Buttery Sourdough Buns

I explained before that in my opinion bread consists of only four ingredients: flour, water, salt and (some) yeast. But these soft dinner rolls are so tasteful that I sometimes abandon my principles. This American recipe I found on the website of King Arthur Flour and I adjusted it to make it Aga-proof (and changed the cups and spoons into grams). Thanks to my artistic friends Ellen van Eldik and Dorian Hiethaar for photographing my bread on the colorful arranged dinner table above.

Ingredients:
- 400 g flour
- 40 g sourdough starter
- 6 g dry yeast
- 15 g sugar
- 1 large egg
- 70 g soft butter
- 6 g salt
- 160 g lukewarm water
- 50 g soft butter for topping

Combine all of the dough ingredients in a large bowl and mix and knead to make a soft, smooth dough. It takes 15 minutes kneading at least. Cover the bowl (I use a transparent plastic dust bin liner for this) and let the dough rise on a warm place until doubled in size (this takes 1 1/2 tot 2 hours). The best place for proofing dough is on a rack on the warming plate of an Aga!
Gently deflate the dough and transfer it to a lightly floured work surface.
Roll and pat the dough into a rough rectangle approximately 30 x 40 cms. Spread half of the soft butter over the dough and roll it into a log, starting with a long side.
Cut the log in 16 slices (2,5 cms), using a sharp knife. Lightly grease two 20 to 24 cms round cake pans and arange 8 buns in each pan.

Cover the pans and let the buns rise for an hour, until they are noticeably puffy.

Uncover the pans and brush each bun with some butter (use half of the remaining butter for this).
Bake the buns for about half an hour on a rack high in the baking oven (spray some water on the flour of the oven after 2 minutes baking).
Remove the buns from the oven and turn them out of the pan onto a rack. Brush with the remaining soft butter. Serve hot or warm.