Volume and little crispy boules that will eventually hold a meatball

Found a patent today I wanted to try to reproduce. The claim was a dough containing ascorbic acid, L-cysteine and xanthan gum produced a bigger volume bread than any single component. I've been trying little crispy boules because they're cute, they can be hollowed out to make a meatball slider and I can make a bunch of them quick if I want to feed the teachers.

Here's the comparison I did: 6 little crusty rolls on each side. These were made from 2 recipes varying only a few additives. Each roll started as a 40 gram ball.

Dough was made from water 90 g, unbleached white flour 150 g, sugar 5 g, soybean oil 1% rel to flour, Red Star active dry yeast 3.5 g, salt 2.5 g.

-added to Left 6 rolls' dough: vitamin C ca. 60 ppm
-added to Right 6 rolls' dough: vitamin C ca. 60 ppm, L-cysteine 10 ppm, xanthan gum (all nat Bob's Red Mill) 400 ppm.

click image to enlarge, the difference is a little more clear

The difference is tough to quantify (note: post baking weight average both sides 35 g). Finished bread volume is not trivial to measure, but the ones on the right look a little more full and they opened better at the slashed places. I'll let them cool until tomorrow and take a taste. While bread is warm, flaws are harder to catch, once cooled I can make some observations about taste, something to look forward to tomorrow.

Regarding parchment, on all but 1, I used a small disc in the bottom of the tin. It was plenty to prevent a blob from sticking. On the bread in the lower left corner, I used a cupcake liner and it stuck to the roll like glue. Those cupcake thingies are awful.