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The Perfect Loaf 🍞

🍞 The butter went slack in minutes

Published about 2 hours ago • 3 min read

The butter went slack in minutes

I opened the back door for some air. It's been 96°F all week, and the oven's side of the kitchen hasn't been much better. The pats of butter on the counter usually take an hour to soften; this week they went slack in minutes.

Which, as it happens, is what a bun dough wants.

For the cookout, I'm working with buns. A lot of buns. But also a few of my crowd favs: a jalapeño-cheddar loaf, a pizza with all the sliced pepperoni, and an uncommon pairing folded into a dough.

In this week's newsletter:

  • Recipes: Milk bread hamburger buns, hot dog buns, jalapeño-cheddar bread, high-temperature oven sourdough pizza, apricot + lavender bread
  • Baking Tip: How do I scale up your focaccia?
  • Links: How a Blanket of Dough Becomes an Ethereal Pastry

🍞 Fluffy milk bread hamburger buns

My latest hamburger bun recipe that doesn't disappoint.

🍞 Hot dog buns

Whether you're grilling brats, hot dogs, or making a lobster roll, these buns are where it's at. Totally over the top and actually really not that much more involved to make than their round cousins.

🍞 Jalapeño-Cheddar sourdough bread

Right now in New Mexico, you'll find fresh fire-roasted green chile just about everywhere. When I start seeing the large fire barrels roasting, I know it's time to make this again with chile instead of jalapeno—it transforms this bread into something very special.

But! Chances are very few of you have access to locally grown and roasted chiles, which is just fine. This bread is wonderful with any diced jalapeno and perfect for that end-of-summer cookout.

🍕 Outdoor sourdough pizza

The perfect dough for a high-temperature outdoor oven (like an Ooni or Gozney). Pull the dough a few hours before you want to make pizza!

🍞 Apricot, Lavender, and Walnut Sourdough

I love the sweet apricots in this loaf, but the added culinary lavender is the secret weapon that makes it so unique.

🫧 Heading out of town? Keep that starter the right way.

If you're heading out of town this weekend, read my guide on setting your starter up for success during its time in the fridge.

🍞 In case you missed it... Plum (or any fruit, really) cake!

I've made this cake five times in the past few weeks, and I've been playing with some other fruit to great success:

  • Very ripe figs
  • Nectarines + blueberries
  • Peaches (of course)

Any soft fruit works, which is the point. If you need something sweet this weekend, whatever's on your counter going soft will do.

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💬 Member Discussion of the Week

I've been baking your simple focaccia all summer and it's become my go-to for pool parties. I want to make double or even triple batches for a big gathering. Can I just scale everything up, and at what point do I split the dough into separate pans?

Scale the recipe up as much as you need by just multiplying everything by the same factor to keep it super simple. Keep it all as one batch through mixing and bulk fermentation, then divide it into separate pans when bulk is done and you're ready to start the final proof. Larger batches can actually be easier to work with during bulk because the bigger dough mass holds its temperature better and ferments more evenly. The only thing to watch is your mixer capacity. If you're tripling the recipe, you might need to mix in two rounds and combine after.

🛟 2 Ways I Can Help You Today

📙 What I'm Reading and Watching

Have a great holiday weekend, everyone!

P.S. I made these English muffins from my cookbook this week, and all 30 of them are already gone 😳

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Thank you for subscribing 🩶. Sent from Maurizio at The Perfect Loaf, 8100 Wyoming Blvd NE Ste M4, #343, Albuquerque, NM 87113.
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The Perfect Loaf 🍞

Maurizio Leo

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