Hamburger or Hot Dog Buns
Summer is the time of year when everyone thinks about grilling outdoors. Homemade buns make hamburgers and hot dogs taste out of this world. If you live in an area where the temperature gets so hot you don't want to heat up your oven, make a bunch of buns early in the season and freeze them. To give them a heartier texture, you can substitute 2 cups of King Arthur Traditional Whole Wheat Flour for an equal amount of King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour.
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 packets or 2 scant tablespoons active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water (105°F to 115°F)
2 cups warm milk (105°F to 115°F)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 teaspoons salt
6 to 7 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour*
egg wash: 1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon cold water
sesame, poppy or caraway seeds or coarse salt (optional)
*We give you this fairly wide variation for a couple of reasons. First, you'll find in the summer that you'll need a bit more flour to absorb a given amount of liquid than you will in the winter. This is because it's humid and flour acts somewhat like a slightly dampened sponge as a result.
Second, this particular dough should be quite slack, i.e., very relaxed in order to make soft and tender buns. So you want to add only enough more flour, past the 6-cup point, to make the dough just kneadable; sprinkling only enough more to keep it from sticking to you or the board.
Mixing: In a large bowl, dissolve the sugar and then the yeast in the warm water. Add the milk, oil, salt and 3 cups of flour to the yeast mixture. Beat vigorously for 2 minutes.
Gradually add flour, 1/4 cup at a time, until the dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl. Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface.
Kneading: Knead until you have a smooth, elastic dough. Because this dough is so slack, you may find that a bowl scraper or bench knife can be helpful in scooping up the dough and folding it over on itself.
Rising: Put the dough into an oiled bowl. Turn once to coat the entire ball of dough with oil. Cover with a tightly-woven dampened towel and let rise until doubled, about one hour.
Shaping: Turn the dough out onto a lightly oiled work surface. Divide into 18 equal pieces. This is done most easily by dividing the dough first into thirds, then those thirds into halves, then the halves into thirds.
Shape each piece into a ball. For hamburger buns, flatten the balls into 3 1/2-inch disks. For hot-dog buns, roll the balls into cylinders, 4 1/2-inches in length. Flatten the cylinders slightly; dough rises more in the center so this will give a gently rounded top versus a high top.
For soft-sided buns, place them on a well-seasoned baking sheet a half inch apart so they'll grow together when they rise. For crisper buns, place them three inches apart.
Second Rising: Cover with a towel and let rise until almost doubled, about 45 minutes.
Baking: Fifteen minutes before you want to bake your buns, preheat your oven to 400°F. Just before baking, lightly brush the tops of the buns with the egg wash and sprinkle with whatever seeds strike your fancy.
Bake for 20 minutes or until the internal temperature of the bread reaches 190°F. (A dough thermometer takes the guesswork out of this.)
When the buns are done, remove them from the baking sheet to cool on a wire rack. This will prevent the crust from becoming soggy.
Nutrition information per serving (1 bun, 93 g): 206 cal, 3 g fat, 7 g protein, 37 g complex carbohydrates, 1 g sugar, 1 g dietary fiber, 17 mg cholesterol, 255 mg sodium, 119 mg potassium, 2 mg iron, 120 mg calcium, 83 mg phosphorus.
This recipe reprinted from The Baking Sheet Newsletter, Vol. III, No. 5, May-June 1992 issue.
Reviews
01/13/2010
I made this recipe tonight for my family. It was very easy and tasted wonderful. I called and asked if I could sub soy milk for the milk in this recipe. My son is allergic to milk and egg. I skipped the egg wash, but my rolls were beautifully browned. I also subbed two cups of white wheat flour for the all purpose. My husband who is not a "bread person" preferred these rolls over store bought. Thanks so much for the great recipe!!
12/31/2009
The taste was great, but mine turned out flat. I was told that it was OK to use skim milk by your baker. Do you think this could be the problem?
Skim milk should be fine as long as it was warmed before using. Sounds like a good opportunity to call and do more problem solving - call our Baker's Hotline direct at 1-802-649-3717. Irene @ KAF
12/24/2009
Mine came ourt flat did nor rise at all. I used my bread machine to mix the dough then transfered to a bowl.
I'm sorry your dough didn't turn out. Give us a call at the Baker's Hotline and we'll be glad to help troubleshoot the recipe with you. Molly @ KAF
11/08/2009
First time I used this recipe everyone just raved about them. Great and easy to make. I am about to make them again.
07/01/2009
My family is in love with these buns. My husband doesn't request hotdogs or burgers anymore, he asks for the buns with stuff in them. Easy to make in my Cuisinart so I can avoid all the kneading! I've got dough rising right now to try a new shape, sandwich rolls. Excellent recipe.
06/26/2009
We have recently fallen in love with a little hot dog joint that serves these crazy good, grilled, white-sided buns (Super Chief!). Where do they get these things I wondered? Being from Michigan and never having experienced the New England bun, this was all new for me. What do you know? I happened upon the pan on your site and went for it. What an awesome find! Just finished making this recipe for my family and everyone said it was the best hot dog they've ever had! I'd maybe add a bit more salt that would be all. The recipe was easy and wonderful and because it makes so much (more than the pan can hold), I made the rest into hamburger rolls that were also excellent! Beautiful with the egg wash and sesame seeds. Nice and soft. Thanks for the wonderful pan and the great recipe to go with it!. (Just a thought...a friend who was checking out my new hot dog roll pan with the buns inside said that the pan would make great pizza-place style breadsticks. Hmmm. I think he might be on to something there.)
06/20/2009
Well, unfortunately, my experience with these buns was not like the other reviewers. Although, I take the blame for that because I used half 100% whole wheat flour and half unbleached all purposed white flour (both KAF...of course). I thought things were going well until I was an hour into my second rise and it appeared as if nothing had risen. So I let them rise about half an hour longer and then just went ahead and baked them. The egg wash did give them a beautiful color, however, mine had no flavor. I will try these again sometime, but follow the recipe next time though and use all all-purpose flour.
If your recipe doesn't work, give us a call at the Baker's Hotline and we'll be happy to help. Molly@KAF
03/06/2009
These buns turned out great. I used only 2 teaspoons of instant yeast, and ended up using only 6 cups of flour. I mixed the ingredients by hand with a wooden spoon, and then kneaded the dough in my electric mixer with the dough hook. Even with the reduced amount of yeast, the dough still only took an hour to double in bulk. I made a dozen hamburger buns and six hot dog buns. My hot dog buns looked more like mini-torpedo rolls, but actually they were kind of cute-looking. I was very pleased with how the hamburger buns turned out. I weighed the dough, and divided it up to get 18 pieces weighing 82 grams each. It was the perfect size for hamburger buns. Both kinds of buns took exactly 20 minutes to bake, and the egg wash added a gorgeous brown color to the rolls. I also sprinkled some poppy seed on top of the hamburger buns. My husband was crazy about these. He speculated that they would taste good with jam, which never occurred to me. I think if you follow the directions in this recipe about adding the flour, etc, you will be really pleased. The dough was very easy to work with.
02/23/2009
Great buns! It is the third time when I've made this buns, and every time turn out great! Thank you for another wonderful recipe.
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