if the dough is not super strong. In other words, it’s okay if we over ferment it a little if that’s going to fit our schedule better. Here you have a couple of options:
Same day fougasse
Start the dough early in the morning, knead it well, add all the fillings, and let it ferment (bulk ferment) until it doubles in size and gets a bit puffy. Depending on your temperature, this might be anywhere between 3-5h. If you’re using a clear bowl you should see some fermentation bubbles in the bottom but nothing too crazy. Try not to over ferment it or when you want to shape it and cut the slits it’ll be tricky.
Then proceed to divide the dough into as many fougasses as you wish to make, shape them, and let them proof. We’re not looking for super chubby fougasses here. So when you start seeing them rising a bit turn the oven on and continue proofing while the oven preheats.
If you’re an early bird you might have them ready by lunchtime, if you’re a sleepyhead like me, maybe aim for dinner to be safe 🙂 *giggles as she writes this sentence*
Overnight fougasse
This method is based on cutting the bulk and keeping the dough in the fridge until you’re ready to continue. So, let’s say you refresh your pasta madre in the early evening or your stiff starter is not ready until later in the day. Maybe you don’t have time to bake your fougasse the same day. In this case, what you can do is prepare the dough and start the bulk fermentation. Then 1 and a half or two hours later put the bowl in the fridge and keep it there overnight. Then the next morning take the dough out of the fridge and divide it into the number of pieces you want. This way the dough will come to room temperature a bit faster
How to shape your sourdough fougasse
Either if you are following the same-day method or the overnight method. After dividing the pieces shape them into a ball, cover them with a cloth or plastic wrap, and let them rest for 20 minutes or so.
After the rest period is over… Unleash your inner creativity! The basics of shaping a fougasse are:
Flatten the piece of dough into an oval-ish/triangular-ish/leafy-ish shape, then cut slits with a bench scraper or a pizza cutter (bench scraper works better for me), loosen up the slits, and done!
Don’t try to make them perfect, the beauty of a good fougasse is in that rustic touch! I personally like a triangular/leafy kind of shape. I think they look really nice and if you have a bread basket they will look very cute in it. Also, feel free to use plenty of flour to avoid the dough from sticking to the counter. Cutting the slits can be tricky.
Baking your sourdough fougasse
Once you’re done shaping the fougasses, cover them and let them proof at room temperature until they start getting puffy, but didn’t necessarily grow much. At that moment turn your oven on at 425F/220C. The proofing stage will continue as the oven preheats. If you have an old metallic tray, put it in the bottom part oven, you will use it to create steam.
When the oven is ready put your fougasses in the middle part of the oven and throw a cup of boiling water into the bottom tray. This will create a nice touch of steam for the first few minutes.
After 10 minutes or so, you can retrieve the bottom tray and continue baking until your fougasses have a nice golden brown color. Let them cool down on a rack until you can hold them with your hands without burning yourself and enjoy!
A few tips about this sourdough fougasse recipe
For a shiny touch, I like to brush my fougasses with egg wash. This also allows the crust from drying out too quickly. This bread is pretty thin, so a bit of extra moisture is always helpful.
If you don’t want to brush your fougasses with egg wash, you can spray some water before putting them in the oven. This, along with the steam we create with the boiling water, it’ll be enough.
Fougasse is best consumed right away. When it’s crispy outside and soft inside. It’s even better when it’s still warm. This bread is thin, most of the moisture scapes as it bakes, so it goes stale faster than other types of sourdough bread.
Can I use other fillings?
Absolutely! You can use other flavor combinations that you like. I love fresh herbs combined with something extra savory or umami (like olives, blue cheese…). But I also love caramelized onions and nuts together. The sky is the limit here!
Do I really need steam to bake it?
You don’t need it, but I think it’ll be a good idea. I always get better results when I add steam during the first 10 minutes of baking. Since these are pretty thin, the crust will dry out quickly. A bit of steam will help to create a fluffy interior and crispy crust! But if you can’t create steam don’t worry, your fougasse will still turn out delicious!
How big should my fougasse be?
With this recipe, you can make one mega-fougasse, 2 large fougasses, 3 medium fougasses, 4 small ones, or 5 tiny ones. Just be careful when you bake them because the small ones will bake faster.
That is all for today! If you liked this recipe, you might also like these other ones, give them a try and let me know what you think!
Brie and olive sourdough rolls
Tomato and rosemary sourdough bread
Gorgonzola and apple sourdough bread
If you make any of my recipes let me know what you think! As always you can find me on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook. And I also have a few videos up on my Youtube channel (which I hope I can resume soon!)
