Burger/hotdog buns

The hole in my bread-making repertoire was, until yesterday, burger-bun shaped. Despite making my own sourdough, bagels, monkey bread, pizza, I hadn't managed to make (in truth hadn't ever really tried as I thought it was beyond me) any sort of soft roll to enclose a burger or sausage or hot dog. And any time we bought them in the supermarket, those cotton woolly rolls, I felt more annoyed with myself.

I really dislike supermarket bread.

Yesterday we had people round and we were going to make spicy butternut squash soup and sausages in a roll. So I determined to finally make my own rolls.

I remembered, a while back, Dan Lepard had written about making burger buns (the article and full recipe is here), and the response had been that they were very good. So I gave them a go.

Because we had so many people round I doubled the recipe, and I hope Dan will forgive me for reproducing it here, but I just find it easier to have everything in one place.

You need: (Dan says this makes about 6-8, I made them smaller and submarine roll shaped and got about 24 out of doubling the mixture).

275g sliced white onion
50ml sunflower oil plus extra for greasing the surface you knead on
75g low fat yoghurt (I used Greek yoghurt, as that's what I had)
2tsp of honey (oil the spoon first so the honey just drops off)
1 medium egg
1 sachet or 7g fast-action yeast (I use Dove's Farm)
75g wholemeal (normal, plain) flour
425g strong white bread flour
2tsp salt (I grind up Maldon sea salt)
poppy seeds


The first thing you do is put the onions, with the oil and a bit of water, into a pan and let them sweat until very soft and translucent, with all of the moisture gone. Leave to cool then tip into a large bowl (with any oil that's still in the pan). To this add yog, honey and egg. Then add 125ml warm water and the yeast, the flours and salt. Mix together. You will very likely have to add more water - Dan suggests 50ml - it depends on how much moisture is in the onions and how you like your dough to be. I'm quite confident now with a very soft dough. But add the water bit by bit to see how you go.

Leave for 10 mins then tip it out onto an oiled surface and knead lightly for 10 seconds. Cover with a bowl or put back in the bowl and cover..and repeat this twice more - leaving it for ten mins then kneading it for ten seconds.

After the third knead, leave it covered and undisturbed for one hour.

Then take bits off it and start shaping - either large round buns, or long ones, whatever you like. Put on a baking parchment lined tray. Brush with water and sprinkle on poppy seeds (or you know, any seeds you like or no seeds). Cover and leave to rise for about 90 mins - Dan says until they're 50% risen. In my kitchen (about 21 degrees) this timing was pretty spot on.

Put rolls into a preheated oven: 220C. Dan says 15 mins, mine were done in 10 (my oven is very hot), they're done when they're just "brown on top".

They are delicious - really soft and tasty. I didn't tell the children there was onion in the dough and they all seemed to love the rolls. And it saves having to add onions to the burger/hot dog, although you can add more if you want to. There's really no sharp taste of onion or anything like that. That said, if you want to leave the onion out, I asked Dan and he said "the precooking of the onions sweetens them and softens the flavour, but leave them out if you like and only add in half the oil to the dough."

Really top notch, so easy and delicious. I have frozen some for emergency burger needs.

Now, someone gave me a recipe for panettone last year: if it was you please could you let me have it again?

Absent but busy, baker

Anyone visiting this blog probably thinks I gave up on the sourdough.

Wrong!

I bake all our own bread several times a week! I just ordered a new banneton, this time going for the more expensive Matfer one at £26.99 (just saying it made my eyes water), rather than the cheaper one I got last time which has already fallen apart after 18 months use (the other, cheaper ones, are fine still but the 1K round one was the one I used most). Matfer are industrial strength so they should last. I did toy with Vannerie which are hand made but really, that is too much for me.

Am also toying with idea of baking cloche, anyone have one? I feel it's a bit superfluous as my oven is a great oven which makes lovely sourdough, and next year we're building a wood fired oven in the garden. But I did wonder if anyone had one, and if so what they thought of it?

I did mean to do a post over the summer, as I had so many enquiries about 'what to do with my starter when I go on holiday'. Honestly people. You just put it in the fridge, enjoy your holiday, and refresh * the starter when you get back. One friend even thought he had to bring the starter with him on holiday. I'd have loved to have seen customs deal with that.

*take out half of it, refresh with 125g strong white bread flour, 100g cold water, stir and leave for about 12 hours before using it to make dough.

