Baking

Due to things I expected that didn't happen, I have a house with too many baking supplies.  And not nearly enough actual food.  Which sounds bad, but isn't, as for me, not enough food normally means that there isn't enough meat.  Which means I still have plenty to make food with and play, but I did really let my pantry get shorted this month. 

We used up the last of our hamburger last night with a BBQ.  Funny thing though, I started the BBQ, and mixed up the hamburger for the burgers, when I realized I had no buns.  And no money to buy more buns.  This is what I mean when I talk about not having enough food.  Normally I would run to the store and buy a package of buns.  But, once again, no money.  Then I realized, this is me, the person who bakes bread all the time.  I can make rolls.  I can make buns.  I can make buns while the BBQ heats up.  So I did.

My bun recipe:

1.5 cups of warm milk
1/3 cup oil
1 egg
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons yeast  (I buy yeast in bulk at costco, and use just regular yeast, not rapid rise or anything like that.)
.5 teaspoon salt
4-6 cups of flour

I take the first 5 ingredients, put them in a large bowl, mix them together, and let them sit for 5-10 minutes.  This lets the yeast wake up and get all bubbly.  Then stir in the first 3 cups of flour with a wooden spoon.  Add flour slowly at this point until you have a ball of dough, then knead for 5 minutes.  I use a large bowl and actually knead in the bowl and not on the table.  Do whatever feels right.  Oil another bowl and put the dough into it and let it rise for about an hour, until doubled in size.  Then pull out softball sized portions and shape into balls.  Place on greased cookie sheet with plenty of room around them.  Let them rise again, about 30 minutes.  Preheat oven to 350.  Then flatten with your hands to the size of your hamburgers, gently.  Put in oven for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.  Move to cooling rack for 5-10 minutes, then slice and place your burger on it.

You can shape this into regular rolls, sub rolls, hot dog rolls, anything you want.  Or, you can make bread out of it.  This is awesome dough for anything you want to make with it.  Play with it.  Add stuff to it, like cheese, or onion soup mix, or chopped herbs.

Anyhow, the boy thought it was awesome, and while he doesn't think it beats a Mc.donalds hamburger, he thought that hamburgers at home with fresh buns are the only way to go.

So, now I will share pictures.

The buns look nice and rustic.  If you want sesame seeds or anything on top, brush with an egg wash right before putting in the oven and sprinkle the top.

I love putting provolone on top of all my burgers.  Normally I make a burger sauce which is 3 parts mayo to 1 part mustard with sugar, salt and pepper added to taste.  I didn't do that last night, so I actually put mayo on my bun, then mustard, sprinkled it with sugar and pepper.  It was good.  Not as good as the sauce, but good.

Yum.  This was so filling that I wasn't able to finish my burger.  Actually, none of us were able to finish a full burger.  They were extremely filling.