Starting on breadmaking but don’t know where to start? Check my amazon store to see my favorite and affordable utensils you will need. No need to buy a $200+ baking pot. You can make the best bread with simple and affordable tools! (This is an affiliate link if you purchase something from this link I will make a small commission that helps me run this blog, but you will not be charged any extra money 😉 )
Happy Baking!
Sourdough Fougasse with pasta madre discards
Make this incredibly aromatic bread typical from the Provence using your pasta madre discards!
Ingredients
- 500 g bread flour
- 100-120 g pasta madre discards see notes
- 300-350 g water see notes
- 50 g extra virgin olive oil
- 8-10 g salt see notes
- 135 g sliced black olives drained and patted dry
- 10 g fresh thyme leaves chopped
- 1 egg for brushing optional
Instructions
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Mix salt, chopped thyme, and flour in a bowl and set aside
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Cut the pasta madre into smaller pieces and add them into the bowl that has the flour mix
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Add about 80% of the water, the olive oil, and start kneading until you feel the pasta madre is incorporating well into the dough. Then add the rest of the water
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Knead the dough until the gluten is almost developed and add the drained olives
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Do a set of stretches & folds to help incorporate the olives. If the dough feels tight and you can't incorporate them, let the dough rest for 20 minutes to relax the gluten. Then proceed again to finish incorporating the olives
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Once ready lightly oil your bowl and put the dough inside, let it proof at room temperature until it doubles or almost doubles and you see some fermentation bubbles at the bottom (Refer to the post to see how you can do a cold retard of this dough)
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When the bulk fermentation is over, lightly flour your counter and divide the dough in as many fougasses as you want (3-4 pieces will have a nice medium-small size). Shape the pieces into dough balls, cover them and let them rest 10 minutes
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Take one dough ball and flatten it with your fingers giving it an oval or semi triangular shape. With your fingertips stretch the dough into a larger piece of about 1cm/0.5in thickness. Use as much flour as needed to avoid the dough from sticking
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Once you have shaped all pieces cover them and let them rest for 10 minutes
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Place the pieces on the trays you will use to bake them and with the narrow side of a bench scraper cut slits into the fougasse pieces and stretch them a little so the cuts don't close while the dough proofs and bakes
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Cover the fougasses and let them proof until you see them getting puffy, then turn on the oven at 425F/220C and finish proofing while the oven preheats. If you want to create some steam place an old metallic tray in the bottom part of the oven
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When the oven is ready brush the pieces with egg wash for a shinier touch (optional) or just spray some water. Bake them for about 30 minutes or until they get a nice golden brown color. If you are creating steam in the oven you can add a cup of boiling water into the tray that has been preheating in the bottom of the oven.
Recipe Notes
*If you are adding wet fillings (like olives) start with the lesser amount of water, if the fillings are dry (like herbs or cheese), add the greater amount of water
*Use just 8g of salt if you’re using very salty/umami fillings like olives, anchovies… otherwise use 10g
Easy brie and olive sourdough rolls
Hello friends! Today I bring my new favorite recipe: brie and olive sourdough rolls! Brie cheese and black olives balance each other perfectly and combine great with the aromas of sourdough. These rolls are pillowy and delicate and can keep fresh for several days.
Brie, olives, and buckwheat flour
Let’s talk a little about brie. It is a French soft cheese made of cow milk. It has a considerable amount of fat, so it melts easily while the rolls are baking and helps soften the structure of the bread. As a result, these brie and olive sourdough rolls turn out unbelievably fluffy and full of flavor.
I like black olives because they’re not as tangy as green or kalamata, and I think the flavor goes great with cheese in general, but brie in particular; however, you can experiment with other types of olives and try other types of cheese if you don’t like or don’t have access to brie. Cheese with at least 25% fat content will work better because the key of these rolls is in the fat melting.
The trick is using a strong enough flour that will hold the dough and all fillings and slightly weaken the gluten with flour that doesn’t have gluten. In this case, I used King Arthur AP flour (it is strong for an all-purpose flour, it has 11.7% of protein), and buckwheat flour. This combination not only gets the gluten where I want it to be, but it also enhances the flavor of the bread so it doesn’t get lost in the cheese and olive aromas. I used this buckwheat flour but I have also tried this one and I liked the results as well.
If you don’t have buckwheat, you can use other flours that have less or none gluten (whole wheat, teff…). Just keep in mind that you might need to change the amount of water on the recipe and the result could be a bit different.
About the dough
This dough isn’t very hydrated, so when it comes to incorporate the olives and the brie you will need to let it rest and stretch it little by little. Make sure you pierce large air pockets that you might catch while stretching the dough. These sourdough rolls shouldn’t have a dramatic open crumb, you should aim for smaller air pockets and pillowy structure.
