Cheesy Salad on Weck Rolls | We Knead to Bake #26

Kummelweck or Kimmelweck Rolls are hard and crusty bread rolls topped with caraway seeds and coarse sea salt for the punch. These are similar to kaiser rolls with a caraway seed topping instead of the poppy seeds. Hot favourite in Buffalo and Western NewYork, they are a simple to make and make super burger buns. This is what I found out as I baked these rolls for We Knead to Bake this month as suggested by Aparna. Only that I halved the recipe and since I didnt have shahjeera/caraway seeds and Aparna had allowed us to choose any same family seeds, I went for cumin seeds.

Ingredients:

Instant Yeast: 1 1/4 tsp

Warm Water: 4 tbsp

Warm Milk: 4 tbsp

Oil: 1 tbsp

Honey: 1.5 tsp

Egg White: 1/2 optional (I didn't use)

Salt: 3/4 tsp

Bread Flour: 1.5 to 1.5 cups + 2 tbsp  (1 cup Bread Flour = 1 cup Refined Flour + 1 tsp Vital Gluten)

Caraway seeds & Coarse Sea Salt

Preparation:

Mix  together water and milk and stir in yeast. Keep aside till frothy.

In the processor bowl add yeast mix, oil, honey, optional eggwhite and stir.

Add in the salt and about 1.1/4 cups of flour and knead adding as much flour as needed till you get a smooth and elastic dough that is not sticky.

Shape the dough into a ball, and place it in an oiled bowl. Cover loosely with cling wrap and let it sit until doubled in volume for an hour or so.

Deflate the dough an shape into a round and let it rise for another 30 minutes. 

Divide the dough into 4 pieces and shape each into a smooth ball and lightly flatten it. Place it on lined and greased baking sheets. Lightly brush with oil and loosely cover the dough balls. Let them rise for another 30 minutes of so. 

Brush the top with oil/butter/water/eggwash and then cut slits on top like a plus. Sprinkle the top with coarse sea salt and then caraway /cumin seeds followed by a fine mist of water. Bake the rolls in a preheated oven at 220C for about 5 minutes after which mist the rolls again and continue baking for another 15-20 minutes until the tops are golden brown. 

Cool on wire rack and enjoy as burger buns.  

I had simple tomato cucumber salad with me which I stuffed in the slit buns along with a cheese slice and yum... it made the day. 

The buns are crusty outside but soft inside and are perfect as burger buns. The spice seeds do make the buns special.