Bolas de Mafra Rolls – Portugal

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The Pão de Mafra has a soft and fluffy interior and a crispy crust. Proper baking requires specific times of kneading and baking. This will provide the honeycomb structure and a crunchy, golden crust. (Full disclosure: this attempt did not have a fluffy interior, but a great flavor and nice crust.)

To be “true” Mafra bread it should be made with wild yeast native to the Mafra region of Portugal and traditionally the flour is artisanal ground, which really means it was processed locally by whatever means were available in Mafra (west central Portugal.)

This is a very high hydration (~78%) bread. It is supposed to have a short knead and rise. This results in a very slack dough, even after rising, portioning and resting. I tried to just wet my hand and form the dough into boules. It was just too wet and wouldn’t form a ball. I ended up dusting my work surface with some extra flour and dusted the tops of each boule. I was able to tension the rolls to provide some shape.

Next time I may do a stretch and fold rather than standard kneading. I doubt any Portuguese will be critiquing them anyway.

Bolas de Mafra Rolls – Portugal

INGREDIENTS
Starter
4 g (½ tsp) active dry yeast
37 g water
63 g bread flour

Mafra bread dough
400 g water
100 g starter
500 g bread flour
1 Tbl salt
7 g (2 ¼ tsp) active dry yeast

METHOD
Starter

  1. Mix 37 g of ~100º F water and ½ tsp of yeast and let rest for 10 min.
  2. Then add 63 g of flour and mix
  3. Cover with a clean and damp cloth and let it rest until it doubles in size.
    Mafra bread dough
  4. Mix 100 g water at ~100º F and 20 g yeast and rest for 10 min.
  5. Mix in 100 g of flour until well combined
  6. Add the remaining 400 g flour, the starter, salt and water.
  7. Knead with a dough hook for 8 minutes in a stand mixer
  8. Transfer the dough to a large lightly oiled bowl and let it rise for about 1 hour or until doubled.
  9. Preheat the oven to 400º F
  10. Shape the dough into a boule or ball and let it rest for another 15 minutes (I like to mold in the ball shape).
  11. Bake for 30 – 45 minutes until the internal temperature reaches 200º F.

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