How to incorporate the brie and olives
An easy way to add the brie and olives is to stretch the dough, add the chunks of cheese and olives and then fold the dough and shape it into a ball. However, when we fold the dough we also trap a lot of air that will affect the structure of our crumb, and thus, the dough doesn’t feel like it has naturally incorporated the fillings. It’d feel like it has layers and the chunks of cheese or olives will come out of the dough easily.
To avoid this you just need to 1) Pierce large air pockets, 2) Knead the dough a little after adding the chunks and let it rest for 10-20 minutes, and 3) Knead again for a couple of minutes. Doing this will help you distribute the filling better and have an elastic dough.
This kneading is not meant to strengthen the gluten, but to help incorporate the ingredients. The gluten should be well developed before we add the fillings.
The fermentation
Sourdough always takes more time to ferment, but if you live in a pretty warm and humid place, pay attention to the dough. Let it ferment until you start seeing signs of fermentation (small bubbles in the bottom, feels puffy, has grown a little…), but don’t wait until it doubles or the gluten can be compromised and you’ll end up with a super sticky dough and flat rolls.
Once it’s clear that there’s activity, deflate the dough a little and put it in the fridge. It can stay there overnight.
Since you’re not going to proof the dough in a banneton, you can keep the dough in the fridge before shaping. Then, once shaped, you won’t need too much time before the rolls go into the oven!
Get your sourdough starter ready
Sourdough can be a bit tricky, but it all boils down to science! If you want to know more about the science of your sourdough starter, check this post where I explain all the phases your starter goes through and how you can apply that knowledge into your baking.
Knowing the science of your starter will help you adapt your baking schedule depending on the weather conditions. This summer is especially challenging here in North Carolina, but understanding the bacterial behavior helped a lot!
Final proof
The final proof is easy and somewhat fast. Take the dough out of the fridge, divide it into 8 equal pieces and shape them into small dough balls.
Let them proof in the tray you’ll use to bake them while you preheat the oven at 400F. No more than 1h should be fine if your starter is healthy and strong.
Before putting them int he oven score the surface of the rolls and off they go! In 20 minutes approx (depends on your oven), you’ll have these delicious brie and olive sourdough rolls!
How to create steam in the oven
Steam is very important when you bake bread, specially rustic style. When I bake loaves, I use my dutch oven and it usually is enough to allow the bread to open up. In this case, I use an old baking tray that I keep in the oven as it preheats, and when I load the rolls I add 1 cup of boiling water into that tray and immediately close the oven door.
Don’t open the door for the first 10 minutes of baking, some of the steam inevitably will scape but it’s better to minimize it.
Guaranteed deliciousness!
Since these sourdough rolls turn out so soft and airy you can use them to make sandwiches, sliders… And worry not! Because they won’t fall apart or crumble when you’re trying to take a bite or spreading butter on it😊
The rolls last fresh several days, but you can put them in a ziplock bag and freeze them once they’ve cooled down. You can keep them frozen for a few weeks.
If you decide to freeze de rolls, take them out of the freezer and let them chill for an hour or so, then bake them at 300F until they’re nice and hot inside. However, if you only need one or two rolls, why would turn the oven on? What I like to do in this case is slice the rolls before freezing them and when I want to make a sandwich, I just pop them in the toaster! It’s faster and your power bill will thank you 😉
Let me know if you make these rolls or any other recipe! I love to see what you bake and what you experiment with. You can use #allyoukneadisbread on Instagram.
You can find me on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest, and you can also subscribe to my Youtube channel.
Other sourdough recipes
If you’re looking for some sourdough inspiration check these other recipes:
Tomato and rosemary sourdough bread
Gorgonzola and apple sourdough bread (video included!)
Sourdough donuts with rose cream filling
Sourdough chocolate banana bread
Happy baking!
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Easy brie and olive sourdough rolls
Fantastic sourdough rolls with a twist. Your new favorite!
Ingredients
- 385 g strong all purpose flour (11.7% protein)
- 65 g buckwheat flour (or similar)
- 70 g active sourdough starter
- 7 g salt
- 80 g black olives (sliced)
- 100 g brie cheese (with or without the rind and cut into 0.5 in/ 1 cm pieces)
- 270 g water (room temperature)
Instructions
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Dissolve the starter in the water and add the flours and salt. Let it rest, covered, 20 minutes
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Add the salt and start kneading. Knead until the dough feels elastic, it's smooth and doesn't stick to your fingers. If you need to let it rest a few minutes, do so.
