This post will be short and sweet. Short because it took me two days of trial and error to get the perfect bun and sweet because now that I've made them...I think EVERYONE should make their own; they are amazing!
May is #BurgerMonth all across the land and I'm participating with a group of bloggers to provide one or more recipes every day of the month for burgers we love. Even before my eventful visit to a new Smashburger that opened near me two weeks ago, I had planned something with jalapeno but that visit changed everything. They were featuring the Spicy Cowboy Burger and I had to try it. I love plain old regular Smashburgers but this one? You'll see. I do know it was spicy. I can't confirm if it was cowboy but I see that. Beef, barbecue sauce, cheese, bacon, jalapeno and onion rings...giddyup!
I had my ingredients all ready to go but something was just awry. While I had decided to add a bit of sesame seeds to the mix because I love them, the buns I bought did not improve overnight like I had hoped. They were still wrinkled like a grizzled old man (or cowboy?) and while fine to eat a burger with they just were not cutting it for photographing one.
Let's make some I said!! So I did a search and found some that I thought looked nice and away I went. Eight bazillion hours later (OK, really only about 4), after all the proofing and rising and hitting and proofing again, I was able to bake them. They were GORGEOUS. And heavy. More biscuit quality than burger bun quality. I tried to convince myself but I've learned one thing...if I have to try and convince myself there is simply no getting beyond the fact that I didn't love them. I had a concern as I was making them that seems to have been reasonable...why wasn't the liquid warmed to insure the yeast reacted? Hmm??? WHY???
So next time I smartened up. I had a packet of Red Star Yeast so I went to their website for a recipe and lo and behold they had one for Hamburger Buns. Funny how that works huh? Except for a final egg wash and some sesame seeds they were perfect. Well, almost. I did take issue with their directions; I thought their times for proofing should have included some time estimates...I took a qualified guess and was close but a newbie would have been in trouble. I left them a comment suggesting the inclusion of a range and guess what? They wrote me today and agreed and have since changed the recipe to include a time range for proofing (the time it takes to rise). LOVE that about a company that actually listens, don't you?
These were easy as long as you'll be around the house for a couple of hours. Bread baking is not hard but it does require some time and I make sure I can dedicate an afternoon to being home; other than that? There is only about 15 minutes of work. The homemade hamburger buns are so good I could toast them and just add butter and jam for breakfast; who cares if beef was intended?
Look for my Smashburger Spicy Cowboy burger this coming Monday too; it is a real winner!
20 minPrep Time
12 minCook Time
32 minTotal Time
Save Recipe
Ingredients
- ¼ cup water
- ¾ cup buttermilk (Red Star's website calls for regular milk so that's fine too but I had some buttermilk I wanted to use up)
- 1 egg
- 2 TBSP oil
- 3½ cup bread flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- 2¼ tsp RED STAR Active Dry Yeast
- 1 egg
- 1 Tbsp water
- 2 tsp sesame seeds (optional)
Instructions
Notes
http://www.creative-culinary.com/homemade-hamburger-buns/