Colomba - one of the most delicious things I've ever made

Colomba, soft, orangey, classy.

Colomba means dove in Italian and it's a traditional Easter cake. It's much like panettone - traditional Italian Christmas cake - except it doesn't have sultanas.


Both colomba and panettone use a biga - or sponge starter. I've never attempted panettone because it's not meant to be easy. Not difficult per se, but the recipe is long and there are various stages during which you really need to concentrate. Plus you need to hang panettone upside down when it's done (until it 'sets'). I was almost tempted last year when I found out that Patrick at Bakery Bits had started selling the waxed paper cases you need for panettone but then my mamma's friend bought an exceptional one back from Italy so I never bothered to make my own.

Then Patrick posted a recipe for colomba and started selling Aroma Veneziana which is rich with citrus and almond oils with a hint of vanilla. He also sells the colomba cases (I found the 750g ample big enough for the recipe below. You can make the cake in a traditional cake tin but the dove shape is traditional). So I decided to try it.

God it was delicious. One of the best things I've ever made. So good that I couldn't believe I'd actually made it myself. (I'm aware Easter has passed now, but this shouldn't put you off trying it.)

I made a few changes to Patrick's recipe which I've detailed below. I actually made two colomba cakes - retardeding the proof time on my first attempt because I ran out of time (I put it in the fridge at the stage marked * below, because from start to finish this cake takes quite a long time, you really need to start it in the morning) and cooked it for 40 mins. Refrigerating it didn't seem to affect it at all, if anything I think it was tastier. It was supremely moist - a tiny bit underdone and doughy at the very centre, but unnoticeable to all but me.  I cooked the second one for longer - probably 50 mins and it was more authentic 'colomba' but slightly dryer. My oven is ferocious so I cooked at more like 180/190C. Patrick's tip of putting silver foil on top is one to be followed, as the egg white/sugar coating burns easily. In fact I covered the whole of the colomba for the middle portion of the cooking time.

Anyway, this is what you need to do.

First stage: the sponge


15g caster sugar
100g warm water
3 egg yolks (reserve two egg whites, freeze the others if you don't know what to do with them immediately)
11g instant dried yeast
70g strong white bread flour

Mix together the sugar and water with the egg yolks; separately, mix together the yeast and flour and add this to the egg/sugar/water mixture. You get a thick batter. cover with cling film and leave for a good 30-40mins until it's really bubbly and frothy (note: my kitchen is about 20 degrees, if yours is warmer/cooler you'll nee to adjust the time accordingly).

Second stage: first  dough


The frothing, elastic sponge, as above.
75g warm water
45g very soft unsalted butter
6g dried yeast
210g strong white bread flour


Whisk the water into the sponge, then mix in the butter. Separately mix the flour and yeast together and add these to the sponge. You should have a thick, stick, moist batter. Cover with cling film and leave for about two hours, until doubled in volume.


Third stage: second dough


The first dough,  as above.
145g caster sugar
15g honey
3 egg yolks
grated zest of two oranges
2 teaspoons of Aroma Veneziana (this is my favourite big, I adore the smell and it gives you a hint of the good things to come).
115g very soft unsalted butter
250g strong white bread flour
5g sea salt, finely ground
150g chopped mixed peel


Take your first dough and now mix in the sugar, honey and egg yolks. It'll look a bit unpromising and 'separate' - don't panic. Add the Aroma Veneziana, the orange zest and butter, then the flour and salt. Now, Patrick didn't add the mixed peel til later (see his original recipe, link above), but I added mine here too. Mix all together.

Now here, Patrick says to knead until you have a soft, smooth, elastic dough. My dough was sticky and a bit unmanageable so I rested it for ten minutes, then gave it a light knead, rested it for ten minutes, then gave it a light knead, rested it for ten minutes, then gave it a light knead. I did this on a lightly oiled chopping board.

Then I picked up the original recipe which says to put it in a oiled bowl and cover with cling film * and leave to rise 'dramatically', Patrick says until it's about three times the original volume which takes about 3-4 hours.

(For the first colomba this * is where I refrigerated it and the next morning, took it out and let it sit all morning until it got to room temperature and then started to rise 'dramatically'.)