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After kneading, and once the dough is well developed, let it rest 30-60 minutes in a lightly oiled bowl
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Oil you rcounter lightly, just enough so the dough doesn't stick and carefully try to stretch the dough on the counter into a 18×18 in / 45×45 cm square. It doesn't have to be exact.
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Distribute the olives and cheese evenly and carefully fold the dough and shape it into a ball. Pierce large air pockets that might've been trapped during the process. Let the dough rest 20 minutes.
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Knead the dough a little to make sure the filling is well distributed and has been incorporated into the dough (so they won't come out). If you find it easier do some stretch and folds do so. Just make sure the add-ons don't come out easily.
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Let the dough ferment until it feels puffy, it has grown a little and you see obvious signs of fermentation. Mine, at 74F took about 4 hours. Then carefully deflate the dough and plut it in the fridge over night.
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The next morning turn the oven on at 400F with an empty pan in the bottom rack. If you have a pizza stone, place it in the middle rack and preheat the oven for 30-60 minutes (depends on your oven, if you have a stone etc.)
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While the oven preheats, divide the dough into 8 equal pieces and shape them into balls. You can do a pre-shape and final shape, but since they're not going to proof for long, you might not need to preshape them.
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Place the rolls in the baking tray and once the oven is hot score them with a blade or sharp knife and put the baking tray in the middle rack (or on top of the hot stone if you have one). Add 1 cup of boiling water to the empty tray in the bottom rack and close the oven door immediately.
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Bake the rolls with steam, for at least 10 minutes and another 10 minutes without steam or a few more minutes if they're not golden brown yet.
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Let the rolls cool down for at least 30 minutes to allow the crumb to set, and dig in!
Tomato and rosemary sourdough bread
One of the most typical summer lazy dinners I used to grow with was “Pa amb tomàquet” (or commonly referred to as “pan tumaca”). It translates to “bread and tomato”. It is basically a toast with rubbed tomato and olive oil, I wanted to introduce my husband to this dish and that’s when I had an idea… What if… What if I add the tomato to the dough? And what if I add some other herbs? So I did… And that’s how this tomato and rosemary sourdough bread was born!
The result was amazing! This tomato and rosemary sourdough bread was so flavorful! The ingredients balanced each other perfectly and the loaf turned out super soft. The crumb was very soft and delicate.
Since the hydration is not too high, the dough is lovely to work with. If you’re feeling adventurous, it can be a great bread to practice your scoring!
Here’s the video of how I scored this loaf:
I used my wiremonkey bread lame that you can purchase here.
I love this lame, it’s ergonomic, efficient, easy to work with and allows you a range of movement that you don’t have with other lames. And best of all? It’s a family business that throughout the pandemic has been helping bakers in need. Not to mention that Tyler is also environmentally conscious and doesn’t use plastic on his lames.
If you’re into bread art or are looking for a nice bread lame, consider buying a wiremonkey ufo lame. They’re simply amazing!
The ingredients
For this recipe, I used Roma tomatoes because they are less watery, so if you’re using other types of tomatoes, I’d suggest you either reduce the amount of water on the recipe or drain the tomatoes a little.
I decided to make a paste first with all the ingredients so I blended the tomatoes, olive oil, salt, and rosemary leaves together. But if you prefer, you can leave the leaves out and add them whole.
Tomatoes and health
Did you know tomatoes are rich in lycopene? A red carotenoid that it’s known for its anti-cancer properties and powerful antioxidants. Tomatoes are also rich in potassium and magnesium. In other words, tomatoes rock!
Not only they’re healthy, but some studies have found that adding tomatoes to bread increased dough elasticity. That, along with the olive oil makes the dough LOVELY to work with, and it’s one of the reasons the crumb is so nice and velvety. Ahh Science! 🙂
How to make this tomato and rosemary sourdough bread
If you follow me on Instagram you might know by now that I’m leaning towards kneading my loaves rather than doing just stretch and folds. I don’t laminate my dough unless I’m going to add things to it (olives, nuts, cheese…). I don’t do long autolysis either, especially during summer because the higher temperatures really have an impact on dough strength.
What I do is mixing all the ingredients, I give them a 20-60 minutes rest (it depends on how busy I am or what I’m doing at the moment) and then I knead using the slap and fold method. I knead the dough for a few minutes and then let it rest for a little while. Resting periods are very important as you allow the gluten strands to realign and the dough gets stronger; you can read more about it here.
Kneading is just a way to 1) strengthen the gluten and 2) incorporate air in the dough. So, you can use whatever method you’re comfortable with. Manually or using a stand mixer, as long as you develop the gluten well.
