Sourdough Sandwich Buns…the easiest sourdough project.

Where is the dough recipe? You will use the Do-it-All Dough to make these Sourdough Sandwich Buns. Here is a link to the Dough Recipe https://www.thestrengthkitchen.com/kitchen/the-do-it-all-dough-for-sourdough-bread However, watch the video and read through this first, so you know how much dough to make. This recipe picks up at the end of Bulk Fermentation. Read over everything below, before you start your dough. 

Phase 4: Shaping

This is like Shaping a Round, just smaller. The one small difference will be how we introduce a little more tension. Let’s talk about scaling the recipe. Scaling the recipe will help you understand how much dough to make using the Do-it-all Dough. This information on scaling will also help you understand how to scale a Pizza Dough Recipe, as it is very similar. There is a whole course dedicated to Pizza, so this will be familiar when you get there. 

***Sandwich Buns only need to Bulk Ferment for 2-4 hours. There is no need to have the dough double in volume, you are just losing time.  They can go for a long Final Proofing to fully develop/ferment.***

A 500g dough recipe will make four Sandwich Buns. Here we go with math being useful again. We are doing a word problem.

Remember that when I refer to a 500g batch that I am purely referring to the flour weight. If there are 500g of flour in the recipe, how many grams of flour are in each Sandwich Bun? 

125g of flour weight will make 1 Sandwich Bun. 

For planning the number of buns you want to make, plan for 125g of flour for each bun. For example you want to make 6 Sandwich Buns. 

125g * 6 Buns = 750g total Flour weight. 

The next logical question is going to be: How big will the Buns be? 

Let’s say that we want to make 4 Sandwich Buns. Here is the recipe using 75% hydration:

500g Flour (100%)

375g Water (75% of the flour)

100g Starter (20% of the flour)

10g Salt (2% of the flour)

This is our standard Do-it-All Dough. What happens if we add up all of the ingredients? We would have a total of 985g of dough. 

985g Dough / 4 Buns = 246g of Dough per Dough Ball. 

This is a good size to make a Sandwich that will be a meal. It is also an excellent size for shaping a 10” “personal” pizza;)

But, let’s be honest; some dough will get lost along the way, maybe on the bowl after Mixing, or some during Stretching. It won’t be much but maybe you lose 20g of dough along the process. Even after you unload the dough to your work surface after Bulk Fermentation; some crusty dough might be left behind in the bowl. Our original math above gives us a reference point. 

I like to know the weight of the bowl that I am working my dough in. My 5qt bowl weighs 600g. My 8qt bowl weighs 900g. When I want to know what weight to divide my dough into during the Shaping process, I weigh the bowl with the dough in it and then subtract the bowl weight. 

Total Dough and Bowl weight 1585 - Bowl weight 600 = Dough weight 965 (theoretical 20g loss of dough to tools and hands;)

Dough Weight 965g / 4 Buns = 241g per portion

Now when we get to shaping we can portion our dough into a weight that is going to be more on target. If we work from the original math you will get the first three portioned correctly and then you will have a very light fourth. So, what? It might not sound like a big deal, but it is a pain to have to re-adjust each portion. In the case of pizza this would be bad; the more adjustments you make the more “scar tissue” you create inside the dough ball. This makes stretching pizza more difficult and results in a less consistent thickness. Thin spots become more likely, which can result in tares; and then loading the pizza becomes more difficult.  So, consider this an investment in your pizza making skills. 

Let’s recap:

Recipe for 4 Sandwich Buns

Do-it-All Dough 

500g Bread Flour (100%)

375g Water (75%)

100g Starter (20%)

10g Salt (2%)

Total Dough and Bowl weight at the end of Bulk Fermentation 1585g

Bowl weight 600g

1565g - 600g = 985g of Dough

985g / 4 Buns = 246g of Dough per Bun

There are a couple of strategies to minimize dough loss during the dough making process. The first option is to increase your recipe size by 25-50g. Instead of using 500g of flour weight, go up to 525g or 550g. Work your percentages off of this number and you will have a little cushion. Alternatively, you can make a double batch of dough. After you have portioned your dough for the buns, you can use the remaining dough to make an Oval, Round, or Sandwich Bread. 

A quick note on hydration. 75% hydration is a really comfortable hydration level for me. It produces a dough that is not too dry and not too sticky. This works for me. If you are more comfortable working with a 70% or 65% hydration level, stick with what you are comfortable with. We are all working with different environmental factors, water, flour, and skillset. If you do use a lower or higher hydration be aware that the total dough weight will not be the same as what I have outlined and you will need to increase the batch size slightly to be able to yield enough dough to make a proper size Sandwich Bun. If you use 500g of flour at 70% instead of 75% hydration you are going to be missing 25g of water weight. You just reduced your bun size by 6g. This doesn’t sound like much, but it can compound with some dough loss during processing. If you are using a lower hydration dough, I recommend increasing the flour weight to compensate and then work all of your percentages off of that weight. 525g at 60% -70% hydration will be about the right adjustment.  

Let’s get to Dividing and Shaping

Your dough should be full of air. It should have expanded in volume during bulk fermentation. It will feel delicate. 

The surface of your dough should look smooth. This is going to be the presentation side of the dough/bread. Your goal is to keep it looking this smooth as we shape the dough. 

Sprinkle a somewhat generous amount of bread flour on the surface of the dough in the bowl. Spread the flour over the whole surface of the dough all the way to the edges of the bowl. Do Not flour your work surface. In the shaping process we want to create tension. If you over flour your work surface it will be difficult to get the dough to stick to itself. When you can get the dough to stick to itself, it causes it to pull on itself and develop more elasticity and air as it is Final proofing. 

