Mexican Bolillos Crusty Oval Rolls Recipes

MEXICAN BOLILLOS: CRUSTY ROLLS

Steps:

• FOR THE STARTER: The night before baking, place yeast and water in a small bowl, mix well and add the flour. Mix again. You don't need to knead here. Cover with a plastic wrap and let sit on your kitchen counter top all night or at least 8 hours. Making this starter will increase the flavor of your bread. The next morning the starter will have a larger volume and will have formed lots of bubbles.
• BAKING DAY. In a large bowl or your heavy-duty mixer, place the starter, flour, salt, yeast and melted shortening. Start kneading the dough, adding the warm water slowly right at the beginning of the kneading process. IMPORTANT: If you live in a very humid place, you will need to reduce the amount of water by about 2 tablespoons less than indicated. If using a mixer, knead for 7 minutes on speed 2; if kneading by hand, knead the dough for about 15 minutes. The dough will separate from your mixing bowl like it shows in the above picture while kneading.
• Remove dough from the bowl and place on your working surface to form a ball. It should look soft but still a little rough.
• Grease a large bowl with shortening, oil or PAM spray. Place the dough and turn it all over to make sure all sides are covered with a coating of the grease. Cover with a plastic wrap and let it rest in a warm place for 2 to 3 hours or until the dough has doubled in volume. If you live in a warm and humid weather this step will take less time.
• After the dough has doubled in volume, gently push your fist in to deflate it. Divide the dough into 10 pieces. (About 110 grams each). Place the pieces of dough into your slightly greased working surface and cover with a greased plastic wrap and let them rest for 15 minutes to allow the gluten to develop and help to shape your bollillos/rolls easier.
• To form the bolillos-rolls, dust your work surface with flour very lightly, flatten one piece of dough with the palm of your hand and fold 1/3 of the dough towards you and press down with your fingers, sealing it very well. Fold the dough again, repeating the sealing process until you form a roll, pinching the dough tightly. Make sure all the ends are sealed.
• To shape the rolls, place your hands over the dough and press gently but firmly, cupping your fingers, rolling back and forth. While doing this, press the heel of your hands to leave some dough uncovered to form the traditional bolillo ears.
• Place each bolillo/roll seam side down on the greased baking sheet and cover with a greased plastic. Allow them to rise until they've doubled in volume. About 1 and 1/2 hour.
• At least 20 minutes before the end of the rising period, turn on your oven at 450 degrees F. Place the metallic pan for the water on the oven floor.
• Once the rolls have doubled in volume, and just before placing them inside the oven, make a deep cut using a sharp serrated knife or a razor blade, holding your hand at a 45-degree angle.
• Spray the rolls with warm water, place them in a preheated oven and add 1 1/2 cup of cold water to the metallic tray you placed on the oven floor. The steam will create that beautiful thin and crunchy crust. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until they are golden, remove form the oven, and let them cool on a wire rack.

BOLILLOS - MEXICAN OVAL ROLLS RECIPE - (4.3/5)

Steps:

• Equipment needed/recommended: The Dough Improver is a product that I buy from King Arthur Flour. I find that it really helps to improve the texture of my bread rolls, but this is not necessary for this recipe. I also recommend a higher gluten flour and I use King Arthur Unbleached Flour Parchment paper is helpful Baking sheets Cooling rack pastry brush I use a Kitchen Aid Stand-Mixer with a dough hook. You can do this with a bread machine, except for shaping the rolls, or mix and knead this by hand. Sprinkle yeast over the warm water in large mixer bowl, add the honey; stir to mix. Let stand 5 minutes. Add the melted and cooled and salt into yeast mixture; add 2 1/2 cups flour. Mix at low speed; then beat at medium speed until very elastic, about 5 minutes. Gradually stir in as much of the remaining flour needed to make soft dough, 1/2 to 1 cup. NOTE: I added a tablespoon at a time, and used about 8 more tablespoons. You want the dough to come together enough that it"cleans"the bowl as the dough hook kneads it (5-8 minutes). If you are using your hands, add just enough flour to prevent sticking, until dough is smooth and elastic. Place the dough in a greased bowl; turn dough over to grease the top. Let rise, covered, in a warm place until doubled-about an hour. Likewise, I turn on my oven toWARMfor 3 minutes, then turn it off. Punch down dough (actually, I gently press it down); knead briefly on floured surface. Let rest 10 minutes. Divide dough into 6-8 equal pieces; roll each piece into ball on floured sur­face with palm of hand. Starting at center and work­ing toward opposite ends, roll each ball on floured surface with the palms of hands into oval tapered at both ends-about 5-6"long. Place, evenly spaced, on 2 parchment paper covered baking sheets (or greased); let rise, loosely covered, until almost doubled, about 25 minutes. Meanwhile, heat oven to 375°F. Mix cold water and cornstarch in small sauce­pan. Heat over high heat, stirring constantly, to boiling; boil until thickened and clear, about 2 minutes. Brush risen rolls with warm cornstarch mixture. Slash each roll lengthwise with razor blade or sharp, thin knife to 1/2 inch from each end, cutting about 1/2 inch deep. Bake until rolls are golden brown and sound hollow when tapped, 30 to 35 min­utes. Remove from baking sheets; cool on wire racks. Depending on the size, this recipe makes between 6-8 rolls