Bulk fermentation
Once you’re sure the gluten is well developed, you can add a coil fold if you want. Then let the dough ferment for a few hours. The temperature in my kitchen ranges from 74-77F these days, so usually I don’t leave any dough out for longer than 6h (start to shaping). That’s why I also prefer kneading vs. not kneading. It allows me to develop the gluten faster and have a nice bulk fermentation in just a few hours.
I don’t wait until the dough doubles in size, I tend to cut the bulk fermentation short. With summer temperature and humidity under fermenting the dough a little helps maintain the gluten structure strong throughout the entire process.
The length of the bulk fermentation depends on how much starter you used, the temperature of your kitchen, the condition of your starter etc. If you want to know more about sourdough growth and sourdough starters click here. You can learn the science of sourdough and how that applies to your sourdough bread.
If you’re a bit new to sourdough and are not sure about what to do, you can check other things to make sure the fermentation is going well. For example, after a few hours of bulk fermenting: does the dough feel puffier? Can you see small bubbles forming in the bottom? Did the dough grow a little or can you even see some larger air pockets on the surface? Does it smell just like flour or can you identify some slightly alcoholic/vinegary smell (similar to the smell of your starter)?
Shaping and cold proofing
Alright, so once you consider that the bulk fermentation is done, you just need to shape the bread and put it in a banneton (proofing basket). If you don’t have one, you can use a bowl and a cotton cloth.
I shaped this loaf into a bule, but you can use whichever shaping method you’re comfortable with. Be gentle, don’t push to much or you could tear the outer layer and the loaf will lose structure. If that happens, you might end up with a pancake after baking!
I have this round banneton, and I really like it. 9 in is enough for a medium-size loaf. I also have this oval banneton, I am very happy with both of them.
The overnight cold-proof was a total of 12h. A cold-proof is not mandatory, but it does come handy when it’s time to score the loaf. Colder loaves are firmer, and the blades cut through the dough much better.
Baking
Ideally, the first 15-20 minutes of baking should be with steam. In a house oven, keeping the steam inside is almost impossible, so I prefer to use a dutch oven that I preheat along with the oven at 450F.
I actually have a double dutch oven, I find that it’s much easier to load the dough without burning yourself if you can set the dutch oven upside down 😉
When I put the loaf in the dutch oven I also add the rosemary stalks. I’m telling you… the stalks end up roasted but the loaf is baked in those aromas and the crust ends up with a nice rosemary kick!.
After baking, try to wait for the bread to cool down to room temperature. It helps to set the crumb and all the aromas. Thanks to the tomato and the oil, the bread will be very soft, and it’ll keep fresh at least a couple of days.
Let me know if you make this loaf! I love to see what you bake and what you experiment with. You can use #allyoukneadisbread on Instagram.
You can find me on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest, and you can also subscribe to my Youtube channel.
Happy baking!!
This post contains affiliate links and any sales made through such links will reward me a small commission – at no extra cost for you – that allows me to keep running this blog.
Tomato and rosemary sourdough bread
An amazing bread, full of flavor and ideal for summer dinners!
Ingredients
- 300 g bread flour
- 150 g water
- 45 g sourdough starter at its peak of activity
- 75 g roma tomatoes
- 20 g extra virgin olive oil
- 6 g salt
- 2 stalks rosemary
Instructions
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Blend the tomatoes, olive oil, salt, and the rosemary leaves together until you have a paste (you don't have to blend the rosemary leaves, you can add them whole or chopped to the dough)
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In a bowl add the flour, make a well in the middle and add the water, the starter, and the tomato paste and combine until there aren't dry flour particles. Let the dough rest 20 minutes (covered)
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Knead the dough until it's elastic and smooth. You can do it manually or with a stand mixer. I'd recommend you let the dough rest 10-20 mins every 5-10 minutes of kneading
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When the dough feels smooth and elastic, lightly oil a bowl and place the dough inside to ferment. You can add a coil fold after 30-45mins if you want. At 74-77F (23-25C), my dough was ready after 5h.
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Turn the dough onto a floured surface and carefully bring the edges toward the center to shape the dough into a ball, flip it upside down cleaning the flour underneath and with your hands, bring the dough ball toward you to create some tension on the outer layer
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Flour a cotton cloth, place it in a proofing basket and put the dough inside. Cover it with the cloth and put the basket in the fridge overnight.
