I was searching for a hamburger bun recipe that was more of the texture that you find in the store yet hearty enough to hold all that meaty veggie goodness of the perfect burger. I found this recipe on the following blog:
http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/07/light-brioche-burger-buns/ I am very grateful to her as she has tried almost 100 different recipes to get that perfect one. This was fairly easy and not super time/labor intensive. I Modified it because I did not have any bread flour. My family raved about these so much that they requested no more store bought buns. All Part of my master plan to save $ and Eat healthy.
The following recipe is my modified version for original recipe check out the Smitten Kitchen Blog above.
Makes (8 ) 4"-5" size hamburger buns. Next time I would cut the dough into 10 pieces instead of 8 depending on the size of hamburgers you are making.
3 Tablespoons Warm Milk
2 Teaspoons active dry yeast
2 1/2 Tablespoons Sugar
2 Large Eggs
1 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
2 1/2 Cups Unbleached All Purpose Flour (divided 2 cups and 1/2 cup)
1 Teaspoon Salt
1/2 Tablespoon Wheat Gluten
2 1/2 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter Softened
Sesame seeds (optional)
1. In a glass measuring cup, combine one cup warm water, the milk, yeast and sugar. Let stand until foamy, about five minutes. Meanwhile, beat one egg.
2. In a large bowl,mix flours,and wheat gluten with salt. Add butter and rub into flour between your fingers, making crumbs. Using a spatula, stir in yeast mixture and beaten egg until a dough ball forms. Scrape dough onto clean, well-floured counter and knead in the remaining half cup flour as necessary, scooping dough up, slapping it on counter and turning it, until smooth and elastic, 8 to 10 minutes. The dough will be on the sticky side so it can be a bit messy, but keep in mind that the more flour you knead in, the tougher the buns will get. Try to leave them tackier than you would a round loaf.(I used most of the remaining half cup and my dough was still tacky to the touch.)
3. Shape dough into a ball and return it to bowl coated with nonstick cooking spray. Cover bowl with plastic wrap(Coat with nonstick spray also) and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, one to two hours.Or Quick rise it (What I did) Turn oven to lowest setting and preheat. Once it is preheated turn oven off put bowl in oven and on the rack underneath place a shallow pan of the hottest tap water you can get out of your sink. Close oven door let rise. This way takes about 1/2hr.
4. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.(I used a silicone baking mat) Using dough scraper(I use a pizza cutter), divide dough into 8 equal parts. Gently roll each into a ball,pat down slightly and arrange two to three inches apart on baking sheet. Cover loosely with a piece of plastic wrap lightly coated in nonstick spray and let buns rise in a warm place for one to two hours. Again I did the quick rise method.While I was shaping my buns I preheated my oven again. about 15-20 min they were ready
5. Set a large shallow pan of water on the bottom oven rack on the lowest setting. Preheat oven to 400 degrees with other rack in center(I left the pan of water in the oven & took out my buns and did the egg wash while the oven preheated). Beat remaining egg with one tablespoon water and brush some on top of buns. Sprinkle with sesame seeds, if using. Bake, about 15 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool completely.
I hope you enjoy these we did. Thanks For looking,
Marie
