Hamburger Rundstück

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Kitchen scale
• •Bench scraper
• •Baking stone or heavy baking sheet
• •Metal tray for oven moisture
• •Clean kitchen cloth

Instructions

1. 1

   Mix the Vorteig

   The evening before baking, stir 150g of the flour, 150g of the water, and 0.5g instant yeast or 2g fresh yeast in a bowl until no dry flour remains. Cover it and leave it at cool room temperature for 8 to 12 hours, until it is bubbly and smells lightly yeasty. This slow pre-dough gives a plain roll flavour; without it, the bread tastes only of speed.

2. 2

   Build the dough

   Add the remaining 350g flour, 160g water, the remaining yeast, the malt or honey, the salt, and the soft butter or lard to the Vorteig. Mix until the dough is shaggy, then let it sit for 10 minutes. That short rest lets the flour drink before you knead, so you build strength without adding handfuls of dry flour and making the rolls tough.

3. 3

   Knead until elastic

   Knead by hand for 8 to 10 minutes, or 5 to 6 minutes on low speed in a mixer, until the dough is smooth, springy, and only lightly tacky. If it tears hard and feels stiff, work in 10 to 20g more water, a spoon at a time. Flour changes with the weather, and a dry dough gives you a tight crumb instead of a roll that opens properly.

4. 4

   Let it rise

   Cover the bowl and let the dough rise for 60 to 75 minutes, folding it once after 30 minutes by pulling the edges into the middle. It should grow by about two thirds, not triple. Overproofed dough spends its strength in the bowl, and then it has nothing left for the oven.

5. 5

   Divide and rest

   Turn the dough onto an unfloured or very lightly floured worktop and divide it into 10 pieces of about 83g each. Pre-round each piece gently, cover them, and rest them for 15 minutes. The rest relaxes the gluten, so the final shaping can tighten the surface instead of tearing it.

6. 6

   Shape tight rounds

   Flatten one piece lightly, pull the edges into the centre, pinch the seam, then turn it seam side down and cup your hand around it. Drag it in small circles against the worktop until the surface tightens into a smooth skin. This is the step that makes a Rundstück a Rundstück: the tight skin holds the gas and gives the roll its round shoulder.

   Use almost no flour while shaping. A dusty bench makes the dough slide instead of grip, and without that little bit of grip you cannot build surface tension.
7. 7

   Proof the rolls

   Set the rounds seam side down on baking parchment, leaving space between them, and cover them with a cloth. Proof for 45 to 60 minutes, until puffy and an indentation springs back slowly. If it snaps back at once, they need time; if the dent stays deep, they have gone too far and will spread.

8. 8

   Heat the oven

   While the rolls proof, heat the oven to 240C with a baking stone or heavy baking sheet on the middle rack and an empty metal tray on the lower rack. Give it a full 30 minutes. The hot surface gives the rolls their first lift, and the lower tray will make the first heat wet enough that the crust can stretch before it sets. Use metal, not glass, because boiling water can crack glass.

9. 9

   Bake hot

   Slide the rolls with their parchment onto the hot stone or sheet. Pour 250ml boiling water into the lower metal tray, close the door at once, and bake for 10 minutes. Then remove the lower tray, lower the oven to 220C, and bake 10 to 12 minutes more, until the rolls are deep golden and sound hollow underneath. The wet start gives lift and a thin shell; the dry finish makes the crust crisp.

10. 10

    Cool and split

    Cool the Rundstücke on a rack for at least 20 minutes before cutting. Bread still finishes setting as it cools, and a knife through a hot roll presses the crumb into paste. Eat them with butter, cheese, cold cuts, or split one for Rundstück warm with sliced roast and real gravy. Schön ist, was schmeckt.

Chef Tips

• •Use Type 550 flour if you can get it. It has enough strength for a roll that stands up, but it isn't as chewy as high-gluten pizza flour. Bread flour is the closest useful substitute.
• •Do not make the dough dry to keep your hands clean. A slightly tacky dough bakes into a better crumb, and a bench scraper costs less than bad bread.
• •For Rundstück warm, use leftover roast pork or beef and the gravy from that roast. Jarred Bratensoße is not a shortcut here; it turns a good northern leftover into salt water with colour.
• •If the rolls soften by the next morning, brush them lightly with water and refresh them at 190C for 6 to 8 minutes. The crust comes back because the starch on the surface rehydrates and dries again.
• •Freeze baked rolls the day they are made. Once cool, bag them tightly for up to one month, then refresh straight from frozen at 180C for 10 to 12 minutes.

Advance Preparation

• •Mix the Vorteig 8 to 12 hours ahead. It is the make-ahead step that gives flavour while keeping the baking day easy.
• •After shaping, the rolls can proof in the refrigerator for up to 12 hours. Cover them well, bake them cold from the refrigerator, and add 2 to 4 minutes to the bake if needed.
• •Bake the full batch and freeze what you don't need. Rundstücke refresh well, which is exactly why a practical kitchen makes more than six.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 75g)