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The next day, preheat your oven at 450F (230C) with a pizza stone or a dutch oven if you have , for at least 30-40 minutes
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When the oven is ready, take your dough out of the fridge, flip it onto a parchment paper, put it in the dutch oven or the pizza stone and score the loaf (make some cuts on the surface). *SEE NOTES
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Put the loaf in the oven and turn the temperature down to 425F / 220 C. Bake the loaf with a lid on (if you're using a dutch oven) or with steam (if you're using a pizza stone or just a baking tray) for 15-20 minutes. Remove the lid and bake the loaf for another 20-30 minutes or until it's golden brown
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Take the dough out of the oven and let it cool down in a rack for at least 1h
Recipe Notes
* I like to put the dough on a thin metallic tray lined with parchment paper and then just slip it into the lid of my double dutch oven.
Sourdough Magdalenas
Hello friends! Today I bring one of my mom’s very best recipes: Magdalenas! But I adapted it to sourdough, it’s a great way to use your discards, #zerowaste people! These sourdough magdalenas are super simple to make. And if you have kids around it’s a great activity to do with them. Especially now, that we need to stay indoors as much as possible.
How do I know this? Because magdalenas are the highlight of my childhood! They’re the thing my mom would bake every time we had a potluck at school, or when we were fuzzy at home because we were bored. My sister and I loved filling the cups and licking the spatula at the end. I have great memories of being in the kitchen making magdalenas!
Magdalenas are the Spanish version of a muffin, but airier. They’re very soft and spongy and not too sweet. My mom never used vanilla extract or anything else to enhance the flavor, and I don’t either. I like to taste the olive oil and the eggs. At most, I add orange zest, but I usually keep it simple.
Magdalenas, the perfect snack
In Spain we eat 5 times a day, aside from breakfast, lunch, and dinner, we also cherish our snacks. So much, that they are considered a meal and even have their own name! One is the “almuerzo” which is the morning snack. And the other (my favorite!) is the “merienda“, which is the afternoon snack. Considering we have pretty late dinners (9-10 pm) a good afternoon or early evening snack sounds like a great idea!
About these sourdough magdalenas
Something that it’s characteristic of magdalenas is their shape. When they grow tall we say they have “copete” and for many people, this is something difficult to achieve. However, I’ve learned that the secret is in letting the batter rest in the fridge before baking. Since the batter is cold, the raising agents (now fully active) can act for a bit longer before the crumb is set, thus giving the madgalenas that final rise.
Letting the batter rest also allows the sourdough ferment. Even though it won’t make the magdalenas sour, some fermentation will increase their nutritional profile and make them easier to digest (The wonders of sourdough, guys!). However, if you don’t have the time, you can bake them right away, the texture won’t change much, you’ll still get delicious magdalenas!
If you’re going to let the dough rest more than 6h, add a little bit more sugar since part of it will be used to neutralize the acids from the sourdough fermentation and won’t contribute to the sweetness of your magdalenas.
The last touch
To get the traditional look of a magdalena, you just need to sprinkle some sugar on top right before baking. It’ll develop a little crust while baking and it’s also a way to decorate the magdalenas.
After baking, let them cool down a little. It’ll help to set the aromas and the structure. And after they cool down you can keep them in an airtight container for a few days.
I did some experiments at home and I tested how the sourdough helped the magdalenas to keep fresh longer. So, I left some outside on the counter overnight (with and without sourdough). The ones with sourdough barely dried out, and overall, they lasted fresh longer than the regular ones.
If you want to know more, check this post where I talk a little about the science behind why sourdough helps in keeping baked goods fresh for longer periods of time.
This recipe yields 18-22 magdalenas (depending on your liners and how much you fill them), but if you want to double or triple it, do so. The recipe is very easy to scale up!
If you don’t have a muffin pan don’t let that stop you! My friends in Bella Cupcake Couture got you covered! Check the post to learn how to bake muffins without a pan or liners!
Let me know if you make these sourdough magdalenas, I’d love to see your creations! You can tag me on instagram or use the hashtag #allyoukneadisbread.
You can find me on Instagram or Facebook and you can also subscribe to my Youtube channel.
Happy baking!
This post contains affiliate links and any sales made through such links will reward me a small commission – at no extra cost for you – that allows me to keep running this blog.
Sourdough Spanish magdalenas
The sourdough version of one of the most typical Spanish muffins
Ingredients
- 300 g cake flour or weak all purpose flour
- 200 g sugar plus more to sprinkle (see notes*)
- 100 g heavy whipping cream
- 100 g olive oil
- 4 eggs see notes**
- 200 g sourdough discards 100% hydration collected throughout a week
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1 tbsp orange zest optional
Instructions
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Whisk the eggs and sugar until fluffy and light in color.
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Add the starter and break down the blob a little (do it manually if you use your stand mixer, or the starter will curl up the whist attachment)
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Add the heavy cream and the oil and whisk everything until it's combined.
