I like to make things from scratch. And more than anything else I love baking bread. I find bread baking less intimidating than making a dessert or for that matter an Indian dish which I have never attempted before. That is why I was not so disheartened when my attempt at baking burgers buns wasn’t a great success. I kept on looking for recipes over the internet, reading reviews from people who have tried them and also doing my own math about yeast-flour-water proportions and predicting the outcome of the recipes but a lot of them didn’t appeal to me. One fine day as I was flipping through the flipboard app on my phone I chanced upon a blog post which carried a link to the source of the recipe. Ta da ! I had finally found a great recipe for burger buns almost serendipitously ! This recipe comes from King Arthur Flour’s baking community – The Baking Circle and the credit for this recipe goes to Moomie, one of the oldest members of this community.
Beautiful Burger Buns:
Adapted from: King Arthur FlourIngredients:
- 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 tbsp butter + melted butter for brushing
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 large egg
- 1 tbsp instant yeast
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup to 1 cup lukewarm water *
Method:
I use my own method of kneading bread by hand. If you own a food processor or a stand mixer follow the original method.
- Take the flour in a large bowl and make a well in the centre
- Even though I use instant yeast I follow the method of activation for dry yeast. Activate the yeast with 2 tsps of granulated sugar (of the 1/4 cup sugar mentioned in the recipe) in 1/2 cup lukewarm water. Let it sit for 5 mins undisturbed. When you see frothing on the surface, pour the yeast mixture in the well. Sprinkle a bit of flour over the surface of the yeast and let it continue to froth for another 10 mins.
- Add the egg and rest of the sugar and some more lukewarm water till the flour comes together into a somewhat dry dough
- Turn the dough on the work surface and begin kneading. Now sprinkle lukewarm water and continue to knead till you get a soft dough.
- Now rub the salt in the butter over the work surface and massage this butter bit by bit in the dough as you continue to knead it. The kneading technique takes a bit of practice. Stretch the dough with the fingers of one hand and the base of the palm of the other. Then roll the stretched dough back to form a ball. Continue this kneading action for about 5 minutes. Kneading develops the gluten in the dough which gives it that characteristic bread-y appearance. If the dough tears as you stretch, the dough requires more kneading and more water. You will know the its kneaded to perfection when the dough doesnt tear apart and the surface doesnt look distorted as you stretch.
- Now roll the dough on the work surface into a smooth ball. Pinch together any crack at the base of the dough. Transfer the dough to a well oiled bowl and cover it with a damp cloth and allow it to prove for 2 hours or till the dough doubles in size
- Gently deflate the dough, and divide it into 8 pieces. Shape each piece into a round ball; flatten to about 3″ across. Place the buns on parchment-lined baking sheet, cover, and let rise for about an hour, until noticeably puffy.
- Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 375°F/190°C.
- Brush the surface with egg wash and sprinkle the dough with seasame seeds or a mixture of seeds your choice. The egg wash gives the buns the characteristic darker crust.
- Sprinkle some water on the baking tray and bake the buns in the oven for 15-18 minutes. Halfway through baking time, rotate the baking tray and brush melted butter on the surface to get a shiny satiny crust.
- Once done baking, brush more butter on the surface. Leave them to cool on the tray and cut through them once they are completely cool.
* I required more than 1 cup water for the dough. The amount of water depends upon the weather conditions. So if you feel your dough is still too dry after adding the mentioned amount, keep sprinking more water in your dough till you get a soft sticky dough.
Make a patty of your liking and assemble a mouthwatering fast food chain style burger.
I am submitting this post to YeastSpotting !