Malt Scrolls

These take three days to make. Don't freak out. During most of that time, the dough (and you) are resting. Start these on Friday and by Sunday morning you can have these heavenly scrolls on your breakfast table. While your dough spends most of the time chilling in your refrigerator, you can be chilling on the sofa enjoying a weekend-long Mad Men marathon. I really don't see a down side to that scenario at all.


Malt Scrolls
slightly adapted from here
Makes 6 double scrolls

For the Starter:
1 heaped tablespoon dried yeast
1 generous tablespoon malt extract
50ml lukewarm water
100ml lukewarm milk
100g baker's flour

For the Dough:
625g baker's flour
1 tablespoon fine sea salt
250ml lukewarm water

Make the Starter:
put the yeast, malt extract and water into a medium non-reactive bowl and whisk to dissolve the yeast and malt. Add the milk and flour and beat briefly until you have a smooth batter. Cover the bowl with a lid or plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Make the Dough:
The next day, put the flour and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the dough hook. Mix briefly to combine. Add the starter and water and beat on low speed for 15 minutes.

Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Leave to prove in a warm spot for about 1 1/2 hours, or until doubled in size.

Line two baking sheets with baking paper. Set aside.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board and knead for 5 minutes. Shape the dough into a square and use a rolling pin to roll it out to a 20cm x 20cm square. Cut the dough into 6 even strips. Take one strip of dough and roll the top half into a coil. Roll the bottom half into a coil in the other direction. You will have an S-shaped double scroll. Lay the scrolls on the prepared pans. Cover the pans loosely with plastic wrap, making sure they are sealed, and place the trays in the refrigerator overnight.

The next day, remove the trays from the refrigerator and leave them in a warm spot for about 1 hour, until puffy and doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 250C. Take the plastic wrap off the trays, mist the tops of the scrolls with water and sprinkle with a little flour. Pop the trays in the oven, immediately reduce the tempurature to 200C and bake for 35 - 45 minutes, until they are golden brown and cooked through. Leave them to cool slightly on a wire rack before pulling the scrolls apart to serve.