French Hard Buns

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/blog/tag/sandwich/

An uncle from France came to visit us recently. He arrived with his French wife at the Melaka Sentral. They reached the Melaka land transport hub by bus after they landed at the Changi Airport via a flight from Jakarta.

They taught us how to greet in French.

From their visit, we attempt to make the French Hard Buns.

First, we have got to get ready the following,

500 g of plain flour.

1 tablespoon of instant yeast.

1 tablespoon of salf.

½ tablespoon of bread improver.

And 300 ml of filtered water. As for the topping, we bought some poppy seeds from the shop.

Using an electric Mixer, we put the 500 g of plain flour, together with the instant yeast, salt and bread improver and blend it well. Once the mix is even, we pour in the 300 ml of filtered water slowly and progressively and beat the mixture till a smooth dough is formed.

We took a rest to have a cup of tea with the French visitors while leaving the dough at a warm place for almost an hour covered with a damp cloth. After our afternoon chat, we return to the kitchen to divide the dough  into 30 g portions and shaped them in our palms into small balls. When all the balls are ready, using a brush, we moist them with water.  Once they are moist, we sprinkled black poppy seeds on them.  We continued our afternoon chat about Pulau Besar. The buns were left on a greased tray to proof for another hour.

Before the sunset, behind our kitchen, we wet the surfaces of the buns again and this time we shelf the trays into the oven at 190 degree C for 18 minutes. Lifting them from the trays after 18 minutes, we let them cool well on a square 316 stainless steel mesh.

My daughter then said, ‘Monsieur, Thank you’ to their French uncle.