When that's done, Patrick cuts his dough in half and puts it in the case (after rolling it), one half making the 'wings' and one half the head to tail bit (so they overlap). I didn't do this, I cut three pieces to fit head to tail, and two for the wings, rolled it out to flatten it put it in the case and pinched the dough together.  


I found the case was quite floppy once the dough was in it, so I sat it on a baking tray and when the time came put the whole lot in the oven.


At this stage you let it sit and rise again for about 2-3 hours, until doubled in volume, covered with a damp tea towel. Mine easily took more like three hours. 

Fourth stage: the delicious topping


2 egg whites
25g caster sugar
25g ground almonds


crushed sugar cubes
flaked almonds

Just before baking you make a paste of the topping ingredients: 2 egg whites, 25g caster sugar, 25g ground almonds and put the whole lot on top of the colomba, spread out with a pastry brush/back of spoon to make sure every bit is covered. Please don't miss this bit - it's the topping which really makes it. Scatter broken up sugar cubes and flaked almonds on top - I used three sugar cubes and that was plenty.


Cook for 40 mins at 200C and check if it's done by putting a skewer in. If it's burning put silver foil on top. Even if it looks really done - do check with the skewer, if it comes out really gunky it's not done yet. 


I can't even begin to tell you how great this is. Patrick says it keeps for four days in a tin, but I made my two a week ago and although one is gone, the other is still superb. But if you do have any left you can always toast it/butter it. We eat it in the morning dipped in caffe latte.


This recipe seems long - it is. But take your time and try it. It's pretty fool proof considering the result!


Let me know how you get on...and don't save it just for Easter!

"There are buns for tea"

A bun. This one from the first batch, thus without its top hat of crushed sugar cubes and amaretti biscuits, which I now regard as obligatory.

As regular readers will know, I don't really like cooking with yeast. I trust it to the breadmachine - see bagels - but making dough from scratch, I don't really like using yeast.

Which is why I'm so comfortable, and confident, with sourdough.

But recently a recipe for Panettone teacakes on the Bakery Bits blog caught my eye, or rather, the Tweet advertising them did. So I tried them. The first time, I didn't read the recipe properly and only realised you needed white chocolate when it was too late. I had dark chocolate (I always have dark chocolate) which I thought I could substitute because I thought the recipe might use the chocolate as 'chips'. But it doesn't - it's used as as lard substitute. See Dan Lepard's original recipe here from 2007, which explains it all rather beautifully (one of the many reasons that I love Dan's recipes is that he tells you a bit about the whole chemistry of it too, so I always learn something, beyond how to make a new bun or bread).

Anyway I left the white chocolate out in my first batch, and also didn't have enough candied peel. And used mostly sultanas rather than raisins. And didn't have the recommended topping. But they were still great if a little less sweet than I think they should be. The second time I made them I had all the relevant ingredients and they were strangely, slightly less soft but completely delicious. These are the new house teacakes.

But the dough makes quite a lot (about 14) and that's too much for us. So I decided to freeze some.

"But won't you kill it if you freeze it?" asked my boyfriend.
"Er, I don't know.." I answered (articulate, me)

So I did what any sane person does these days. No, I didn't ask on FB, I asked on Twitter. If anyone knew, they weren't saying. Joanna from Zeb Bakes urged me to be brave and try it. So I did. I placed half the dough in the freezer (at the stage just before you'd divide them up). A few days later, when teacakes were called for (freshly baked, and buttered, they make an excellent after swimming treat I've discovered), I got the dough out, defrosted it, shaped it, put it in the warming drawer to rise and they were absolutely perfecto.

The Aroma Panettone is an absolute must here.

These teacakes have promoted me and my friend Jo (a different Jo to Zeb Bakes Jo!) to constantly say "there's buns for tea" now. We've decided that there are few words more jolly in the English language than 'buns', it's so comforting, so Enid. Ironically the  Railway Children was on today and they said, at least twice "we can have buns for tea".

