Buns!!!!
Who doesn't like a nice, savory/spice lamb burger on a warm Spring evening around the backyard fire pit, washed down by a cool Racer5 IPA? Ya mon!
Such a great meal, and having spent much time and focus to blend the lamb, the fresh mint, the crushed and minced garlic, cumin, sea salt, pepper and just a dash of cayenne for the Take-Your-Breath-Away moment at first bite I didn't want to have a sad.
Yes, the sad part of every barbeque is always the cardboard tasting, limp buns from the local supermarket. It just ruins the vibe for me completely.
Until tonight. Level unlocked! by making my own Hamburger/sammich buns.
How could this never have occurred to me till now? Okay, I'll stop beating myself up and share this fantastically easy recipe for making the best hamburger buns you'll ever eat - extraordinarily cheap and 10X as healthy as the chemically laden, limp blobs one buys in a store.
You can do this like a boss. It takes around 4 hours, but the actual work is more like 12 minutes. There's even time to fit in 2 naps on a Saturday afternoon. Heh.
What you'll need is already in your pantry even if you only do occasional baking.
1 .25 oz package active dry yeast (2.5 teaspoons if you have a jar in the fridge)
1 lbs all-purpose flour (3.5 cups)
1 cup warm water (:30 in the microwave)
1 egg three tablespoons butter, melted
3 tablespoons, granulated sugar
1.25 teaspoons, salt
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 egg,
1 tbsp milksesame seed or poppy seeds (optional)
The how-to:
Put the yeast and half a cup of flour and the warm water into your stand mixer bowl and pull out the whisk to blend it till smooth. Doesn't whisking make you feel all chef-ish like nothing else!!
Then let it sit for 15 minutes. It'll get frothy and smell amazing as the leetle yeasties start feeding.
Add the rest of the flour, an egg, salt, and sugar and then mix at slow speed with a bread hook for oh, say 5-6 minutes.
Transfer the dough to a floured surface and pat and form it into a lumpy ball. The dough will be super easy to handle, a bit sticky, but after you flour your surface, not to your fingers.
Dreezle a large bowl with some olive oil and flop the doughball around to coat it on all sides, cover and let it proof for 2 hours in a warm place. If you're lucky enough to have an oven with a proof mode, 85 degrees is pretty much just right.
Take a muchly deserved Saturday aft nap and come back in 2 hours to a doubled in size mass of dough.
pour it out - yes it will just slide right out in one lump due to the olive oil - onto your floured surface again (I hope you napped and didn't waste time doing any pre-cleaning) and press, pull, flatten into a roughly rectangular shaped mass about a half an inch thick.
Taking your pastry knife,
divide it into 8 equal parts.
Use your hands like an Italian Nonna to gently stretch and mold the dough into disc shapes about 1/2 inch thick and 4-5 inches in diameter
Place all 8 onto the parchment papered tray and cover lightly to let rise for another hour (nap #2 opportunity!!)
Preheat your oven around 30 minutes before the hour is up and make your egg wash
Yeah, take that other egg and whisk it with the milk until it's thouroughly blended. Right before going into the oven, very carefully and gently (you don't want to collapse that nice puffy looking bun, do you?) brush each bun with the egg/milk wash.
Sprinkle some sesame seeds, or poppy seeds, or do nothing, this is totally your choice, onto each bun and then pop them into the oven for 15 to 17 minutes.
Watch it like a hawk and when it gets a tinge of golden brown, pull the plug as you don't want your buns to dry out and get all cardboardy like the store bought units.
Voila! You're done and ready to BBQ those burgers.
Tonight I did spiced lamb burgers and right before pulling them off the grill I toasted my buns after brushing them with melted butter (the hamburger buns! Get your mind out of the gutter) and some Swedish stoneground mustard. Enjoy......
Did I mention these babies cost me all of about $.50 to make?
Such a great meal, and having spent much time and focus to blend the lamb, the fresh mint, the crushed and minced garlic, cumin, sea salt, pepper and just a dash of cayenne for the Take-Your-Breath-Away moment at first bite I didn't want to have a sad.
Yes, the sad part of every barbeque is always the cardboard tasting, limp buns from the local supermarket. It just ruins the vibe for me completely.
Until tonight. Level unlocked! by making my own Hamburger/sammich buns.
How could this never have occurred to me till now? Okay, I'll stop beating myself up and share this fantastically easy recipe for making the best hamburger buns you'll ever eat - extraordinarily cheap and 10X as healthy as the chemically laden, limp blobs one buys in a store.
You can do this like a boss. It takes around 4 hours, but the actual work is more like 12 minutes. There's even time to fit in 2 naps on a Saturday afternoon. Heh.
What you'll need is already in your pantry even if you only do occasional baking.
1 .25 oz package active dry yeast (2.5 teaspoons if you have a jar in the fridge)
1 lbs all-purpose flour (3.5 cups)
1 cup warm water (:30 in the microwave)
1 egg three tablespoons butter, melted
3 tablespoons, granulated sugar
1.25 teaspoons, salt
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 egg,
1 tbsp milksesame seed or poppy seeds (optional)
The how-to:
Put the yeast and half a cup of flour and the warm water into your stand mixer bowl and pull out the whisk to blend it till smooth. Doesn't whisking make you feel all chef-ish like nothing else!!
Then let it sit for 15 minutes. It'll get frothy and smell amazing as the leetle yeasties start feeding.
Add the rest of the flour, an egg, salt, and sugar and then mix at slow speed with a bread hook for oh, say 5-6 minutes.
Transfer the dough to a floured surface and pat and form it into a lumpy ball. The dough will be super easy to handle, a bit sticky, but after you flour your surface, not to your fingers.
Dreezle a large bowl with some olive oil and flop the doughball around to coat it on all sides, cover and let it proof for 2 hours in a warm place. If you're lucky enough to have an oven with a proof mode, 85 degrees is pretty much just right.
Take a muchly deserved Saturday aft nap and come back in 2 hours to a doubled in size mass of dough.
pour it out - yes it will just slide right out in one lump due to the olive oil - onto your floured surface again (I hope you napped and didn't waste time doing any pre-cleaning) and press, pull, flatten into a roughly rectangular shaped mass about a half an inch thick.
Taking your pastry knife,
divide it into 8 equal parts.
Use your hands like an Italian Nonna to gently stretch and mold the dough into disc shapes about 1/2 inch thick and 4-5 inches in diameter
Place all 8 onto the parchment papered tray and cover lightly to let rise for another hour (nap #2 opportunity!!)
Preheat your oven around 30 minutes before the hour is up and make your egg wash
Yeah, take that other egg and whisk it with the milk until it's thouroughly blended. Right before going into the oven, very carefully and gently (you don't want to collapse that nice puffy looking bun, do you?) brush each bun with the egg/milk wash.
Sprinkle some sesame seeds, or poppy seeds, or do nothing, this is totally your choice, onto each bun and then pop them into the oven for 15 to 17 minutes.
Watch it like a hawk and when it gets a tinge of golden brown, pull the plug as you don't want your buns to dry out and get all cardboardy like the store bought units.
Voila! You're done and ready to BBQ those burgers.
Tonight I did spiced lamb burgers and right before pulling them off the grill I toasted my buns after brushing them with melted butter (the hamburger buns! Get your mind out of the gutter) and some Swedish stoneground mustard. Enjoy......
Did I mention these babies cost me all of about $.50 to make? 
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