When you hear Waterford, you’re likely to think of its famous crystal. However, Waterford is equally famous for its Blaa, which is a soft white bread roll with a floury exterior. It is the quintessential morning roll that locals fill with sausages, eggs, crispy bacon, or whatever else suits their fancy. They’re perfect for St. Patrick’s Day.
Ingredients for Waterford Blaa:
I used the following ingredients for this characteristic Irish roll: Water, sugar, salt, unsalted butter, bread flour, and yeast.
Making the Waterford Blaa:
I’m sure that a bread machine was not in the picture during the Blaas’ long history. However, I think that the bread machine is the only way to go for making yeasted bread since it does most of the work. I added all of the ingredients to the pan of my bread machine, ending with the yeast. Then, I selected the dough cycle, and walked away.
When the dough cycle finished, I partitioned the dough into 12 2.15-ounce (61 grams) pieces. I rolled each piece into a ball, and coated it in flour.
Then, I flattened the ball between my hands and placed it on a parchment lined baking sheet that I had sprinkled with flour. Once I had formed all of the rolls, I sprinkled additional flour on the top of the rolls. I placed them in my electric oven that I had heated for exactly 1 minute and 45 seconds. This is a trick that I learned from Julia Child! It produces the perfect environment for the rolls to rise. After 1 hour and 20 minutes, the rolls were ready to bake.
I popped them into a preheated 400° F oven for 25 minutes until they were golden brown. After I removed the rolls from the oven, I brushed of the excess flour. Then, I transferred the Waterford Blaa to a wire rack to cool completely.
I ended up with a dozen Waterford Blaas that had the characteristic floury exterior, and soft interior. Yum!
- 1 cup plus 3 Tablespoons (9.5 ounces, 269 ml) water
- 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1/2 Tablespoon fine sea salt
- 1 Tablespoon (0.5 ounce, 14 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 3 cups (15 ounces, 425 grams) bread flour
- 1 Tablespoon instant yeast
- Additional flour for dusting
Place all ingredients except for the extra flour for dusting in the bread machine pan in the order listed. Select the dough cycle; press start.
Line a 13 x 18-inch half sheet pan with parchment paper. Sprinkle flour over surface; set aside.
When dough cycle finishes, transfer dough to floured surface. Partition into 12 2.15-ounce pieces of dough. Roll into a ball. Roll the dough ball in the additional flour. Flatten between palms, and place on prepared baking pan. Repeat with remaining dough. You should end up with 4 rows of 3.
Sprinkle with additional flour. Allow to rise for 60 to 80 minutes, or until all rolls are puffy and touching adjacent rolls.*
Preheat oven to 400° F.
Bake rolls in preheated oven for 25 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from oven and brush excess flour from rolls.
Transfer to wire rack to cool completely
Yield: 12 Waterford Blaas
*To produce the perfect environment for the rolls to rise, heat electric oven for exactly 1 minute and 45 seconds.
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