Anyway here's what  you need to do to have buns for tea:

14g instant yeast
125g warm water
600g strong white bread flour
50g milk - any type
50g honey
25g caster sugar
75g white chocolate, melted
150g sultanas (original calls for currants, I prefer sultanas)
150g mixed candied peel
Zest of one orange
1 teaspoon of salt
3 large eggs, 3 egg yolks (yikes I know, a lot of eggs!) plus one extra egg for the egg wash although I find milk works almost as well and is less wasteful, especially if you freeze the mixture and make in batches.
2 teaspoons of Aroma Panettone

Amaretti biscuits
La Perruche sugar lumps

Measure out the flour. From the 600g, take 3 tablespoons and put that in a bowl with the yeast and water. Mix it up til it's all dissolved. Leave it for about 15/20mins, until there is obvious bubbling. Because I whisk my mixture up, be sure the bubbles you see are the yeast working (these look more like geyser bubbles) rather than just 'whisk' bubbles. On a hot day you'll see this fairly quickly. My kitchen is quite cool and it can take 20 mins plus.

Heat the milk up, then add the chocolate, sugar and honey. There isn't much milk so you do think "how will the chocolate melt" but it does. If you get stuck you can always just very gently heat it up again, but I've never found the need. To this add the sultanas, peel, zest, salt and Aroma Panettone.

Separately, whisk the eggs together - the 3 whole eggs and the 3 yolks (freeze the whites, I've got a killer Madeleine recipe coming soon). You're just combining them, you don't have to whip them into a frenzy. To these add the yeast mixture and then the milk/peel mixture. Then the flour. Use a dough hook and a food mixer if you like, or do it by hand.

 Just until it's all incorporated.

Leave the dough to rest for ten minutes. Then you give it a light knead, on an oiled surface, with a 30 minute rest each time. Do this three times (so to recap, after the first mixing, leave the dough for 10 mins, then light knead, rest for thirty mins, light knead, rest for 30 mins, light knead, rest for 30 mins.

Egg-wash on, about to go into the oven

Now divide the dough up into a bun size. Patrick said 100g a piece, I find my buns are slightly smaller. Roll into a ball with your hand and place on a buttered baking tray (you'll be cooking on this same tray so make sure it fits into your oven). Flatten to about 2cm thickness, or leave thicker if you prefer (they do rise up). Ideally don't have them touching but if they do it really doesn't matter - you just tear them apart when they're cooked.

Now leave them to double in size. This takes about 30 mins in my warming drawer.

Beat the last egg and brush over the top of the teacake just as you're ready to bake them and sprinkle over the crushed amaretti biscuits and sugar lumps. You can live without them of course but they really do add something.

Patrick recommended cooking his buns for 15 mins at 220, mine can be done in half that time (our oven is practically industrial in its heat), so set a timer and check for yourself.

These are lovely on their own or, you know, split and buttered...

Fresh out of the oven..

Pete's pizza dough

This isn't sourdough, and it's a bread machine recipe. But it's a lovely pizza dough, and one which Pete, my partner, has perfected over the years.

I don't understand people who ooh-ahh over the fact that we make our own pizzas. It's simplicity itself and you can make them in advance.

I make these in two Mermaid trays - but I like them thin. If you like your pizzas thick well, I'm not sure I have much to say to you really. Pizzas shouldn't be thick.

From start to finish you can have pizzas on the table in about fifty-five minutes. The pizza-dough cycle on my bread machine takes 40 mins, then you just roll out, put toppings on and they're cooked in 8-10 mins. And for those of you who have children, this is a lovely thing to get them involved in.

Here's what you need (Pete works in ounces, I work in grams, I've kept true to his recipe here):

8floz hand hot water
2tablespoons olive oil
12oz of plain white, soft flour (note: not bread flour)
1teaspoon caster sugar
1teaspoon salt
2teaspoons yeast



You put all the ingredients in your bread machine in the order the manufacturer recommends, above is the order I put mine in as that's what Panasonic recommends. The pizza dough cycle is, as I said, 40 mins long on my machine. (The regular dough cycle is 2.20mins so that should give you an idea, you don't want a long cycle.)

The pizza dough before rolling

When it's done, oil a suitable surface (I use a very large chopping board so that I can move it about if need be) and your hands, and take the dough out. Sometimes this dough is really sticky, other times more manageable. It makes for a better dough when it's stickier (higher hydration) so there is a compensation.

Because I use the dough across two baking trays, I cut mine in half; but if you're making - say - four round pizzas, cut into four..etc. I'm sure you can work it out..

Roll out the dough, as thin as you can, to fit your tray/tin. If you can do that thing of throwing the dough up in the air to make it thin, great: do teach me how to do it too!

When it's rolled out to an approximate size, I lay it on the tray (note: I oil the tray and coat it with polenta/cornmeal), rest if for five mins and then stretch it into the corners/sides.

