Dampfnudel – sweet steamed buns, with sauces on the side
Dampfnudel – so fun to say, but are they fun to bake?
Actually, no oven involved, so I’ll say make instead of bake!
Dampfnudel are sweet steamed buns that should have a caramelized bottom and soft pillowy tops, a German specialty. I’d heard of these from Paul Hollywood in The Great British Bake Off, Season 4. Dampfnudel was the technical challenge of the episode, and most of the bakers did not know what dampfnudel were, and I didn’t either. I thought the word sounded very fun, which sparked me to attempt making some dampfnudel. Paul’s version included making 2 types of sauce that pairs well with the dampfnudel – a very smooth plum sauce and a vanilla sauce. I did not have any plums, so I just made the dampfnudel with vanilla sauce, and it was very much enough!
My first step was to get the dampfnudel ingredients ready (above image) –
- 500g bread flour (I had about 411 grams of bread flour left, so I put in 89 grams of all purpose flour)
- 100g sugar (granulated, regular sugar)
- 7g yeast
- 150ml warm milk (I used 2% since I ran out of whole milk)
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 70g unsalted butter, melted
- 2 tbsp lemon juice (I didn’t have lemons / lemon zest, so I substituted with lemon juice)
Once I got the above ingredients all ready, I decided to dump everything into a mixing bowl and have my KitchenAid do the kneading for me instead of kneading it all by hand. I first mixed the ingredients together a bit, and then had the bread hook on my mixer knead it for around 5 minutes.
I placed the kneaded dough in an oiled bowl and let it proof for around an hour. It is so amazing how yeast does that to dough!
While the dough was proofing, I made the vanilla sauce –
Ingredients
- 150ml milk (again, I used 2% instead of whole)
- 150ml heavy cream
- 3 large egg yolks (saving the whites for something else!)
- 50g sugar (granulated)
- 2tsp all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp vanilla extract (I did not have vanilla bean paste, so I used a bit more extract than 1/2 tsp)
2 Mixtures and Combine
I put the milk and the cream in a pan and started to heat the milk/cream mixture. While the milk/cream mixture was heating up (to get to the almost boil point), I mixed the egg yolks, sugar, flour, and vanilla extract for a few minutes until the mixture was a very pale yellow. When the milk/cream mixture was hot enough, I poured the very pale yellow mixture into the milk/cream and constantly stirred it for 4 minutes until the mixture thickened and little and bubbles formed on the surface. I turned off the heat and let it sit, stirring it once a while before pouring it into a separate bowl and wrapped it with cling wrap to prevent a visible layer of skin from forming on top of the vanilla sauce.
When the dough was done proofing, I gathered the ingredients for the poaching liquid–
- 25g unsalted butter
- 150ml milk (again, I used 2% instead of whole)
- 25g sugar (granulated)
Form the balls and let them rise
I weighed the dough and it was 927 grams (pretty close to the 900g of one of the contestant’s dough). With the help of the scale I divided the dough into 12 equal pieces (~77g) while the poaching liquid cooked (about 5 minutes under low-medium heat for the sugar to melt), stirring in between forming each ball of dough. Once the poaching liquid was done and taken off the heat, and once all 12 balls were formed, I placed the 12 balls of dough right onto the poaching liquid. I let it stand for 15 minutes, giving it another good rise.
Let the dough balls steam to become bread
Then I put a lid on the pan with the poaching liquid and dough balls and let it steam for around 20 minutes under low heat. The recipe mentioned to steam for 25 – 30 minutes, and I initially had a timer set for 25 minutes, but the pan I was using was not a non-stick saute pan (they mentioned a large, non-stick saute pan with a lid), and I accidentally used the quick-boil burner. Between the non-non-stick pan and the quick-boil burner, the poaching liquid evaporated much quicker than intended. It started to smell burnt, so I turned off the stove after ~20 minutes, and took the lid off. The recipe suggests letting it continue to cook with the lid off for an additional 5 – 10 minutes, so I let it “cook” for an additional 5 minutes off the heat with the lid off. I thought my dampfnudel would not be cooked all the way through but surprisingly they were not raw! Success!
