Hamburger buns

Today I'm doing something a bit different and including some tutorial pictures. (I say different, but I guess that it hard to say since I just started this blog. Let's just say I don't plan on doing this all of the time.) I decided to post the tutorial pics at the bottom. Then if you don't need them, you don't need to look at them, but I plan on sending a friend of mine here who has been asking about breadmaking.

This is a bun recipe I got from allrecipes.com. I have used it a few times before. Yesterday it was for sloppy joes. Tavio is always requesting sloppy joes and I rarely make them, but he gave me the suggestion when I was making the menu for the week so it actually got on the calendar.

I make them a bit different. This is how I make them.

Ingredients

• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup water
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (or combination of wheat and white)
• 1 (.25 ounce) envelope active dry yeast
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tablespoon water

Directions

1. Combine the milk, butter, sugar and salt. Heat on stove or in microwave until milk begins to bubble and butter is melted. Remove from heat. Add 1 cup cold water to cool. (mixture should be lukewarm at this point. If not, let it cool, or heat it up.)
2. In a large bowl, stir together the flour and yeast. Pour in wet ingredients and stir until the dough starts to pull together. If you have a stand mixer, use the dough hook to mix for about 8 minutes. If not, knead the dough on a floured surface for about 10 minutes. Place the dough in a greased bowl, turning to coat. Cover and let stand until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
3. Punch down the dough and divide into 12 portions They should be a little larger than a golf ball. Make tight balls out of the dough by pulling the dough tightly around and pinching it at the bottom. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or aluminum foil. After the rolls sit for a minute and relax, flatten each ball with the palm of your hand until it is 3 to 4 inches wide. You may want to oil your hand first. Set rolls aside until they double in size, about 20 minutes.
4. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Mix together the egg yolk and 1 tablespoon of water in a cup or small bowl. Brush onto the tops of the rolls. Position 2 oven racks so they are not too close to the top or bottom of the oven.
5. Bake for 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove the rolls from the oven and return them to different shelves so each one spends a little time on the top. Continue to bake for another 5 to 10 minutes, or until nicely browned on the top and bottom.

Today I ground 2 cups of wheat. It gave me 3 and a little bit cups of flour. I finished out the last of the 5 1/2 cups with AP flour.




This dough started out sticky (left) , but after mixing with the dough hook for a while, it came together nicely. (right) Most dough will come together and look like the dough on the right when done mixing.





Here is the bread in stages. (rolled in balls, flattened, and risen)


Here they are out of the oven. Nice and browned. Honestly today I fogot to put the egg wash on them, but they still browned up quite nicely. I wasn't paying attention to my recipe and didn't see the 5-10 minutes more after switching racks. They probably could have come out a bit earlier. They were slightly dry for a bread, but I like them that way for buns. It makes them nice and hearty for holding whatever you are putting in them. I never think that they look big enough when the come rise or come out of the oven, but Here they are finished with sloppy joe in them and you can see that they are just the right size. I buttered the tops of mine when they came out of the oven. That is why they are shiny. They would be shinier out of the oven had I remembered the egg wash.