AI-generated image
Bürli
Crusty bread rolls
Bürli: crusty St. Gallen bread rolls baked in joined clusters
Walk into a bakery in St. Gallen, Appenzell or Thurgau in the morning and you will find trays of Bürli, rough, flour-dusted rolls baked in clusters of two or four that you tear apart at the table. Their dough is wet and lightly handled, so the crust bakes up thin and crackling while the inside stays open and chewy. In eastern Switzerland they are the classic partner for a grilled St. Galler Bratwurst at football matches and markets, and they're just as good with butter and cheese. Chef's tip: don't add extra flour to the sticky dough; the high water content is what gives Bürli their big holes, so use wet hands and a scraper instead.
- Total time
- 175 min
- Difficulty
- medium
- Serves
- 8
Ingredients
- 16 oz strong white bread flour
- 1 ¾ oz rye flour
- 1 ½ cups cold water
- ⅓ oz salt
- 3 tbsp extra flour for dusting
Shop this recipe on Amazon
What you'll need
Links open Amazon in a new tab. As an Amazon Associate, WhatToEat.Today earns from qualifying purchases.
Method
0/6 doneStep 1: Mix 16 oz strong white bread flour, 1 ¾ oz rye flour and ⅛ oz fast-action dried yeast in a large bowl. Add 1 ½ cups cold water and stir with a spoon until no dry flour remains. Leave for 20 minutes.
5 minStep 2: Sprinkle over ⅓ oz salt and squeeze it into the dough with a wet hand, then stretch and fold the dough over itself in the bowl for 2 minutes.
5 minStep 3: Cover and leave for 2 hours at room temperature, giving the dough 3 sets of stretch-and-folds in the first hour. It is ready when it has nearly doubled, is wobbly and full of bubbles.
120 minStep 4: Tip the dough onto a well-floured worktop without knocking it back. Dust the top with 3 tbsp extra flour for dusting and cut it into 8 rough squares with a scraper. Place them in pairs, touching, on a baking tray lined with paper.
10 minStep 5: Heat the oven to 475°F (fan 425°F) with a roasting tin on the bottom shelf. Let the rolls rest for 20 minutes.
20 minStep 6: Pour a cup of hot water into the roasting tin for steam and bake the rolls for 22–25 minutes until deep golden and they sound hollow when tapped underneath. Cool on a rack for 15 minutes before tearing apart.
25 min
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 210 kcal
- Protein
- 7 g
- Carbs
- 43 g
- Fat
- 1 g
- Fibre
- 2 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does bürli take?
- About 175 minutes in total: 150 minutes to prepare and 25 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 8 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegan?
- Yes. It has no meat, fish, dairy or eggs.
- Can I make it ahead?
- Yes. It keeps well, so you can cook it earlier in the day or the day before and reheat it.
- What can I use instead of strong white bread flour?
- Plain flour, same amount (the dough will be softer and rise a little less).
- What can I use instead of fast-action dried yeast?
- Fresh yeast, three times the weight.
Reviews
No reviews yet. Be the first to cook it.
Rate this recipe
Sign in to rate and review this recipe.
You might also like
SalufPuffy flatbread
Saluf is the everyday bread of Yemenite Israelis, slapped onto a hot pan or taboon in Rosh HaAyin and Sha'arayim in Rehovot and eaten with marak temani, hilbe and zhug. It is soft and blistered, thicker than pita and with no pocket, made to tear and dunk. Home cooks often roll it too thin, which gives a cracker; it should be about 1 cm thick so it stays pillowy. Chef's tip: cook it under a lid on a very hot dry pan for the first minute, which traps steam and puffs it the way a taboon does.
Israeli
ChipaCheese bread rings
In Paraguay you hear 'chipa, chipa!' called by vendors with big baskets on buses and street corners, and every family bakes it for Holy Week, when chipa is the food of Good Friday. Cassava starch, a little cornmeal, butter, eggs and a lot of hard cheese are kneaded into a dough scented with aniseed, shaped into rings or small rolls and baked in a hot oven, traditionally a domed clay tatakua. It's chewy, crisp outside and best warm with cocido (toasted yerba tea). Chef's tip: the dough should feel soft and slightly greasy; add milk a spoon at a time, as too much makes the chipa spread flat.
Paraguayan
Akki rottiRice flour flatbread
Akki rotti is the breakfast of Bengaluru and the old Mysore country: rice flour mixed with grated vegetables, dill, coconut and green chilli, patted out thin by hand straight onto a cold pan, then cooked until speckled and crisp at the edges. Every home has its own mix; dill (sabbasige soppu) is the classic flavour, but cucumber, carrot or fenugreek all turn up. It is eaten hot off the pan with coconut chutney or a dab of ghee and spicy chutney powder, and it is naturally gluten-free. Chef's tip: work with two pans in turn, patting the next rotti onto a cooled pan while the first one cooks; patting onto a hot pan burns your fingers and gives an uneven rotti.
Indian