Hello Bakers!
Recently, I taught the flying sponge technique in the Breads 2 class I teach at Escoffier School of Culinary Arts. It’s a useful technique for rich doughs. In a flying sponge the liquid in the recipe, the yeast and about 1/3rd of the flour is mixed, covered and left to sit for 45 minutes at room temperature so that the yeast can get a head start before the heavier ingredients are added.
It works well for brioche and danish pastry (I regret not using it in my Craftsy, Danish from Scratch Class) But even now that formula could easily be adapted to include a flying sponge.
Hawaiian rolls are perfect for flying sponge. I saw most recipes on the internet did use some form of a sponge. But many were confusing and I wanted to create a straight forward method that would get you baking in no time. Also - I use all pineapple juice so that the sugar is decreased.
The potato flour helps with texture and increases their shelf life. Not to be confused with potato starch - potato flour is made from dehydrated potatoes. It’s available at King Arthur and on Amazon. Stored in the freezer with the rest of your specialty flours, it will last a long time. You can use it in any cinnamon roll or sweet dough formula - use 6% of the total flour amount to increase the softness of the crumb structure.
https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/search?Product%5Bquery%5D=potato%20flour#Product
I hope you try these - once you make these for family and friends you will be making them all the time. It’s nearly impossible to eat just one. I can’t and I have a lot of self discipline - thanks to my Mom who was a model.
Any questions - lmk - Happy Baking! Colette
Equipment: Mixer, dough hook, dough whisk or wooden spoon, plastic wrap, scale, 13X9" pan. Other pans can be used just make sure not to over crowd them, whisk for egg white glaze.
Sponge
100g Bread Flour
128g Pineapple juice
9g Instant Yeast - Gold is preferable but the Red will work too
Final Dough
53g Brown sugar
100g Whole Eggs
18g Egg Yolk - reserve egg white for glaze.
4g Vanilla
23g Potato Flour (if unavailable substitute 23g of bread flour)
283g Bread Flour
8g Salt
57g Butter, softened
Step 1: Make the flying sponge: In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the pineapple juice and yeast, stir to combine and let sit 5 minutes, stir in flour with a dough whisk and wooden spoon.. Cover and let sit at room temperature for 45 minutes until bubbly.
To make final dough:
Add the, eggs and egg yolk, potato flour, bread flour, sugar and salt to the sponge.
Attach the dough hook and mix on low speed for 2 minutes - add the softened butter increase the speed to medium low mix for 4 minutes until the butter is incorporated and mix for 2 additional minutes until the dough is fully developed.
Place dough in a buttered bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise until double in size, 60- 90 minutes.
While dough is rising, grease a 9x13” pan.
Scale dough into 12 equal pieces - if scaling each piece will weigh 60g.
Place in pan and let proof until they have lifted about a third of their size and have a marshmallow texture. Can take 60 - 75 minutes depending on the temperature of the kitchen.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Brush with the reserved beaten egg white glaze.
Bake for 20-25 minutes until the are a beautiful golden brown.
The finished Hawaiian Rolls