Garlic Dough Balls
Fluffy, soft, buttery dough balls coated with garlic to share at your next dinner party
prep time 4 hours
total time 4 1/2 hours
makes approx 24 balls
Fluffy balls of garlic dough. What could be better? I know that for me, for a long time, baking bread was an area of cooking that I wasn’t ready to venture into. I saw it as complicated and difficult. But since I’ve started baking more, I’ve realised this was a complete misconception. This garlic dough recipe is super simple, and hard to get wrong. All it takes it a bit of time allowing the dough to prove, and some shaping of the dough balls. What you end up with are the most delicious buns flavoured perfectly with garlic butter, that taste even better than anything you’d buy because you made them yourself!
All you’ll need is:
500g white bread flour
7g (1 packet) fast-action (instant) yeast
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
15ml olive oil
150ml unsweetened, room temperature vegan milk
175ml lukewarm water
Start by adding the flour, yeast and salt to a mixing bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer. Make sure to not let the salt touch the yeast, as this will kill the yeast. Then add in your olive oil, milk and water. Knead with a dough hook for five minutes.
If not using a stand mixer, knead on a lightly floured surface for about ten minutes. Do this until soft and elastic.
Set the dough aside, cover and leave to prove for an hour or two until doubled in size.
Now your dough has doubled, remove from the bowl and knock it back by pressing out the air with your fingertips. Cut the dough in half and start rolling each half into a ball by pulling the outside edges inwards to the centre, rotating and repeating. This will create tension, and should start to create a large dough ball. Keep pulling the edge into the middle, rotating and pulling into the middle and so on. Turn the balls upside down, so that the fold in the middle is on the base, then cover and leave for 10 minutes.
Now we have our two balls, we can divide these into smaller dough balls. Keep cutting the dough in half until you have approximately 24 balls. You can go a step further by weighing out your dough to get the perfectly even dough balls, but if you’re going to be scoffing them anyway I don’t ever bother!
Roll each dough ball into a ball in the same way you did with the original halves, by folding the outside into the middle, rotating and repeating to create tension and a tight ball. Flip the dough ball over so the folds are on the base.
Lightly grease a cake tin (ideally one with a loose bottom), or if you don’t have one then you can just use a baking tray with a baking sheet or silicone mat. Start arranging the dough balls from the centre outwards to create a perfect circle of dough balls. Cover and leave again to prove for another hour.
Now the dough balls are ready for the garlic butter! Melt your vegan butter, and add in the garlic and salt. Brush over the dough balls gently (be careful to not knock them back at all) and bake in a preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Make sure to keep an eye on them, as because they are covered in the butter the tops will brown quicker than usual.
When they’re ready, remove from the cake tin by releasing the loose bottom, serve up with extra garlic butter on the side for dipping, then tear and share!
INGREDIENTS
Dough
500g white bread flour
7g (1 packet) fast action (instant) yeast
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
15ml olive oil
150ml unsweetened, room temperature vegan milk
175ml lukewarm water
Garlic Butter
50g vegan butter
2 cloves garlic, grated
Pinch of sea salt
METHOD
Add the flour, then the yeast and sugar to a mixing bowl or bowl of a stand mixer. Add the salt to the other side of the bowl (salt and yeast mustn’t mix yet, as the salt will kill the yeast). Next add the olive oil, milk, and water and knead with the dough hook for about 5 mins. If kneading by hand, knead on a lightly floured work surface for about 10 mins, until soft and elastic.
Place the dough in a bowl, cover and leave for 1 to 2 hours until doubled in size.
Remove the dough from the bowl and press all over the dough with your finger tips to remove the air.
Cut the dough in half, and roll each piece into a ball by pulling the dough into itself in the middle, then going round and round to create tension.
Leave to prove for 10 mins, covered.
After 10 mins, take the two balls, and cut in half and half again, until you have 24 even pieces. If you want the dough balls to be perfectly even, you can weigh them out individually.
Roll each piece into a ball, the same as before, by gathering the edge and bringing to the middle, going round and round, until you have a tight little ball. Then flip the dough ball over.
Arrange the balls in a circle starting from the middle, working in a lightly greased round cake tin (I used one with a loose bottom). If you don’t have a tin, simply arrange on a silicone (or parchment) lined baking tray.
Cover and leave for an hour until doubled.
When the dough balls have proved, melt the butter, then add the garlic and a pinch of salt. Gently brush all over the dough balls with the garlic butter, taking care not to deflate the dough, and bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, until golden brown.
notes
Make extra garlic butter for dipping! Simply make the same mixture from the ingredients, except don’t melt the butter. Just stir through the garlic and salt into the butter, and serve in a dish alongside your dough balls. Enjoy the dough balls hot, and it’ll melt the butter as you dip.
You can also add fresh herbs such as parsley to the garlic butter, with a little dried oregano and lemon zest for a change.
