Yeast Potato Buns

This week’s smoked meats included the usual sausage, chicken thighs and pork ribs but Lucy threw in a 3 pound chuck roast that was on the thick side too. Normally we would smoke a pastrami, corned beef or brisket but they are ridiculously expensive and Chuck roast is half the price.  She wanted to see if this usually slow braised meat could be smoked and pulled like a pork shoulder

She also wanted something to celebrate the Dow crushing 21,000, which it did this morning – about a month after it crossed 20,000 on January 25th.  This the fastest 1,000 point rise in Dow history – quite an achievement although a 1,000 point rise was only 5% and quit unlike the % rise it took to go from 1000 to 2,000.  Some of us are old enough to remember the Dow closing at 837 in 1974 and then 10 years later also closing at 837 in 1984.  Those were not great investing years and called ‘The Lost Decade.’

But we are celebrating today because the pulled beef turned out great and it on[y took half the time in the smoker as the brisket too at 6 hours to h=get to 195 F!  So, we needed some buns quickly and they had to be good so instant yeast, sugar, butter and Half and Half seemed to be the way to go in Lucy’s mind bit then she tossed in some potato flakes to make them potato buns.

After a slap and fold mix per the recipe below, we did the usual slap and folds to get it all incorporated and then did 2 more sets of 8 all on 30 minute intervals.  Then we did 3 sets of 4 stretch and folds,  We let the dough ferment for a while to let it puff up before shaping into thin buns and letting them proof for about an hour  We washed them with half and half and then slid them on the bottom stone at 400 F for 12 minutes before turning the oven down to 350 F for another 12 minutes.

They browned up very nice and we brushed them with half and half when they came out of the oven to keep them soft and put a shine on them.   It was 5 hours from start to finished baking.  These rolls are delicious and were perfect for the pulled beef sandwiches.  These are our go to fast buns and we make them in SD too using 15% pre-fermented flour in the 3 stage, 12 hour NMNF levain – if you want them to be done in 5 -6 hours you have to use 30% pre-fermented flour and have the levain built before you start counting the hours.

Mix everything except the salt & butter for 30 minutes before adding in the left outs.

100% LaFama AP with 2 pinches of instant yeast

14% egg

10% Potato flakes

10% Non-Fat Dry Milk Powder

17% unsalted Butter

65% Half and Half

2% salt