Beaujolais Bread Rolls

Let me preface the recipe by saying - you know I love my bread machine, right? I let my bread machine do the initial mixing, kneading, and the first rise. After that, I turned it out to finish it by hand. This recipe reflects that. To see the original all-by-hand recipe,

Also, give yourself time...get up early and make the dough right away...it takes time to go through the rising process. Apparently wine relaxes more than just people.

Beaujolais Bread Rolls

Bread rolls tinted and fortified with Beaujolais wine, and studded with salami.

by Heather Schmitt-Gonzalez

Prep Time: 7 hours, largely unattended

Cook Time: 25-30 minutes

Keywords: bake bread nut-free soy-free flour wine salami

Ingredients (16 rolls)

• 320 grams (11.2 ounce) Beaujolais wine


• 21 grams (1 tablespoon) honey


• 7 grams (.24 ounce / 1-1/8 teaspoon) fine sea salt


• 454 grams (16 ounces / 3.5 cups) unbleached bread flour + more for work surface and dusting


• 7 grams instant dry yeast


• 113 grams (4 ounces / 1 cup) salami cut into 1/4 inch cubes, at room temp.

Instructions

Place all ingredients in the pan of a bread machine in the order listed, except the salami (set that aside for now). Select the dough setting and hit start. When there is 5 minutes of kneading time remaining, add the salami to the pan to be kneaded in. If you reach in and give it a poke and a pinch, the dough should be a little bit sticky (some of it will come away on your fingers). Close the lid and let it run through the first rise (usually 1 hour).

When your machine beeps, turn the dough out into a lightly oiled bowl, cover it with plastic wrap, and allow it to continue rising at warm room temperature until it has about doubled in size. This will take longer due to the wine in the dough. It could be another 3 hours, but for me this time, it was another 5 hours.

Dust your work surface lightly with flour, then turn the dough out onto it. Pat it into a thick square. Lift the two right corners (top and bottom) and fold them into the center, gently pinching together the seam. Now, lift the two left corners (top and bottom) to meet the others in the center; gently pinch those seams together, too.

Repeat the folding process one more time. Place the dough back in the bowl, seam side down, cover and allow to rest and rise for about 1 hour.

Turn dough back out onto your work surface that has been lightly dusted with flour. Once again, pat into a square and repeat the folding process. Place back in the bowl, cover, and allow to rise for about 1 hour more.

Lightly flour your work surface again, then turn the dough out onto it. If dough seems very sticky, use floured hands to complete the next step.

Gently pat the dough into a 12" x 4.5" rectangle. Use a floured bench scraper to cut the dough into 16 equal pieces (4x4).

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat.

Roll 15 of the pieces of dough into rolls. Create an irregular triangle-shape on the prepared baking sheet by setting four dough balls together in a line, followed by a line of three dough balls, followed by another line of three dough balls (offset from the last line). Follow with two lines of two dough balls (again, offset), and finish with a single dough ball. Your aim is to form what looks like a cluster of grapes (see photos).

Use the final piece of dough to roll a 10" rope. Shape it into a curved shape that resembles a grapevine, then nestle it above the top row of dough balls. Using a sieve, dust the whole thing with a thin layer of flour. Loosely cover the dough with plastic wrap and allow to rise until puffy, 60-90 minutes.

Set a baking stone on the center rack of your oven and preheat to 450° F during the last 20 minutes of rise time.

Remove plastic wrap and slide the enter baking sheet into the oven onto the preheated baking stone. Overturn another sheet pan, other large pan, or a large metal bowl over the baking sheet to cover the dough (without touching it). Carefully remove this cover after 10 minutes. Continue to bake until the crust is golden and the bread registers at least 190° F on an instant-read thermometer, 15-20 minutes longer.

Slide the bread (parchment and all, if you like) onto a wire rack to cool.

notes:

As I was working with the dough, and getting a whiff of the smells emanating from it as I folded and turned it, I found myself wishing that I had some smoked gouda to dice into small cubes and work in, alongside the salami. Next time.

I suppose that I should have technically renamed these Pinot Noir Bread Rolls because, you guessed it, I used Pinot Noir in place of the Beaujolais. But that is only because I had a bottle of Pinot Noir already, and I figured I should use it. I really enjoy a good Beaujolais (made from Gamay grapes), though, so I will be buying a bottle with this bread in mind next time.