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Sift the flour and the baking powder and add the mixture to the wet ingredients in 2 or 3 times to avoid flour flying everywhere.
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Mix the flour just to incorporate it. If you want to let the batter rest, now it's the time. Cover it with film and keep it in the fridge up to 12h. If you don't want to wait, preheat your oven at 350F.
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When the oven is ready, line a cupcake pan and fill the cups about 3/4 of the way full, sprinkle with sugar in the center (about 1/2 tsp or so).
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Bake the magdalenas until they're golden brown and let them rest in the pan for a few minutes.
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Transfer the magdalenas to a cooling rack and let them cool down to room temperature.
Recipe Notes
* Use a weak all-purpose flour, if it has a high protein content mix it 50/50 with cake flour or your magdalenas will turn out a bit dry.
** You can use eggs straight from the fridge, especially if you are going to let the batter rest for a while in the fridge.
Sourdough donuts with rose cream filling
March was the month for enriched dough for the sourdough monthly challenge I participate every month, and I decided to make sourdough donuts. I adapted the recipe I had for yeasted donuts and used this time to play around with flavors.
I wanted to try a different filling, so I made a rose cream using rose water and the result was AMAZING. Not just because rose water makes everything better, also because these donuts were super soft!
I’d love to tell you they keep fresh for several days, the truth is… they’re so good they didn’t make it that long! 😀
If you don’t have or don’t like rose water you can use any other flavoring. Vanilla, almond, lemon, orange blossom… you name it! (Just be careful with the quantities, some flavorings are stronger and you wouldn’t need that much).
And if you want to try rose water but are under quarantine, please please, please… Wait until the quarantine is lifted. As good as these donuts are, nothing is more important than your safety. Donuts can wait, your health is the priority.
About the recipe
This recipe is pretty straightforward. First, you need to mix all wet ingredients except the starter and butter. Add the sugar and dissolve it, and then add the starter and dissolve the blob a little. My starter was at its peak of activity (it had already tripled in size after feeding it).
Now combine flour and salt. I used bread flour but if for whatever reasons you just have all-purpose flour, you probably won’t need all the milk in the recipe. All-purpose flour absorbs less moisture than bread flour, so using all the milk will, most likely, result in a very slack and sticky dough. And this dough is already on the sticky side.
I used soy milk because that’s what I drink, obviously, you can use regular milk. Just make sure you boil it for a few minutes to break down some enzymes that otherwise could make gluten development difficult
Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and combine just enough so you don’t see dry flour particles, cover and let it rest for 30-45 minutes. This autolysis will help the dough to start developing the gluten, hydrate flour particles, and make easier to incorporate the butter. This dough is a bit on the sticky side, so I find this step useful, although is not mandatory.
About the dough
After 30-45 minutes start kneading either by hand or using the paddle attachment of your stand mixer and add the softened butter.
Knead for a few minutes until the butter has been incorporated. If you’re using a stand mixer, you might need to stop several times to scrape the dough off the sides of the bowl or if it rolled up on the paddle attachment.
This dough is a bit sticky, so make sure you knead it well until it’s elastic and it passes the windowpane test. If you don’t see it’s getting more and more elastic stop kneading, cover it and let it rest 10 minutes. Then come back to it and start kneading again.
Sometimes the dough gets tired, the gluten strands start to tangle so much that it’s impossible to develop the gluten network. Letting the dough rest allows the gluten strands to realign and that’s when the magic happens, friends.
You might think your dough is not ready, however, after a few minutes of rest you’ll see how much better it looks and it feels! These rests are crucial when dealing with enriched dough and are also a way to prevent over kneading.
When the dough is ready it should feel very smooth, not too shiny and even dough it will be a bit sticky, it shouldn’t get stuck to your fingers.
Preparing the donuts
Once the dough is ready, let it proof until it doubles in size, but keep its temperature at a maximum of 23C/72F because if it gets too warm it will be very difficult to handle. Not to mention that the butter might melt and leach out of the dough. Patience is key! ( I left my dough fermenting overnight, about 9h, at around 19C/67F).
The next morning punch the dough, degas it well and place it in the fridge for a couple of hours. It’s a sticky dough, cooling it down a little will help you shape the donuts.
After the dough chilled for a while, flour your counter and roll it into a 1cm / 0.5in thickness. Use flour to dust the counter and the top of the dough so it doesn’t get stuck to the rolling pin.
To avoid the donuts from shrinking after cutting them, let the dough rest 15 minutes or so (covered). Then cut one, and if the dough doesn’t shrink you’re good to go, if it does, let it rest a bit longer.
