Bread Primer: All-Purpose Enriched Dough

I think of this standard enriched dough as one of the great workhorse doughs of my bread baking repertoire, and I think most pastry chefs and bakers would agree. Having a good, foolproof, enriched dough recipe can be a saviour in a busy kitchen, when you want something that is richer, more tender, butterier than a standard straight dough, but still be robust enough to hold a good quantity of sweet or savory fillings without collapsing under the weight of additions, while also not retarding the yeast activity with too much butter or sugar in the main dough. Specially in this festive season when you want to be able to rustle up buns, swirls, plaited wreaths and simple crowns without having to re-learn a new enriched formula every time, having a single go-to dough can make the difference between getting something special in the oven or cant-be-bothered-to-bake.

I’ve been developing this particular all-purpose enriched dough for the past 6-7 years at least, and I really feel it ticks all the boxes. Not as enriched as a brioche or panettone but still tender enough to fluff up, and buttery enough on the palate to give it a high-tea style, tender textured crumb.

For me the addition of diastatic malt, combined with the delayed fermentation of a slow rise in the fridge, has been the key to getting this dough to prove light and airy; the diastatic malt ensures that the wee yeasty beasties will have enough food so the dough will not be ‘tired’ after the long overnight prove and collapse in the oven. The addition of milk powder and potato starch further softens the crumb without having to add more butter, making this dough easier to handle for a beginner baker unused to the skills required in handling a highly enriched dough.

Follow the instructions and you really can’t go too wrong with this formula. After the first bulk prove in the fridge the dough can be used to make Kanelbullar ( swedish cinnamon buns), Chelsea buns, cuoronnes, and any type of sweet or savoury plaited wreath or loaf breads you’d want to play with.

Recipe and Instructions for Daki’s All-Purpose Enriched Dough:

* I like to start this dough the night before I intend to use it. Think bullar dough ready for breakfast baking when you wake on a cold winter’s morning. This recipe can be doubled.

* I use an osmotolerant yeast like SAF gold which gives better results                                                                    on enriched doughs, but standard instant yeast will work too.

250g Strong bread flour (UK)/ All Purpose flour (US)

15g Milk Powder

15g Potato Starch

1 tsp/5g Instant Yeast (US)/ Fast Action (UK)

5g diastatic malt powder

75g whole milk

75g water

5g salt

50 g butter, softened, cut into cubes

1. Combine the flour, milk powder, potato starch, yeast, sugar and diastatic malt together in your dough mixing bowl.

2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk, water and salt together

3. Pour the wet ingredients into the flour mix and bring together to the shaggy stage with your dough whisk or hands.

4. Leave covered, at room temp, with a tea towel to autolyse, or allowing the flour to hydrate, for about 30 mins

5. If you’re using your kitchenaid style mixer with dough hook transfer the bowl onto the mixer at this stage; add in the softened butter and knead the dough for about 7 mins, until the dough leaves the sides of the bowl, is no longer sticky, but is still soft, supple, and ever so slightly tacky to the touch.

6. Transfer onto a lightly floured work bench, knead to bring into a smooth boulé shape, pop the dough into a lightly oiled bowl for proving, cover.

7. At this stage you can leave the dough at room temp, for a faster bulk fermentation of about 2 hours, or what i prefer is to pop the covered dough into the fridge; the delayed fermentation not only leads to a much better texture and flavour in the final loaf, but it also makes it easier to handle the next day for shaping into more complicated forms.

8. The next day, take the dough out of the fridge about 1.5 hours before you intend on putting it into the oven. Use the dough to make cinnamon swirls, iced buns, Chelsea buns, wreath and plaited breads of your choice.