Hot Dog Buns

Michael recently decided to buy a bunch of hot dogs but didn't buy buns to go with them, so he was eating his hot dogs with sliced bread. Sliced bread. Women, tell me I'm not wrong in giving him an evil eye, heaving a big sigh...and baking him some hot dog buns.

Now he can eat a proper hot dog! And stop wasting the nice sliced bread.

The recipe I used has some personal history behind it: it's originally a recipe for hamburger buns and has been tried twice in this household in the past, both times being failures. The taste was fine, but the omission of the second rise (proofing) of the formed buns just before baking resulted in tasty but tough little buggers, way too small for any respectable burger.

I'm not naming any names, but *somebody* overlooked that step in the two times he made the recipe...and now I have been delegated the job of making all the yeast breads in the house.

So I went back to give this recipe one more shot and shaped them for hot dogs instead of hamburgers. Luckily, the yeast gods have been kind to me, and I made doubly sure to give the dough enough time to rise both times. The result was a batch of fragrant, soft buns with a nice golden crust and hearty flavor.




Hamburger/Hot Dog Buns (adapted from Culinary in the Desert, Canadian Living)

Ingredients:
1 cup milk
1 cup water
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons butter
1 & 1/2 teaspoon salt
5 & 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, divided (I used 1 cup whole wheat flour and the rest AP)
2 & 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast

Instructions:
In a saucepan, heat together the milk, water, sugar, butter, and salt just until butter melts. Pour into large mixing bowl or bowl of your electric mixer and cool to lukewarm (cool enough that the back of your hand is able to touch the vessel without feeling hot/burning--the baby's milk test, basically).

In another bowl, whisk together the yeast with 3 cups of flour. When the milk mixture is cool enough, mix in the flour/yeast mixture 1 cup at a time until all 3 cups are mixed in and mixture is smooth. Then stir in enough of the remaining 2 & 1/4 cups of flour to make a stiff dough that comes off the side of the vessel.

Turn the dough out on a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic. I usually knead until I can poke the dough and it pretty much refills the indentation...or whenever my arms get tired. Place dough in a lightly oiled large bowl, cover with a damp towel, and let rise until doubled, approx. 1 hour.

After dough has risen, punch it down and evenly divide up the dough into 12-16 pieces, depending on what size bun you want. I usually break out my scale and weigh each piece. I made 16 and each piece was approx 2.5 oz.

Form each bun into a tight ball (for hamburger buns) or an oblong shape (for hot dog buns) and place about 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment. Slightly flatten each ball, if making hamburger buns. Cover all the formed buns and let rise AGAIN until doubled, approx. 30 to 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

If you desire, you can brush the buns with some egg wash (1 egg yolk and 1 tablespoon water whisked together) or a bit of olive oil to make your buns nice and brown on top.

Bake buns for 20-25 minutes, or until the buns are golden brown and the bottoms sound hollow when you tap on them. The hot dog buns took about 20 min. Transfer to cooling rack and cool completely before storage.