Onion and sage baps

I happened upon an episode of Hairy Bikers, and two of the recipes they made that day appealed to me:  parsnip and apple soup, and these savory rolls.  It's been rainy for days, and one of my new year's resolutions is to cook more.  At the time I was cooking, I did not know there were written recipes available, so I was going off the video of the episode.  They weren't entirely clear in the video of everything they were doing, but nothing left unclear was terribly critical.  Maybe.  (See asterisk.)

The baps they made had seemed rather small (and didn't use a full loaf's worth of flour), so I made the full recipe, which actually resulted in 8 fairly good-sized, though quite fluffy rolls.  My only known deviations from their recipe was the flour and adding cheese.  Here's what I used:

150ml (0.6 cup) milk
150ml (0.6 cup) water
1½ teaspoon rapid rise yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
400g (2½ cups) bread flour
200g high-protein white whole wheat flour
200g high-protein AP flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter*
1 tablespoon oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, grated or crushed
approximately 12 large sage leaves, finely chopped*
large pinch of black pepper
approximately 1 cup grated pecorino Romano cheese

Heat the milk and water until quite warm; use about 1/4 cup to proof the yeast and sugar.  Once proved, add the remainder of  the liquid, along with the yeast mixture, to the flour and salt.  Knead for about 10 minutes, until smooth and elastic.  Form into a ball; place in a greased bowl and allow to rise, covered, until doubled-- about 1 - 1½ hours.  Meanwhile, heat the butter and oil in a medium frying pan; add the onion and garlic and sweat over low heat for 10 minutes until soft and transparent, but not browned.  Add the sage and pepper and cook for another 2 - 3 minutes.  Set aside to cool.

Punch down the dough; remove from the bowl and flatten out on work surface.  Spread the onion mixture (and cheese, if using) over the dough, then roll up so all the filling is contained.  Knead the filling into the dough until it is evenly distributed, sprinkling with flour where it becomes too wet.  Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces; roll each into a ball.  Arrange the dough balls in a greased baking sheet in a circle with one in the middle and edges touching.  Cover lightly with oiled plastic film and allow to rise until doubled, about 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 375F (to 400F).  Before baking, brush each roll lightly with milk, then top with a single, small sage leaf.  Bake for about 20 minutes.  Move to a rack to cool.

*Their written recipe calls for "1/2 ounce" of butter (1 tablespoon - I'm sure they used more on the show) and "15 - 20 sage leaves" (probably what I should have used, given the size of my leaves.)

They mixed their dry yeast, salt, sugar, and flour all together, then added the warm liquid.  I decided to proof my yeast first, since I was using less.  The butter and oil measurements weren't given; their pan of onion was liberally oily, but I didn't know the ratio of butter and oil, so I estimated.  (I assume just a small amount of oil is present to prevent the butter from browning.)  The yeast was given as "1 sachet", which is presumably 2¼ teaspoons, though I chose to use a little less.  Their sage leaves were quite large and I suspect I didn't use nearly as much.  They probably had at least 1/3 cup of chopped sage, if not 1/2 cup.  (It was certainly a manly handful.)  I noticed their rolls had probably twice as much green speckled throughout as mine did.  Their oven instructions were for "190C to 200C" (375F - 400F).  I've never seen a recipe with a range for the oven temperature, and both of these are higher than I normally see in a bread recipe.  I don't know why they didn't provide a single temperature.  (He probably couldn't remember the correct temperature at the moment of filming.  The written recipe indicates 200C, which I think would have been better than 190C.)  My oven does not maintain a stable temperature; it was 400F when I was ready to bake, but I tried to cool it down a bit after putting the rolls in and then worked to keep it at 375F.  They looked done at 20 minutes, so I took them out.

I had concerns about the baps being too salty with added cheese, (I used salted butter with the onions, and the dough already tasted a bit salty), but in the end they were okay.  Salty, yes, but not too bad for a savory roll.  (If I used more cheese, I would cut down on the salt elsewhere.)

Conclusion:  Easy enough to make, but I wasn't thrilled with the result.  Surprisingly, they were a bit bland and tasted a little floury.  Something gave them a slightly bitter taste, perhaps the whole wheat flour or the cheese.  They also could have used just another minute or two in the oven-- baking at 400F likely would have been perfect.

Recipe:  sage and onion tear and share bread via Hairy Bikers (season 1, episode 2 of Best of British)

Irish Oatmeal Muffins

(I seem to have misplaced my photos.  It's just an oatmeal muffin-- nothing too sexy about it.)

Following on from this post for oatmeal muffins a few years ago where I discussed my search for the perfect oatmeal muffin, I'm trying another recipe, one that I've tried before but didn't say much about at the time.  That probably means I thought it was just okay, acceptable. (I've also made these banana oatmeal muffins, which I liked better.)  I've made some small adjustments this time:  I used regular milk, but changed up the sweetening to add molasses (which provides the acid necessary to react with the baking soda.  For good measure, I squeezed in about a teaspoon or more of lemon juice, since I already had a sliced lemon handy.)  I also added just over a 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg.  

The original recipe claims to make two dozen muffins; I made a note previously that 18 was a better quantity.  I cut the recipe in half this time and it filled nine standard muffin cups to the top.  Here's what I used:

1 cup buttermilk whole milk, plus juice from 2 small lemon slices
1/2 cup rolled (old fashioned) oats
1 egg
3/8 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons dark molasses
1/2 + 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 tablespoon oil

Combine the milk and oats at least six hours (preferably overnight) before mixing and baking the muffins. Stir well, cover, and let rest in the refrigerator.

Preheat the oven to 400F; grease the muffin tins. Beat the egg in a mixing bowl just until yolk and white are blended. Add the sugar and molasses and beat until smooth and well blended. Add the milk-oatmeal mixture, then the flour, baking soda, salt, and oil. Beat until the batter is well mixed. Fill the muffin tins almost to the rim. (The oats settle to the bottom of the bowl, so be sure to scoop them up with a spoon or ladle rather than pouring the batter into the tins.)  They usually bake about 20 minutes, but start testing for doneness after 15 minutes. Remove from the tins and cool on racks or serve hot.

This batter was very thin, liquid.  Nonetheless, it baked up fine.  (The oats and whole wheat probably soak up the excess moisture.)  The skewer came out clean at 15 minutes, but the center of the tops still looked a little glossy, so I gave them another 2 minutes.

The flavor was good, but not very interesting.  They needed something, either more spice (like a spice muffin -- the nutmeg wasn't noticeable) or a crunchy streusel topping.  The texture was extremely light and fluffy, like cake, probably from all that milk; I prefer something more dense and solid in a muffin.  (Maybe the amount of milk could be cut a tad.)  They were especially delicate while still warm, although they firmed up after cooling.  Because they were so delicate, they didn't come out of the pans nicely.  I probably would need to let them cool longer before trying to remove them, but then there's the risk of the edges firming to the point that they stick.  Perhaps the happy medium is to run a knife around the sides after they've cooled a few minutes, then letting them firm up more before trying to remove them.

Conclusion:  Nice, but I'm not inclined to make them again.  Mostly, they're not a texture I like in muffins, being far too delicate and soft.  Also, they're not so much a muffin to be eaten plain, but should have butter and jam.

Recipe:  Irish Oatmeal Muffins via The Breakfast Book by Marion Cunningham