Bolos Levedos Acorianos (Azorean Muffins)

This is the best recipe for these tasty treats. I couldn't believe how much they tasted like bolos levedos from Tony's the first time I made them. I've got to make these again soon. . . . --Mark

Ingredients:

1/2 cup whole milk at room temperature
1/2 cup + 1 sugar
2-1/2 tsp instant yeast
4-1/3 cups unbleached bread flour
2 eggs, beaten
9 T sweet butter, softened
1/2 tsp zest of lemon, grated then minced fine
2 T vodka (or Portuguese moonshine if you can get it)
1/8 tsp salt
water as necessary

Instructions:

Mix the instant yeast into the warm milk and set aside.

Sift the flour and sugar into a large bowl.

Form a well in the middle of the flour/sugar combination add the milk/yeast combination and mix it in a little. Add the eggs, butter, lemon zest, vodka and salt. Mix together until it forms a rough dough ball. If you need to add a few drops of water to make it gather into a ball, do so in small increments. Once the ball forms, cover the bowl and let the dough rest for 15 minutes. This allows the dough to hydrate evenly.

Turn the dough ball out on to a floured surface and knead for 12 minutes. If you need instruction on kneading refer to the instructions on kneading in the homemade naan recipe here.

After kneading cover the dough with plastic film and allow it to rest for 10 minutes.

Gently form the dough into a ball and place in a lightly oiled container that will allow it to increase to twice its size. Press the dough down gently and then cover with the container cover or plastic wrap. Mark the container with tape where the dough is and allow it to rise to twice its size (30 minutes to 4 hours).

Turn the dough back out onto your floured surface and divide in to 9 equal sized pieces. Gently form each piece into a smooth ball and cover with plastic wrap and let rest 15 minutes.

Pat each ball into flat patty. Let rest 15 minutes covered with plastic wrap.

Place a flat griddle over medium-low flame and allow it to heat up.

Flatten and expand each piece of dough again. Let rest 15 minutes or more covered with plastic wrap. You want it to rise a little bit again.

When they are ready, place a patty on the heated griddle. Cook it SLOWLY on medium-low heat, or the outside will burn before the inside is cooked properly. Turn over when nicely browned, remove when evenly browned on both sides and cooked through. It'll take a little testing at first but is easy once you sort it out. Eventually, if your griddle is large enough you can cook four at a time.

Notes:

I used Irish whiskey since I had that on hand and it worked quite well. My mother-in-law tells me it smells the same anyway.

Recipe from Foodbuzz.