I have a bit of a crush on Dan Lepard.
Apart from being a really nice guy, he’s also incredibly innovative – rare in a profession that’s thousands of years old, particularly one in which the base ingredients don’t vary much. Dan’s recipes are always different and interesting, involving unusual ingredients and methodology that I’ve never tried before. I’m sure I can feel new synapses forming in my brain every time I bake one of them.
This particular recipe is a good example: I’ve never used soaked semolina before, I’ve never shaped buns in this way, and I would never have thought to add yoghurt and honey to the dough.
A recommendation to my breadbaking buddies – bake these as soon as possible! They’re easy, quick and truly delicious. My breads are usually chewy, hard crusted sourdoughs, so these made a nice change and the boys devoured them in record time. The photos here are of my second batch – baked this morning at Pete’s request.
The recipe is here, and there are additional photos on Joanna’s blog as well.
Some construction pointers:
1. The dough is shaped into a rectangle (I used my fingers rather than a rolling pin) and then cut into eighths, but not separated, so the finished buns look like the photo below.
2. Dan provided me with a little more detail about the scoring process (albeit after the buns you see here were baked):
Liberally sprinkle the semolina over the top then press lines in the dough right down to the base, using a downward motion then pull the knife straight back up again. These lines should be very heavily indented in the dough, as if you are embossing it with the knife.
3. I baked these at a lower temperature and for less time than specified – 210C with fan for 15 minutes, although I suspect my oven might be running a bit hot at the moment.
Dan talks about serving these with barbecued pork belly, but they’re also absolutely to-die-for perfect with peanut butter…
We ate them with Jamie Oliver Botham burgers for dinner – fantastic fare for a cold winter’s night!
. . . . .
Other Dan Lepard recipes:
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
Those buns look so soft and lovely and moreish. Your boys must be in seventh heaven. And I love that JO recipe. It’s the only one I use for burgers nowadays!
Well done that Baker! They look perfecto, everybody should have a go at these!
[…] has made these and partnered them with some fabulous burgers in chilly Sydney. Have a look here! Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)Dan Lepard’s Barm Bread This entry was […]
“Dan the Man” has done what he can – again. You of course have baked something that sounds fantastic – again. It does sound interesting, I shall go and have a look at Joanna’s now.
Sarah, these buns are the perfect accompaniment to those burgers! And the thing I like best about the JO recipe is that the burgers are baked rather than panfried, although we made six burgers from the 1kg of meat, and they were still waaay too big for me. JO only makes four!
Joanna my dear, thank you yet again for the headsup! :)
Choclette, Dan the Man doesn’t know what to think since I’ve started sending him groupie fanmail…hahaha…
If ever there was someone to have a crush on Dan would be a good one to have. Like that he just seems like a nice bloke.
These buns seem to be calling me, Joanna’s did too. Might need a look in.
My crush is still Mathew Evans (Gourmet Farmer) *sigh* when he talks about his house cow, *sigh*…lovely man.
OOooh – they look so good.
those burgers look magnificent.
They really do look scrumptious. I need to go to my bulk food store and get some semolina flour as I am currently all out.
Thanks for the tips and recommendation and the pictures and the post. Thanks to Joanna for inspiring you to post about them as well.
I’ll make them maybe on Friday and post my pictures- happy buns x3!
Second batch less than 24 hours later?…they must be very good indeed! They look great with those burgers.
Yum, Yum, Yum!!! Between you and Joanna, my tummy is growling! I’ve got a batch baking as I type ;)
Brydie, has Matt Evans got another series on? I haven’t seen anything, but we don’t have Foxtel…
LJ, Dredgey, SG, thank you! Dredgey, you’d like these burgers – very healthy, high protein, no added fat!
Heidi and Christine, can’t wait to see your buns! Oh dear, that sounds rude. :) Christine, did you manage to score them as Dan said? The ones on his website have the most gorgeous criss cross markings. I might have to try yet again to see if I can make them look prettier. And how nice is it to be able to use our homemade yoghurt in our homemade bread? Now we just need to have some bees, and we could have our own honey too.. :)
Oh, and when you have made them, you might want to drop a note to the relevant post on Dan’s forum – link is here. I think you need to join in order to post, but it’s just a case of registering.
Haha, Celia, too funny! Yes, I gave the scoring a go… the information was most helpful although I think I got slightly carried away with the ‘pressing down and pulling up’ action. Besides coming apart very easily along each ‘eighth’, the scoring sections also seemed to want to come apart! Ah well…gentle handling for those who are eating. The knife also worked better after having some oil brushed onto it every other row. And Yes! Am loving the homemade yoghurt in bread, so much fun :)
Aaah, Christine, thank you for the headsup there. I’ll make sure not to score too vigorously!
Wow those the bun looks so perfect… they sounds soft and delicious. I wanna try this with big burger…:)
No other series that I’m aware of :-( I read his blog though.
Brydie, you really should try and watch the River Cottage series if you haven’t already seen them. They’re the original sustainable living programmes, and Gourmet Farmer is very similar to that, both in premise and format. And if you like Matthew Evans, you are going to love Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. :)
I’m looking forward to baking bread in the coming weeks and this looks yummy, especially as burger buns. It is wonderfult o see the way your clucking chics are doing :-), proud mama of girls!
Tes, Ozoz, thank you! :)
Oz, yes, mad chicken mama, here I come.. :)
those look incredibly appealing, well raised and so fluffy, but with a nicely browned crust, too. i never buy hamburger buns, they’re all the spongy kind you can smush into a tiny ball. thanks for the alternative, i’m making these asap!
i love the snippets, by the way. great idea!
I have bookmarked this recipe – it will be the next thing I bake!!
Dana, Amanda, can’t wait to see what your versions! And I hope to read real-time feeds (like the snippets) on your blogs too – I’d love to keep up with what’s happening with you on a day to day basis. And it’s so much easier than writing a whole new post each time! :)
I can’t wait to try this recipe since it is grilling weather here. Thanks for sharing, as a bread baker it is always a treat to try out a new recipe!
Celia these look DIVINE! I had no idea that Dan Lepard is a nice guy but hey that’s even better! :D And they look just about the perfect bun for a burger too!
Cindy, it was actually written as a BBQ bun recipe, served with barbecued pork belly!
Lorraine, not only is he a nice guy, he’s also an Aussie! Originally from Melbourne, now baker extraordinaire in London, writing for the Guardian newspaper.
Thankyou Celia,
These look great as always. I look forward to trying the shaping/scoring method as well – looks practical! Dan is the best. I have the first few lines of the forward to THML on my fridge – they say it all.
Cheers, Craig
Hi Craig, always nice to hear from you! I hope you enjoy these as much as we have! :)
[…] kneading, and doable in our toaster oven. Several of my virtual friends made this bread and raved about it, but that’s a no-brainer: Dan Lepard is the man behind the […]