Now you can, at this stage, go straight into doing the toppings and either cook it or put it in the fridge (naked or with all the toppings on, I put mine in naked). You can also freeze it (in which case cook straight from frozen, just give it a few more mins). I cover mine with cling film place one tray on top of another (if no toppings on) to save space in the fridge.

When you're ready to cook, if you haven't already, put on whatever toppings you want. For the tomato bit on the top, I use Waitrose Sundried Tomato paste - a tiny amount spread on the pizza base (it's quite salty so go carefully). Then I put on artichoke hearts, salami slices, olives, ham, mushrooms, mozzarella, asparagus if in season etc. Or just the tomato paste and some mozzarella for those who like it really simple (boring..) Just before it goes into the oven, splash some olive oil on it and cook it for 7-10 mins. My oven is very hot and has a pizza setting, yours might too. You can tell when it's done as it will have bubbled up and be golden.

Take out and slide onto a chopping board, slice up, eat and feel very virtuous. Pizza doesn't have to be unhealthy..or at least whilst not pretending this is a health food, it's as healthy as pizza can be.

La pizza, I put the rocket on after it came out of the oven

Le Couronne, or the loaf with the hole

I got really excited when Patrick from Bakery Bits, tweeted to say he had a new banneton in stock in a couronne, or ring shape. It was in cane, which I've never used before (all my bannetons are wicker and lined in linen).

I've a healthy collection of bannetons that I've built up over the last year, but in baton and round shapes. I really fancied a couronne shaped one. (I've been obsessed with round bread with a hole in it since my purchase of a Tortana from Flour City.)

So I bought one, and also took the opportunity to replenish my Aroma Panettone, which immediately transports me back to my childhood (you seen that scene in Ratatouille where whathisface the restaurant critic, goes back in time to his mother's kitchen? That's what this does to me).

Anyway, I was EXCITED about it. Made a batch of my every day bread, put it into the fridge for a retarded proof and got up in the morning.

First thing: the dough stuck to the banneton (the middle bit is wood). Not a good start. I slashed and cooked it and the hole completely closed up so that I ended up with a round loaf with a tiny dimple.

Not good.

I emailed Patrick. He recommended rice flour to aid non-stick (I had used rye). That remedied the sticking situation, but I just couldn't get the hole to keep. (Sadly no pictures of bread proved in this banneton as I just never had a camera handy.)

When you cook bread, you want it to rise, but you can't choose where it rises, so any hole you make (like in bagels) has to be bigger than you want it to end up with. But I just couldn't get the hole to stay.

I knew the fabulous (and far more experienced baker than I) Joanna from Zeb Bakes had also bought one, so I asked her what she thought. She was also struggling with it. We both thought the middle bit should be thicker.

Patrick was v.helpful and kept going back to the manufacturers who said it should work. But it didn't. Patrick got another banneton in, this time in linen lined wicker. He sent it to me free of charge. This banneton just looked much better, the middle bit was thicker and the whole shape was more promising.

It worked much better, too. Here is the loaf I made that first time. I did however, enlarge the hole once it was on the baking tray, which isn't for the nervous. I haven't fully got the hang of slashing the dough however (any thoughts anyone?) as I find it quite hard to make slashes on such a small ring of dough, such as it is before it puffs up.

First loaf using linen-lined wicker couronne banneton. V.nice.

Second loaf in the couronne, this was a white dough

Second time I made a white loaf but was more gung-ho didn't enlarge the hole on the tray. This is what happened:

Hmm.

The third time I tried sticking a muffin ring in the middle. This did indeed hold the middle open, but a) the middle didn't crust up properly and b) the ring sort of got swallowed into the bread. It was fine, and a really great loaf. I'm going to carry on experimenting with a tin in the middle and maybe even - gasp - put ice cubes in there. Just till the bread has developed a crust and then remove the tin.

In the meantime, if you're careful you can get a really nice ring shape, but you need to play around with the dough on the tray. I do love the couronne bread shape however as you get maximum crust, not great for children who are fussy about these things, but good for me, who does.

Any more experienced bakers out there with any tips, I'd welcome them. Grazie!

Bagels - not sourdough

We call these buglies - ugly bagels. But my are they delicious.

