Gluten-free Ricotta Soft Buns

Here they are, my fiends! After posting a picture of this buns on my Instagram page (@silviacollocaofficial), my inbox got flooded with messages asking for one thing and one thing only: post the recipe, Silvia! I have to say, I do love it when the image of a baking success stirs so much excitement that I cannot keep up with replying to you all. I suppose a little tease is part of the game, the more I read you trepidation, the more I am keen to improve the recipes to deliver formulas that will not fail you. And so, here it is. A recipe for gluten-free soft buns, that you can have as dinner rolls, burger buns, sandwich rolls, or simply slathered in copious amounts of butter and jam. They are truly wonderful freshly baked (although, always wait an hour before eating, they do need to cool down for the crumb to settle), but they are also quite delicious toasted the following day. I have frozen a few and the jury is still out on what they taste like (and what the texture is) once they are thawed, but I officially declare this a recipe success and I now pass it on to you.

If you are familiar with my gluten free bread (read this post here, if you aren’t), you know I use Caputo Fiore Glut GF flour, for optimal result. I have to admit I am yet to find a GF flour that delivers the same results as this one. Please note I am not commercially associated with this brand, so I can’t help you find stores that stock it, but I am confident a google search will indeed help you.

For the love of precision, I am only providing metric measurements, as I feel more confident this way.

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INGREDIENTS, makes 8 small buns

400 gr of Caputo Fiore Glut GF flour

7 gr of dry yeast

130 gr of fresh ricotta

1 tablespoon of honey

50 ml of olive oil

150 ml of water at room temperature

2 teaspoons of salt flakes

1 beaten egg to brush on top

METHOD

1. Put flour and yeast in a large bowl, add water, oil, honey and ricotta and start mixing with a wooden stick.

2. When the dough is coming together, add salt and start kneading. Tip the dough onto a floured bench and continue kneading until smooth. If it seems too sticky, add 1-2 tablespoons of flour. Similarly, if too dry, add a little water. Keep in mind that this is meant to be a soft dough.

3. Once smooth, roll into a ball, place back into your bowl. Cover with plastic film and rise at room temperature for 2-3 hours or until doubled in size.

4. Using oiled hands, lift out the dough that has risen, stretch it into a rectangle, fold each side into the middle, then roll into a ball and prove for 1 hour or until risen by 2/3.

5. Dust your bench with GF flour, stretch the dough into a rectangle, fold each side into the middle, then roll into a log. Cut the log into 8 pieces and roll them into a ball. Arrange them close together onto a tray lined with baking paper. Allow to rise for 40 minutes.

6. Bring your oven to 200 C (390 F), conventional. Brush the buns with beaten eggs and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown and cooked through. Each oven is different, so your baking time may be longer or slightly shorter. Cool on a rack for 1 hour before eating, to allow the crumb to cook through.