I love entertaining.
Having a dining room is one of the most exciting things about my flat as not
only do I think it’s important to eat around a table at home, but it means that
when people come over they don’t have to eat off their lap! However this is
sometimes necessary when larger groups of people come over, my table is only so
big, and I have to get creative with my thinking. You see I do have a dining
room but I also have a very small kitchen. Planning is a big part of any
entertaining I do but as I like planning and pouring over recipes that isn’t a
problem. The size of my kitchen doesn’t allow me to ‘plate up’ so I have to go
for things people can serve themselves from the table.
My current love
is for pork pibil. I’m finding that a lot of the pulled pork on offer is
drenched in a very sweet BBQ sauce which just tastes of sugar. Going down the
Mexican route gives delicious pulled pork which actually tastes of something.
(Of course I could make my own BBQ sauce, and have done, but I’ve been swayed
by the amount of burrito places near my work). My main concern for my next
entertaining gig is how to get it on the menu. Burritos are a bit messy, as I’m
going down a buffet route, so I thought about putting it in buns. They go well with pulled BBQ pork so why not pork pibil?!
These aren’t
traditional brioche buns but a more substantial take on it to maintain
structural integrity when filled with stuff. The method does look long but
trust me when I say that these are easy. nO Kneading is involved. I’m merely explaining how to not get
covered in dough as it’s very sticky! If you want to make Pork Pibil to go
inside these then the recipe is here.
Ingredients
250ml warm
water
3 tbsp milk
2 tsp dry
active yeast
2 ½ tbsp
sugar
450g strong
white flour
50g plain
flour
1 ½ tsp salt
60g butter
3 large eggs
(one is used to glaze the final buns before cooking)
1.
Put the warm water, milk, yeast and sugar in a
jug. You don’t need to activate the yeast, as this is already done, but having
it all together makes it easier later on.
2. Put the flours, salt and butter in a food
processor and whizz up until the butter is incorporated with the flour. Just
use the usual blade. You can use a proper mixer with a paddle but I don’t have
one so to hell with it.
3. Add two of the eggs, turn the processor on and
then pour the water and yeast mixture into the mixture. Let the food processor
run until the mixture forms a dough. Probably a couple of minutes. Be warned
the food processor will go a bit mental so you may need to steady it.
4. Lightly grease a bowl with oil. The dough is
majorly sticky so avoid touching it if at all possible. I just scrape the dough
stuck on the blade into the bowl and follow with scraping in the rest. Done.
Then cover with a piece of cling film that has been greased. You’ll thank me
later as the dough sticks to everything.
5. Leave in a warm place to rise to about double its
size – 30 minutes to an hour.
6. Once it’s risen take out of the warm place and
scrape out on to a well-floured surface. Don’t worry about punching the air out
as this will cover your hand in dough and the scraping will do it for you.
7. Put some baking paper on a baking sheet (or two).
Divide the dough into anything from 8 – 15 pieces depending on how big you want
them. Shape into a ball (flour your hands) and put on the baking sheet. Ideally
any joins in the dough go on the bottom giving you a smooth top. Make sure
there is a gap between them but it doesn’t matter if they touch – you can pull
them apart once cooked.
8. Put them back in the warm place to rise again –
probably nearer the 30 minute mark – and once risen lightly brush with the
remaining beaten egg. While they are rising pre-heat the oven to 200°C/GM6.
9. Bake for 15-20 minutes (if you have a gas move
turn the baking sheet around half way through to get an even colour) and cool
on a rack. Once cool fill with something good and devour.
N.B. Bigger
buns will work for burgers.
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