Ma Niche : Conchas using Scalded Flour Method

11.6.14

Conchas, also referred to as "pan de huevo" are sweet buttery buns from Mexico. They are famous for their crumbly shell-patterned sugar topping and soft fluffy texture. They are eaten with coffee and milk but mostly with Mexican hot chocolate for breakfast or late supper- known as merienda, a tradition that dates back to the 16th century.

Last month Gayathri of Gayathri's Cook Spot challenged the members of the Eggless Baking Group to make an egg free version of these buns. Gauging from the number of eggs that were there in the original recipe, it was clear that these buns were brioche-like... So the real challenge was to create egg free brioche-like buns. Now if you remember, a couple of months back, in another challenge, I had baked egg free cinnamon swirl brioche loaf using the scalded flour method (SFM), and had written rave reviews about it. So I knew that SFM works quite well when the flour at work is APF. I however wanted to test its effectiveness when working with whole wheat dough, therefore decided to make egg free whole wheat Conchas using the scalded flour method for this challenge.

The tradition of baking bread using scalded flour is Scandanavian. The idea behind this method is that you pour boiling hot water over one third of the flour you are using, let it cool completely before adding and kneading the remaining flour and dough ingredients into it. You then poof the dough, shape it and bake your bread. I had come across this method for the first time in Reeni's space and later read more about it at Virtuous Bread. As any bread-baker will recognize, this method is somewhat similar to the Tangzhong or water-roux method, but since the time involved in this method is much less compared to Tangzhong, many prefer it over the latter.

Anyways. So I baked the whole wheat egg free conchas using the scalded flour method, replacing half of the flour with whole wheat flour, half of the eggs with yogurt and remaining half with lukewarm water, and I am happy to report that this simple substitution along with the scalded flour method yielded very satisfying results.

Conchas using Scalded Flour Method (Bread Machine)

References : Wild Yeast, Cinnamon spice & everything nice
Prep time: 3 ½ hours + overnight poofing Total time: 4 hours + overnight poofing
Yield: 6 conchas + 2 buns + 8×4 inch loaf

Ingredients
Scalded Flour

1 cup minus 2 tbsps all purpose flour
½ cup + 1 tbsps boiling water

Final dough ingredients

2 cups + 2 tbsps whole wheat flour
1 ½ cup all-purpose flour
¾ cup granulated sugar
3 tbsps unsalted butter
½ cup plain yogurt
50 ml + ½ cup lukewarm water
2 ½ tsp instant yeast

Topping ingredients

⅓ cup all purpose flour
⅓ cup powdered sugar
3 tbsps unsalted butter
2 tbsps cocoa powder

Cooking Directions

To make the scalded flour, put the flour in a medium sized bowl. Pour boiling hot water over it all at once and stir quickly with a fork to mix the two until there is no visible dry flour.
Wait 5 minutes then cover with plastic wrap and allow to cool to room temperature 1/2 - 1 hour.
After one hour, put all the ingredients for the dough and the scalded flour in the bread machine pan and program it for the dough cycle.
When the machine beeps at the end of the cycle, turn the dough out on a lightly greased bowl, cover it with a plastic wrap and ferment in a warm place for 30 minutes.
Next transfer the bowl to the refrigerator and allow it to rest overnight. (The recipe recommends 8-16 hours of rest. However I could not get to the dough before 20 hours.)
Before removing the dough from the refrigerator, prepare the topping. For that, add all the ingredients for the topping in a bowl, add 1-2 tbsp ice could water to it and make a mixture that holds together. Divide the mixture into 6 equal portions and keep aside.
Line 2 baking trays with parchment paper, grease a 8×4 inch loaf pan and keep aside.
Now remove the dough from the refrigerator and divide it into two equal parts.
Divide one half of the dough into 8 equal parts, shape each portion into a bun and arrange on the prepared baking trays.
Flatten each portion of the cocoa mixture into a 2 ½ to 3 inch round disc, press the flattened mixture of top of six of the buns and let them poof uncovered for 2 to 2 ½ hours, that is until they have doubled.
Using a rolling pin, roll one half of the dough into a long oval. Starting from the shorter end, roll the dough like a Swiss roll. Turn it 90 degrees, then repeat the process. Finally put the rolled dough into a well greased 8×4 inch loaf pan, cover with a plastic cling wrap and allow it to poof until doubled, about 2 to 2 ½ hours.
Meanwhile preheat oven to 375 °F and once the dough has doubled bake the buns for 20-25 minutes and the loaf for 25-30 minutes, until the surface looks golden brown and the loaf pulls off from the sides of the loaf pan.
Cool completely before serving.