The bottoms, however, were burnt and not a beautiful caramelized brown. The dampfnudel were not easy to remove. Most of the bottoms were stuck to my non-non-stick pan, but I’d like to think that if I used the proper equipment/tools to make dampfnudel, they would have come out beautifully.
Time to Enjoy
I tried one with the vanilla sauce, and they were delicious! The husband and the kids enjoyed it too, but our home still smells like burnt dough.
Overall, dampfnudel were not too difficult to make. I rushed rolling the dough into balls so they did not look picture-perfect, and I burnt the bottoms, but the dampfnudel were still delicious with the vanilla sauce. The substitutions I did were not a complete fail! I had a great time making these (so tempted to say bake, but these were not put in an oven), but at the end of the day it would have been so much easier to buy some rolls from a bakery.
Paul Hollywood’s Recipe and Directions (from https://thegreatbritishbakeoff.co.uk/recipes/all/paul-hollywood-dampfnudel/)
For the dampfnudel: 500g strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting 100g caster sugar 7g instant yeast 150ml warm whole milk 2 large eggs, lightly beaten 70g unsalted butter, melted Finely grated zest of 1 lemon | Step 1 Tip the flour into a large mixing bowl. Add the sugar to one side of the bowl and the yeast to the other. Add the milk, eggs and butter and turn the mixture round with your fingers, until you’ve picked up all the flour from the sides of the bowl. Use the mixture to clean the insides of the bowl and continue until the mixture forms a rough dough. Step 2 Tip the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead for 5–10 minutes. Work through the initial wet stage until the dough starts to form a soft, smooth skin. Scatter the lemon zest on top of the dough and knead until evenly incorporated. Step 3 Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with cling film and leave to rise for at least 1 hour until doubled in size. Step 4 For the plum sauce, roughly chop the plums, discarding the stones. Tip the plums into a pan with the orange juice. Sprinkle over the sugar and cook over a low heat until the sugar dissolves. Step 5 Increase the heat and boil for 10 minutes, mashing the plums with a wooden spoon until thickened. Remove from the heat and add the cinnamon. Leave to cool slightly then blend to a thick sauce. Set aside. Step 6 For the vanilla sauce, heat the milk and cream in a saucepan over a medium heat to just below boiling point. In a large bowl, whisk the egg yolks, vanilla paste, flour and caster sugar together until pale and fluffy. Pour over the warmed milk, whisking continuously. Pour the mixture into a heavy-based pan and cook over a very low heat for 3–4 minutes stirring continuously until smooth and thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove from the heat and set aside. Cover the surface of the sauce with cling film, to prevent a skin forming. Step 7 Turn the risen dough onto a lightly floured surface. Turn inwards repeatedly until all the air is knocked out. Divide the dough into 12 pieces and roll into balls. Step 8 For the poaching liquid, heat the butter, milk and sugar in a large heavy-based saucepan (with a tight-fitting lid) over a medium heat for 5 minutes until the sugar dissolves. Remove from the heat and add the dough balls, ensuring all are sitting on the base of pan, then leave to stand for 15 minutes until doubled in size. Step 9 Return the pan to a low–medium heat and cook, covered with a lid, for 25–30 minutes. Remove the lid and cook for a further 5–10 minutes until the bases are golden and caramelised. Step 10 Remove from the heat and carefully remove the dampfnudel from the pan. Serve with the plum and vanilla sauce. |
For the plum sauce: 4 ripe plums juice of 1 medium orange 50g demerara sugar pinch of ground cinnamon | |
For the vanilla sauce: 150ml whole milk 150ml double cream 3 large egg yolks 50g caster sugar 2 tsp plain flour ½ tsp vanilla bean paste | |
For the poaching liquid: 25g unsalted butter 150ml whole milk 25g caster sugar |
