When I lived in California, my roommate (and I’m assuming other Californians as well) used to call a hot dog or hamburger bun a “bread bun.” It cracked me up every single time. I mean what else is a bun made out of (besides bread!) that you need to preface the word bun with the word “bread”?
Yesterday dad and I were taking the dogs for a walk in the neighborhood when we saw a sign advertising Perogis for sale. A Ukrainian Orthodox church sells Perogis (as well as cabbage rolls and frozen sausage links) from the church basement every Saturday afternoon (except for Church holidays — like the weekend before Easter). We ended up stopping at the church twice. In the first round I picked up a dozen Perogis and five frozen sausage links. The second time around we picked up frozen Perogis and frozen cabbage .
Dad decided we should cook the sausage links on the grill, and so I decided to make my own hotdog (bread) buns. (I already had the dough for American-Style White Bread in the fridge anyway.)
ingredients.
- 3 c. lukewarm water
- 1 1/2 T. instant yeast
- 1 1/2 T. Kosher salt
- 2 T. sugar
- 1/2 c. unsalted butter, melted, plus additional for brushing the top crust
- 7 c. unbleached all-purpose flour
- softened butter to grease the pan
directions.
- Mix the yeast, salt, sugar, and melted butter with the water in a mixing bowl.
- Mix in the flour using a spoon, food processor or heavy-duty stand mixer.
- Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rest at room temperature until the dough rises and collapses (or flattens on top), approximately two hours.
- The dough can be used immediately after the initial rise or refrigerated in a lidded container and used within 7 days.
- When you’re ready to bake, dust the surface of the dough with flour and cut off a hunk of dough approximately the size of golf ball, maybe slightly larger. Dust the chunk of dough with flour and quickly shape the dough into a ball. Stretch the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the dough a quarter of a turn. Elongate the ball into an oval and drop onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Allow the dough to rest and rise for one hour and 40 minutes.
- Place an empty broiling pan on the rack below the stone. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Dust the loaf with flour and slash the top using a sharp knife. Brush the top surface with the melted butter.
- Set the pan on a rack near the center of the oven and quickly pour 1 cup of hot tap water into the broiling pan beneath the stone. Close the oven door as quick as possible. Bake for about 30 to 35 minutes, until golden brown.
- Cool before cutting or eating.
Though mine didn’t turn out pretty, they tasted great. I was a little over-exuberant when shaping the dough and the buns turned out a bit larger than I would have liked, which is why I recommend using dough the size of a golf ball or slightly larger (I used way bigger balls of dough). You can always let the dough raise more if you think the buns are looking too small. Also, the get bigger when you bake them.
I liked the homemade hot dog buns so much, I’m tempted to purchase a pan for making hot dog buns. (They sell them on Amazon.com!)
Recipe rating:
Food Snob 