2/4 Shortening and Bread Fats Percentages

Compare a finger bun to a long roll.

For staters the comparison of a finger bun and a long roll can begin with the recipe. The recipe for a sweet white dough from which finger buns come from are:

Bakers Flour………100%
Salt………………..2%
Improver…………..1%
Sugar………………8%
Yeast………………8%
Water………………55%
Oil…………………5%

EYF……………….1.79


The recipe for a white dough from which long rolls come from are:

Bakers Flour………….100%
Salt…………………..2%
Improver……………..1%
Oil……………………1%
Water…………………60%

EYF……………………1.66

By comparing the two recipes it is noted that the sweet dough has sugar, whereas the white dough does not, and more oil and yeast is present in the sweet dough.

Flour is the main ingredient in baking so without flour, there would be no product. Without salt, fermentation in dough is too rapid, and the baked product becomes too coarse. With too much salt, the fermentation process is slowed, and the bread becomes soggy. Salt strengthens gluten and helps it to expand, improves the colour of baked products, salt simply gives the product taste. Sugar during fermentation, part of the sugar is converted into a form that can be used as food for the yeast. Starches are converted into sugar that produces carbon dioxide gas and alcohol and that causes the dough to expand, making it softer and more flexible, (this is why a sweet dough feels softer compared to a white dough). Oil within the doughs act as a preservative, which lubricates the gluten in doughs, higher levels of oil decreases yeast activity (therefore is why sweet white dough has 8% yeast). Higher levels of oils makes moulding and sheeting simpler, as well as giving the final product more crumb texture, crust character, colour and easier to slice. But to much oil retards fermentation and no oil produces crusty bread and a shorter shelf life (freshness reduced).

Further study into the comparison of long rolls and finger buns are:

Long Rolls
· Have a scaling weight of 3kg. (100g) roll
· Trayed 3x5 on perforated fluted tray
· Can be seeded
· Baked for 18mins at 215 degrees with steam

Finger Buns
· Scaling weight of 2.4kg (80g) roll
· Trayed 7x4 on papered baking tray
· Baked for 200 degrees’ for 15mins
· Bun washed after baking completed
· Are decorated with icing

In the poseted blog above this one are 6 pictures of finger buns and long rolls. In the top left hand picture the roll on the left is the long roll and the finger bun on the right. The crust character, i.e. the ideal crust is usually considered to be short and crisp and brittle, as opposed to tough, hard and leathery. What can be seen in the picture is the use of more oil with the finger buns produced a soft short crust, and darker in colour. In the top right hand picture it is seen that there is more volume of the long roll, this characteristic is closely related to the lubricating effect of fat on the gluten structure, as a result of the less restricted expansion of the gas cells, giving the long roll more volume, i.e. making the long roll look bigger. In the middle left hand picture it is seen again the crust character of the finger bun compared to the long roll, by the shine on the surface. In the middle right hand picture the two rolls have been sliced in half, what is seen is that the slicing quality of bread is improved with more oil within a dough formula, Thinner and uniform cell walls improve crust character, and a lubricating effect reduced the drag of the blade when it was sliced. Crumb and texture are seen as the lubricating of the fat on the gluten structure enabled the more even and gentle expansion of the cell walls, this expansion created thinner walls, which produced a softer crumb. Thus which can be seen, as the long roll, crumbled when cut, whereas the finger bun sliced easily and fine. The bottom left picture is a close up of a finger bun; the finger bun will have a greater shelf life than the long roll, as more oil within the dough improved the keeping qualities. The bottom right picture is a close up of the long roll, which again shows the texture of the rolls surface, and can be seen that the long roll is harder than the finger bu, as the long roll has a crustier surface.