I really ummed and ahhed about putting these on here. This is my incrediblygeekysourdoughblog. But I'm starting to get embarrassed by how much food stuff I have on my pane amore e cha cha cha blog which is meant to be a consumer blog with the occasional bit of food, not vice versa.

Plus these bagels are not just not sourdough, they're made in a breadmaker. Nevertheless, here they are, all blousey and almost industrial compared to my artisan sourdough.

But look: they're delicious. Nothing at all like bought bagels which may look surgically enhanced but are as interesting as dust to eat (although if you remember that fantastic sketch from Little Britain, dust is a valuable diet food...). The only memorable bagel I ever had out was at the Geffrye museum cafe, I had it with smoked salmon and a very fine cappuccino. A memorable little lunch that shows food doesn't have to be fancy to be remembered.

So, my bagels. I've been making them for years and the recipe is from some bread machine book I had but adapted slightly (in what way I can't remember now but anyway it works which is what matters). They don't look pretty - ignore that and just enjoy the taste.

These are excellent for children - they just love them. In which case I make them smaller and end up with 12-16.

 For eight large bagels you need:

2 teaspoons of dried yeast
450g strong white bread flour
1 1/2 teaspoons of salt - I grind up Maldon sea salt
1 1/2 tablespoons of sugar - I use caster
230ml water, whatever temperature it comes out of the cold tap.

egg or malt wash - see later

baking tray
clean tea towels
saucepan and slotted spoon

I put it into my bread machine, which is a Panasonic bread machine and the only sort I recommend. Your bread machine may ask for the ingredients to go in in a different order but mine asks for the yeast first. You then select the dough cycle. Mine is 2hrs 20mins long. Be careful not to put it on a short dough cycle (mine also has one for pizza which is 45 mins long) as it won't work.

In the meantime, get a baking tray

When the dough is done you take it out and scrunch off eight balls or more, smaller, ones. You then make a hole in the middle of the ball and stretch out the hole with your fingers. Lots of books advise you to make bagels by rolling a sausage shape out, and then securing the ends together. I've never found this works - the bagel always falls apart at the boiling stage. Next time I make them I'll take a picture of this stage so you know what you're working with. You should end up with what looks like a doughnut. It won't look very pretty. Don't worry.

As you make them, place each one on a lightly oiled baking tray - make sure they're not touching or you'll have a hard job separating them and they will collapse as you manhandle them. When they're all shaped, leave them to rise, covered with a dry, clean [why do they always say this, does anyone use a dirty one?] tea-towel for about 10-30 mins (30mins if your kitchen is cold, 10mins if it's warm or you put them in a warm place). There's a lot of yeast in them so don't overprove.

Whilst they're resting and puffing up, put a big saucepan of water onto boil and preheat the oven to 220C/Gas 7. I use a casserole dish pan which is shallow, but wide. You don't need the water to be deep deep, as the bagels will float, but if you have a wide aperture then you can get more in at once.

When they're done and the water is on a rolling boil, put the bagels in to the pan. Unless your pan is a huge paella pan, you will have to do them in batches - that's fine. You boil them for about a  minute each side (so turn them over with the slotty spoon). Watch them puff up more. Take them out one at a time with the slotted spoon and place on a clean tea towel to drain them and do the next batch til they're all done.

Either get a clean baking tray and oil it lightly, or wipe off the last one you used and re-oil it. But either way, place the boiled bagels onto the tray. It's fine if they touch, because once cooked they're more stable than at the proof stage, so you can tear them apart. But if you can do them so they don't touch all the better. Mine are always crammed together as that's the only way you can get them cooked all in one go and at this stage - i.e. proved and boiled - you don't really want them hanging round waiting to be baked for longer than necessary.

Once the bagels are on the tray, you're on the home run. Either make an egg wash of egg white, a bit of water and a pinch of salt and brush over, or use this fabulous dried malt extract which I mix up with some water and brush on. You can then either cook the bagels plain or scatter on some sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower, linseeds etc.

Cook for 15-20mins. They'll be a lovely dark golden brown when they're done.
These keep for a day or two but are best eaten on the day of being made and toasted thereafter.

An update on 24th June 2012.

The holes in my bagels were forever closing up on cooking, so after a while I addressed this problem. The best thing to do is, using the handle of a wooden spoon, make the hole a bit bigger just before baking them (i.e. after you've boiled them). I find you only have to do this a bit to get the hole more pronounced. 

The shaping is getting better..