Jan 8, 2010

Buttermilk Cluster

These soft dinner rolls are based on a popular recipe on the baking website TheFreshLoaf.com.

Credit: Andr� Baranowski

SERVES 12

INGREDIENTS:

¼ oz. active dry yeast
½ tsp. sugar
1¾ cups buttermilk
1 tbsp. honey
5 cups flour
1½ tsp. kosher salt
Unsalted butter, for greasing
1 egg
2 tbsp. sesame seeds

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine yeast, sugar, and ¼ cup water heated to 115°; let sit until foamy, about 10 minutes. Whisk in buttermilk and honey; add flour and salt. Mix on medium-low speed until dough forms a ball and pulls away from the side of the bowl, 6�8 minutes. (Sprinkle in a little water if dough seems dry.) Cover bowl with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm place to let dough rise until doubled in size, about 2 hours.

2. Heat oven to 400˚. Grease a 9" round springform pan with butter. Uncover dough; divide into 12 portions. Roll each dough piece into a ball; transfer ball to pan; repeat with remaining dough. Cover pan with plastic wrap and set aside to let dough rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour. In a small bowl, whisk together egg and 1 tsp. water. Uncover dough and brush egg mixture over the top; sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake until golden brown and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of dough registers 190°, about 35 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool for at least 15 minutes before serving.

This article was first published in Saveur in Issue #126

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Ratings & Reviews (7)

by mbuenzli on 2010-01-09

I was terribly disappointed the results of this recipe! Described as "soft dinner rolls" but soft is one thing, doughy is another. This was doughy. I removed the bread from the oven when the thermometer read 190F at 35 minutes. The top of the bread was hard and nearly over browned but the interior was still underdone. A worse fault is the flavor. There isn't any. While baking my husband kept saying "why can't I smell bread baking?" and it's true, there was hardly any yeasty "bread" fragrance and the finished product is also missing in that delicious yeasty flavor and aroma. Might as well have just gone to the store and bought flavorless doughy rolls and saved my time.

by dstroy on 2010-01-22

CORRECTION! The recipe featured here appears to have a typo! The original recipe featured on TheFreshLoaf.com calls for 6 to 6 1/2 cups (750 grams) bread or all-purpose unbleached flour, whereas here it is listed as only 5.

Please see: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/recipes/buttermilkcluster

by ejm on 2010-01-22

I too am surprised by mbuenzli's review; all the reviews on the FreshLoaf say the complete opposite. I examined both versions to see that SAVEUR calls for 5 cups flour rather than the 6 � 6� cups flour on the Freshloaf recipe. I made the bread the other day using 6 cups flour and no sugar as per the Freshloaf recipe. Otherwise, it is the same as SAVEUR's. I had to add a LOT of extra liquid. It's my feeling that 5 cups flour is correct. I'm guessing that mbuenzli may have proofed the dough in too warm an area AND that the thermometer wasn't inserted into the center of the bread when checking for doneness. This bread is lovely to look at with good flavour; I'll definitely make it again.

by paranoidtourist on 2010-01-22

These were absolutely the best dinner rolls that I have ever had or made... and I've made quite a few. They were flavorful and delicious. I made it per the instructions in Saveur magazine without problems. Relying on the measurements in the recipe for any bread recipe is like getting directions from one place to another using animals as landmarks; you'll get somewhere, but probably not where you had in mind. I stopped adding flour short of the 5 cups indicated and saw that it needed more (I was using a stand mixer), so I added more until the dough just began to pull away from the side of the bowl. Did I hit 6 cups? I doubt it, I'm sure I used less.

by kerrlm on 2010-02-25

I have made this twice. It is gorgeous in looks, but lacking in flavor.

by katyc6718 on 2010-03-07

I agree with the first reviewer here. I had to scrap my first attempt at making this bread because the recipe was worded so terribly (and I'm relatively new to baking, so I may have interpreted some things wrong). I ended up using about 4.5 cups of flour. The flavor was a little disappointing. My biggest problem here though is that the recipe is not specific enough and it tells you to preheat the oven to 400 and then while the oven is on the bread is rising for ONE HOUR. I don't think so... This was the first recipe I tried from my first issue of Saveur and I am not pleased that it was inaccurate and not very tasty. :(

by NTPULLIAM on 2012-12-04

Very disappointing. Yeast flavor is lacking. As an earlier reviewer posted, looks pretty, but has no character. The dough was stiff enough and if you add an additional 1 - 1 1/2 cups of flour, it would be even more tasteless and defy even the toughest KA's dough hook. I concur with mbuenzli's review entirely.

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