As much as I don’t mind making breads that take at least two days to complete, sometimes a freshly baked batch of yeasty goodness just has to come out of the oven right quick. Using pre-ferments and soakers are just two of many techniques for making bread with fully-developed flavor but, uh, they had to be made yesterday.
Planning ahead is necessary because any type of yeast bread can benefit greatly from a longer and slower fermentation. This mantra holds especially true for lean breads where flavor development depends heavily on small amounts of yeast and lots of patience.
If the main flavoring came from other sources, say spices, a bit of garlic, and maybe a sprinkling of chickpea flour, then a larger amount of yeast can be used to make the dough rise quickly. In this case, the yeast primarily acts as a leavener instead of flavor enhancer.
This seems to be the thinking behind the curry roll formula from Austrian baker Gerhard Ströck. These pungent garlic-laced buns are finished in about two hours if you skip the much-maligned “cool on a wire rack” step. Dinner rolls are much better fresh from the oven anyway.
