We have Orange Cakes and why not Orange Bread. So I took one of my favourite Dinner Rolls recipes and modified it, removing the liquid from the original recipe and adding orange juice and orange zest to it. As a result I had the same softness and fluffiness as those Dinner Rolls. What deferred was that the buns smell of oranges with a slight tangy taste. I have reduced sugar so these buns would taste even better with a spread of marmalade.
Ingredients:
- 3 g instant yeast
- 65 g warm whole milk
- 10 g sugar
- Zest of 2 oranges - about 2 tbsp
- 100 g orange juice
- 325 g bread flour
- 20 g sugar
- 3 g salt
- 1 egg - about 60 g without shell
- 30 g butter
- Egg wash - 1 egg + 1 tbsp milk
Method:
- Activate the yeast. Dissolve sugar in warm milk. Add yeast to it. Stir. Let the mixture stand until the yeast begins to foam.
- Grate the orange skin. Be careful not to grate the inner white part (known as Albedo) of the skin as this will cause bitterness. Set aside the grated zest.
- Juice the orange. Take the orange and roll it against a hard surface to soften it slightly. This helps to break the membranes that contain the juice and makes squeezing easier. Squeeze as much juice as possible from the orange. Set it aside.
- Add bread flour, sugar, salt, and egg to a mixing bowl.
- Add yeast solution to the mixing bowl.
- Mix the ingredients till they become incorporated and a dough ball is formed. Let the dough ball rest for about 30 minutes for the gluten to form.
- Add butter to the dough and continue to knead to incorporate the butter into the dough. Knead till window pane is achieved.
- Add the orange zest to the dough. Knead to incorporate it. Do not over knead so as not to break up the zest too much. (We would like to see strips of zest in the buns.)
- Oil a clean bowl.
- Put the dough into the bowl and roll the dough so that it is covered with the oil.
- Let the dough proof for 30 minutes to1 hour (depending on the temperature of your kitchen) or till it has doubled in size.
- Transfer the dough onto a lightly floured surface.
- Flatten the dough to de-gas.
- Cut the ball into 12 pieces of about 60 g each.
- Roll each piece of dough into a ball and place it on a greased baking tray.
Or
- Roll out the ball into a rectangle, the length of which will be the length of the loaf pan (8 inch x 4 inch x 4 inch).
- Roll it up, seal the edges by pinching them together and place it, seam-side down, into the loaf pan.
- Cover the dough and let it proof for about 30 minutes or till double in size.
- Egg wash the dough.
- Bake in pre-heated oven at 170 degree C for about 15 minutes .
- When done, remove the buns from the baking tray to a metal rack and let them cool down.