Baking Buns

Terry asked me earlier this week to make some hamburger or slider buns for Sloppy Joes or grilled hamburgers since the weather is starting to warm up. My son had provided me a recipe he’d made a few weeks ago. I compared it to three or four recipes I found at the King Arthur Flour web site. The first one I leaned towards trying (and dividing in half) was the Hamburger or Hot Dog Bun recipe (and I do actually have the KAF hot dog bun pan). The second one I looked at was the Beautiful Burger Buns recipe, which required a quarter cup of sugar and no milk.

I chatted with Amanda at the King Arthur Flour live chat and asked if I could substitute honey for the sugar. She confirmed I could but I should halve the amount. So for the Beautiful Burger Buns recipe, I would use two tablespoons of local honey instead of a quarter cup of sugar. I also added milk to the water (a half cup of each).

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup lukewarm water
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 2 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
• 1 large egg
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 3 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 1 tablespoon instant yeast

Instructions

• Place the ingredients in your bread machine* in the order listed.
• Select the dough cycle and start.

* My bread machine has a twenty minute preheat so that ingredients will be at the optimum temperature when it begins mixing. So my dough cycle takes close to two hours (instead of the normal ninety minutes) to complete.

I mixed the egg and milk then added the water before pouring it into the pan where the butter and honey were waiting. Then I added two cups of flour and the salt. Then another cup and a half of flour, making a hole to hold the yeast at the top of the flour ‘mountain.’

Once the bread machine started mixing, I checked the dough to make sure it wasn’t too dry or too sticky. It seemed a bit on the sticky, side so I grabbed my box of Hungry Man Mashed Potato flakes and shook a few tablespoons on the dough while it was mixing/kneading. I could have used flour but adding potato flour or potato flakes to a white roll recipe is actually recommended. When I make my sticky buns for Thanksgiving and Christmas, I always add a quarter to a half cup of potato flakes to the flour.

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Yesterday I watched episode two (live) of the Isolation Baking show where I learned some great tips to improve my oatmeal bread and also a good technique to make rolls. So I was primed and ready when my bread machine alerted me the dough was finished and ready for shaping. I used my sad excuse for a scale (analog and mostly accurate) to divide the dough into eighteen equal portions. This is where I messed up but didn’t realize is until we sat down to dinner.

I had returned to my laptop and referenced the recipe for shaping directions, but failed to realize I was on the first recipe (Hamburger or Hot Dog Bun – a 6-7 cup flour recipe) instead of the second recipe (Beautiful Burger Buns – a 3.5 cup flour recipe). The first recipe had a hotter oven (400 instead of 375 degrees) and divided twice the dough into eighteen portions, instead of half the dough into eight portions. Also, the first recipe used an egg/milk wash for seeding and the second one used melted butter.

But back to the actual shaping of my small buns (about the size of sliders after cooking). I followed the technique demonstrated in the show and was pleased at the results. I let the buns rise for 45 minutes, checked them and preheated the oven to 400 degrees. I mixed another egg and a couple of tablespoons of milk together and used my silicon basting brush to moisten the tops of the buns. I sprinkled some sesame seeds on six of them (I only had enough sesame seeds for those six) and poppy seed on all of them. I put them in the oven to bake for twenty minutes.

I took them out and left them on the baking sheets to cool. Before I thought to take a picture of them, Terry had already sampled two of them and pronounced them very good.

Tomorrow I will repeat this recipe and probably divide the dough into a dozen equal portions and use either the melted butter wash or a milk one. Either of those will result in a less shiny and softer crust.

Now I should probably get the next oatmeal sandwich bread in the machine. Or should I do my old trashy honey wheat bread? Hmmm . . .