With a round cookie cutter or a glass or whatever you have, cut the donuts. Knead and roll the dough scraps again (let it rest a little if you find it’s difficult to roll it), cut more donuts and continue collecting scraps until you don’t have more dough.
If you have parchment paper, cut small squares, put them on a tray and place the donuts on each square to proof. This will make your life easier when you have to fry them. You won’t have to deal with dough stuck on the tray!
Cover the donuts and let them proof for about 1h at 20/68F Don’t wait for them to double in size or when you fry them they’ll have huge holes inside. They should feel puffy. if your room temperature is higher, they might be ready a bit sooner.
In the meanwhile, you can prepare your filling, either the pastry cream or whatever you prefer. When it’s ready, remember to cover it with plastic wrap touching the surface of the cream so it doesn’t develop a skin.
The last step!
To fry the donuts you can use vegetable oil or other flavorless oil. Vegetable oil is a good choice because it has a higher smoke point. You don’t want your fire alarm to go off like crazy!
The ideal temperature for frying is 180-190C / 360-375F so I’d suggest you use a thermometer. I also used the last dough scraps to test the oil.
Fry the donuts just until they have a nice golden color, flipping them every few seconds. And transfer them to a plate lined with paper towels to absorbs the excess oil.
I transferred mine to the paper towel and quickly coated them with sugar. This is up to you, you can finish your donuts
Let the donuts cool down a little and with a piping bag fill them with the filling you prepare and enjoy!
This recipe yields 6-7 pretty large donuts or 10 regular/smaller donuts.
If you make this recipe, let me know what you think and tag me on your creations! I love to see what you guys do!
You can also follow me on Instagram or Facebook and you can also subscribe to my Youtube channel.
If you have any suggestions or would want me to make some recipes, adapt a yeast-based recipe into a sourdough one, etc, please contact me and I’ll try my best to respond and plan a recipe!
Happy baking!
Sourdough donuts with rose cream filling
These donuts are very soft and full of amazing flavors
Ingredients
Donut dough
- 260 g bread flour
- 110 g soy milk see notes
- 75 g white sourdough starter 100% hydration
- 40 g sugar
- 3 g salt
- 3 egg yolks
- 1 tbsp rose water
- 50 g softened butter
Rose cream filling
- 250 g soy milk
- 2 egg yolks
- 40 g sugar
- 1 1/2 tbsp rose water (to taste)
- 1 1/2 tbsp corn starch
- 3 drops red food coloring
Instructions
Donut dough
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In the bowl of your stand mixer add the milk and suggar anddissolve the sugar
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Add the egg yolks and rose water and combine well
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Add the starter and stir until you break down the blob
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On a different bowl mix the flour and salt
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Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and combine just until you don't see dry flour particles. Cover the bowl and let it rest 30-45 minutes
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After the rest start kneading the dough and when you see it starts getting elastic add the softened butter and knead until the dough passes the windowpane test. Make sure you let the dough rest every few minutes of kneading and before trying the windopane test
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Once the dough is ready, grease a container and put the dough inside. Let it ferment until it doubles in size. In my case it took about 9h at 19C/27F
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After the bulk fermentation, degas the dough well and let it chill for a couple of hours in the fridge
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Take the dough out of the fridge, dust your work surface and the dough and roll it into a 1cm/ 0.5in thickness
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Cut the donuts and roll the scraps as many times necessary until you don't have more dough left
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Place the donuts on small pieces of parchment paper, cover them and let them proof until they're puffy (about 1h)
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Fill a pot with vegetable oil and heat it to 180-190C / 360-375F
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When the donuts are ready and the oil is hot, fry the donuts until they have a nice golden brown color. Flip them in the oil several times so they have even color.
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Transfer the donuts to a paper towel to remove the excess of oil and quickly roll them in sugar so the sugar sticks to the donut
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Let the donuts cool down a few minutes and with a piping bag fill them with your favorite filling!
Rose cream
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Put the milk in a saucepan and bring to a low boil
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In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks, sift the starch, add the sugar, the coloring, and the rose water and whisk again
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Pour a little bit of milk on the bowl (about 1/3 or 1/4 of the milk) with the yolks mixture and quickly stir so you don't cook the eggs
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Pour the egg batter into the saucepan and whisk it all together until is homogeneous
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Heat the mixture at low heat and don't stop stirring. It will thicken
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Once the cream is thick enough transfer it to a bowl and cover it with plastic wrap. Make sure the wrat touches the cream so it won't develop a skin.
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Let the cream cool down to room temperature before filling the donuts
Recipe Notes
I use soy milk because that’s what I normally use. You can substitute it for regular milk but make sure you boil the milk a few minutes before using it in the dough. That way you will break down the enzymes that could hinder gluten development.