Awesome Burger Buns

It’s nice and warm here and it’s barbecue weather. And yeah, I will soon enough post my barbecue entrecote roast but this is about the buns for your hot dogs or hamburgers. Or ya know, for sandwiches. Or just cuz ya wanna eat a soft squishy delicious (OMG delicious) roll.

So I was looking for a great bun recipe and wasn’t satisfied with the various kinds of rolls I had on tap. See a hamburger (or hotdog) bun is meant to be squishy. So I scoured my cookbooks and the internet and lo and behold found a fabulous recipe on King Arthur’s flour website. I fiddled a bit with it but stuck to the basics and was really delighted with the results. So let’s get to it!

Now you can use your mixer or a bread machine for this, either works beautifully. I used my bread machine this time but have made them in the mixer as well.

Start by proofing the yeast, i.e. making sure it’s alive and kicking and will raise your dough properly. This simply entails adding yeast, lukewarm water (warm not hot or you kill the yeast. You should comfortably be able to put your finger in the water), and sugar. Let sit about 5 or so minutes and it should start to form bubbles like you see below.

Now add the eggs and oil and stir it up (mixer or breadmaker).

Slowly add about half the flour and then add the salt (salt retards yeast growth so it’s best not to let it touch the yeast, hence adding flour first) and the rest of the flour.

In the mixer, start with your beater, NOT the dough hook, just till mixture comes together and then switch to a dough hook This will help all the flour mix in properly. In the bread machine, bung it in slowly but surely and make sure the flour gets mixed in properly. Occasionally I have to help the bread mixer along (carefully) stirring the flour down to incorporate properly. Now let it knead the dough whichever machine you use.

In the mixer, mix around 10 minutes, turn off and let rest a bit, about 10 minutes. Then continue kneading another 5-10 minutes. Lightly oil the dough and cover with a towel or the mixer’s own plastic top if you have one. Let rise till doubled in bulk between an hour – an hour and a half approximately.

This depends a great deal on the warmth of your kitchen. If you see the dough is sluggish (after you’ve proofed it and made sure the yeast is lively) then put in a cold oven with the oven light turned on or zap some hot water in a microwave and put the dough in with the hot cup of water which provides a steamy warm environment to assist the rising.

Now your dough is nicely risen, deflate dough gently and form into 12 even balls (I either eyeball it or weigh them) and place on baking sheet with parchment paper beneath.

In order to give the buns room to rise properly I use 2 baking sheets. Let the buns rise for about an hour or till nice, fluffy and pillow-y looking. Preheat your oven for last 15-20 minutes of rising to 375 F/190 C (approximately). When oven comes to temp, put buns into the oven and bake 12-15 minutes or until richly browned on top, remove from oven and immediately spray tops with spray oil (or brush with oil lightly on the tops) this is done to keep the tops soft so don’t skip it. Let cool on wire racks. These are nice sized buns for a decent sized sandwich or hamburger, I’ve also made them in a longer shape for hot dogs, bake same amount of time.

These are so delicious that I’ve known people to take one for their burgers and snatch another when they think nobody’s looking and chomp them down (you know who you are!). A wonderful accompaniment to your meal.

Awesome Burger Buns

1 1/2 cups-1 3/4 (414 grams) lukewarm water
1/2 cup (100 grams) sugar
2 tablespoons instant yeast
4 tablespoons oil
2 large eggs
7 cups (836 grams) flour
1 tablespoon salt

oil spray or mild oil for tops of buns

Directions:

In a mixer or bread maker, put the 1 1/2 cups of water, sugar and yeast and allow to proof or bubble to see that it’s active. Add about half the flour and salt and mix and continue adding flour till combined and add the eggs and oil and mix. At this point if you need the extra water to get a smooth soft dough, that’s when to add it, Mix the dough about 10 minutes in the mixer. Then, right In the mixer, let dough rest about 10 minutes and then continue to knead again about 5-10 minutes. (If using a bread maker, use the dough cycle it will knead and allow to rise on its own). Spray the top of the dough with oil spray lightly and right in the mixer let dough rise, covered with a damp towel or plastic wrap or if you have one, its own cover, till doubled in bulk about 1-1 1/2 hours (see methods above to help dough rise if sluggish). Deflate the dough and divide into 12 equal balls, smoothing and tucking till smooth. Place on parchment paper lined baking sheet. Let rise about an hour till nicely risen and they look fluffy and pillow-y.

When dough has about 20 minutes left to rise, preheat the oven to 375°F/190 C. When oven is hot, place buns in oven. Bake for about 12-15 minutes, or till richly browned on top. Remove from oven and immediately lightly spray tops of buns with oil spray or lightly brush with oil. This keeps the buns soft. Then cool on wire racks.

• https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/beautiful-burger-buns-recipe