Waterford Blaas - Irish Blaas - Yeast Buns

The Waterford Blaa (pronounced "blah"), Ireland's only indigenous yeast bread, has just this week come to my attention and, of course, I had to make a batch straight away. I adapted my recipe for the floury white yeast buns from one in the UK newspaper, London Evening Standard. 

They're mainly served for breakfast, either as a buttered roll or as a breakfast sandwich filled with bacon (Irish back bacon), egg (fried) and sausage. Bacon and sausage is a bit extreme for me; when ordering the Full English I always ask for just bacon.

I've written the recipe for the stand mixer, though it can quite easily be made by hand. And I've added lots of details so that even if you've never made yeast doughs you will have success. Since "Waterford blaa" is a name with protected designation status (like the Melton Mowbray pork pie or Roquefort cheese), I'm just calling my recipe Irish blaas. But there's nothing "blah" about these buns! 

They've been around since the 17th century, so I'm a bit late to this party! If you're out of yeast or just looking for something a bit quicker, try my Irish Brown Soda Bread. And, in case your oven is otherwise occupied, here's the Irish Soda Bread - Slow Cooker Version.

Waterford Blaas - Irish Blaas

(Makes 8 large buns)

3 1/2 dip-and-sweep cups (17.5 ounces/500 grams) unbleached all-purpose flour, divided
2 1/2 teaspoons (10 grams) sugar
1 3/4 teaspoons (10 grams) salt
1 tablespoon (9 grams) instant yeast
1 1/4 cup (10 fluid ounces/283 grams or ml) water
1 tablespoon (0.5 ounce/14 grams) unsalted butter

1 Measure flour into the bowl of the stand mixer; remove 3/4 cup (3.75 ounces/106 grams) and set it aside. (That will make sense to you if you are a weigher rather than a measurer.) Add sugar, salt and instant yeast to mixing bowl, and whisk to combine. Attach the flat beater and mixer bowl to the mixer. Heat the water and butter until quite warm, about 120F/49C to 130F/54C. On speed 2, mix in the warm liquid until thoroughly mixed. Remove the flat beater. Cover mixing bowl and let dough rest for 20 minutes. 

2 Attach the dough hook. On speed 2, add about 2/3 of the reserved flour (1/2 cup/2.5 ounces/71 grams) until dough forms a smooth ball that cleans the bowl. Continue kneading for 2 minutes, adding flour (from the remaining 1/4 cup) just 1 tablespoon at a time as needed to keep the dough from sticking to the bowl. Set the timer for 4 minutes and knead the dough on speed 3. (My stand mixer, the Cuisinart SM-55, actually has a built-in timer.)

Note: The reason for all this gradually adding of the flour is that more bread has been ruined by the adding of too much flour than any other single cause. If some is kept back to be used in the kneading and shaping (and, in this case, the flouring of the pan and tops of buns), you avoid the problem.

3 Lightly oil a bowl or other container, preferably with straight sides (I use a 2-quart glass measure). Put the ball of dough in it, turning dough to oil all sides, cover the bowl loosely with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm, draft-free place for about 30* minutes, or until doubled.

* It's a very quick rise with this quantity of yeast. If you wish to slow down the rises, cut back on the yeast. I'm never in this much of a hurry so will cut this back to not more than 2 teaspoons next time. 

4 Line a 13x9x1-inch quarter-sheet pan with parchment paper; dust it with about 2 teaspoons of the remaining flour (a little fine mesh tea strainer works well). Turn risen dough out onto lightly floured (still from that remaining 1/4 cup) surface, flattening gently to break up any large bubbles. Divide* dough into 8 equal pieces. Work with one piece at a time, keeping the others covered. Roll each piece into a smooth ball, place on prepared baking sheet (in 2 rows of 4 buns). Press them down gently with palm of your hand to flatten them a bit so that they are touching.

* I'm a rather precise person, so I always use my OXO Good Grips 11-Pound Digital Scale to divide the dough precisely, making sure all my loaves and rolls are the same size. The pieces of dough in this recipe were 100 grams (about 3.5 ounces) each.

5 Cover buns loosely with plastic wrap and let rise for about 30 minutes, or until doubled.

6 During the last 20 minutes, heat oven to 400F/200C/Gas6. Just before you put the buns in the oven, remove the plastic and dust them liberally with flour from the remaining. Bake for about 18 to 20 minutes, until golden. Leaving buns on the parchment paper, transfer them to wire rack. Serve warm or room temperature. If storing, cool completely before wrapping.

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