Tip the bowl on a 45-ish degree angle and use gravity to release the dough from the bowl. Your goal is to keep it in its current shape. Do Not rip the dough from the bowl. Use your fingertips, or a plastic bowl scraper, to help release the dough from the bowl. Rotate the bowl as it starts to pull away from the sides. Work your way around the bowl gently releasing it onto your work surface. Yes, the dough is going presentation-side down on the work surface. What was the bottom-side of the dough in the bowl is now facing up, its surface should remain unfloured and look sticky.

Use a Bench Knife/Scraper to cut the large round portion of dough into equal halves. Eyeball it the best you can. Now cut each of the halves in half. You have now quartered the dough into four rough portions. Be sure to keep the floured side (Presentation-side) down on the work surface. 

Zero out your scale and weigh one of the “quarters” of the dough. Hopefully, you are close to your 246g target. It doesn’t have to be “spot-on”. Weigh each portion. If they are in the ballpark, set them off to the side. If there is a bigger one and a smaller one, cut a piece of dough off the bigger one and add it to the smaller one. Adjust each potion as needed. But remember they don’t have to be perfect, just in the neighborhood of each other. 

Now you have four square-ish shaped portions of dough. There will be some rough corners. 

Bring the most obvious corner to the middle of the dough ball. Gather another corner or edge to the middle. 

Bring all of the edges and corners to the middle and bundle them together like a little cloth sack. Pinch these corners and edges together. Flip the rough shaped dough ball over onto its seam-side down and set it aside on your work surface. Go through all of the portions and roughly bundle them into dough balls. 

After you have bundled the portions into roughly shaped dough balls, start with the first ones and begin to ball them tighter and build some tension.

To do this you will bring a dough ball in front of you. Keep it seam-side down. Cup your hands around the ball. Use the pinky edges of your fingers and hands to circle the ball in a counter-clockwise motion (right handed). You are keeping the half moon shape in each of your hands and moving the dough in a circular motion. As you make compact circles, stay in exactly one spot. Apply some gentle downward pressure. You are trying to get the dough to gather underneath the dough ball and bring tension into the surface. Be gentle. It will only take 7-10 circles to get it to tighten up. 

This is actually very similar to what you do when you do the Stretch & Fold. 

If you go too far the surface will tear open. Avoid going to that extreme. We are just looking to build tension and seal the bottom. You WILL lose some air from the dough, so don’t worry when you feel and hear some air pockets bursting. The long Final Proof/Rise will restore the air in the crumb. Building the tension will help the Buns stand up taller as they Final Proof/Rise. 

The dough has had a somewhat short Bulk Fermentation so we can have more time for this Final Proof/Rise which will allow us to develop big pillowy Sandwich Buns. Once the portion is tightly ball, place it on a parchment lined Half sheet tray. Do the next ball and land it on the tray. Leave plenty of space between each dough ball. They are going to get quite large;)

Sandwich Buns Phase 5: Final Proofing

Once the dough balls are shaped and organized on the tray, all you need to do is wait for them to expand. They will double in size (or more depending on how long you go) and they will expand to fill in all of the gaps between each ball of dough. This may take 2-6 hours depending on your environment, and how tightly you “balled” them. I Final Proof my Sandwich Buns in the oven with the oven OFF. I also put a piece of masking tape across the controls to remind everyone in the house, NOT to turn the oven on. The oven provides an environment where the Buns will not dry out while they are in this phase of Final Proofing/Rising. Final Proofing is really just a phase of expansion. These Buns should more than double in size. In my experience they get off to a slow start and then really get going at the point where you think “maybe it’s too cold.” or “what’s taking so long?”

Be patient. It’s Sourdough. 

If you are running out of time and you need to speed up the Final Proofing, here is a strategy:Fill a 8-10” saute pan with 1” of water and bring it to a boil. Place it at the bottom of the oven to create a warmer humid environment. Turn on the oven light. This works nicely. I usually turn the light off after an hour. The oven light creates a good amount of warmth. Experiment and see how your oven behaves. 

Sandwich Buns Phase 6: Baking

If you are Final Proofing your Buns in the oven, and you only have one oven, remove the buns from the oven. Preheat the oven to 425 F, with the oven rack in the middle of the oven. Bake the Buns for 20 minutes at 425 F. Rotate the tray 180 degrees and continue baking for another 10 minutes. At this point they are done. Place the tray of buns on a cooling rack until it’s time to build some Sandwiches. They must cool for a minimum of 1 hour. If you cut into them before an hour they will release all of the steam that is trapped inside and they will completely dry out. You can even make these a day in advance and they will be great the next day, as long as they remain uncut. The crust protects the crumb very well. If they are cut in half and toasted the next day, they will be great. If you are using them the same day, cool for at least 1 hour and then cut them in half to build whatever sandwiches you are making. I tend to bake mine 2-3 hours prior to using them. They are completely cooled by the time I need them. I usually cut them in halves and toast them crumb-side up in the oven on a sheet tray at 400 degrees. Use them however you like. I think of these as a Dinner size bun. They make the Sandwich, a meal. I think they are a bit too big for a burger, unless it is a 8-10oz patty, but they are excellent for a B.L.T.A.; or a sandwich with Smoked Brisket, Slow Braised Short Ribs, Smoked Pork Shoulder, or Grilled Chicken. You can use your imagination, but at the end of the day this is a light fluffy Sandwich Bun that is easy to eat due to its thin crust. It is a great vehicle for any protein and flavor profile you like.