Bread Basket: Homemade Hamburger Buns

November is National Bread Month.  I knew I loved November for reasons beyond Thanksgiving and the birthday of yours truly.  I love bread.  I mean, I REALLY love bread.  And bread loves me.  At least I like to think it does.  When Ryan and I got married, the wedding gift I gave to myself (because, hey, you should always pamper yourself every once in awhile) was a bread machine.  I love that thing.  When we moved into our house, my bread machine was the first thing I put in its proper place.  (Not to mention when we went to look at the house, I turned to Ryan and said, "Look honey!  It's the perfect spot to hold my bread machine!"  Seriously.)

I had never made bread before - ever.  But I loved bread and really wanted to try making it myself and I thought the quickest and easiest way would be to purchase a bread machine and then buy tons of cookbooks on bread machine baking.  This bread machine cookbook is by-far my favorite and go to for recipes besides the ever trusty King Arthur Flour website.  I really enjoyed baking bread in my bread machine and as time went on, I wanted to try my hand at baking breads OUTSIDE of my bread machine.  Now, kneading by hand is time consuming albeit a great upper body workout (you try kneading bread dough for ten minutes and see how you feel) and I do enjoy doing it sometimes.  Like when I'm stressed or had a really bad day and need something to beat into submission (because husbands are out of the question).  Yet there is a lovely setting on all bread machines - Dough.  Yes, you let your bread machine do all the hard work while you sip a daiquiri do housework (hehe).  This is a wonderful thing, truly.

Yeast breads seem to be a bit daunting to people and, truth be told, it was to me at first too.  But now I have it down to a science.  I know what temperature to have the water at to get the best reaction out of my yeast (which I buy in bulk, by the way).  The more you do it, the easier it becomes.  One of my greatest discoveries was how to make my own hamburger buns!  Hamburger buns!!  The recipe I use makes eight total.  Now, it's just me and Ryan so what to do with the other?  Freeze them!  They really are easy and always taste really, really good.

I'm not one of those crazy people who thinks you need to go organic for everything or only purchase gluten-free, low-fat everything.  But I do draw the line at preservatives.  I'm not a fan of them so I try to avoid them as much as I can.  And making your own bread is not only cheaper but always better for your health.  The hamburger buns you purchase at the grocery store has so many ingredients (many of which you can't pronounce unless you have a PhD in Chemistry) that its unreal.  Yet homemade hamburger buns only have SEVEN ingredients.  SEVEN!

For comparison purposes, here are the ingredients in Wonder Hamburger Buns: 

Enriched Wheat Flour [Flour, Barley Malt, Ferrous Sulfate  (Iron), B Vitamins (Niacin, Thiamin Mononitrate  (Vitamin B1), Riboflavin  (Vitamin B2), Folic Acid)], Water, Sweetener (High Fructose Corn Syrup, Sugar), Yeast, Soybean Oil, Contains 2% or Less of Wheat Gluten, Salt, Calcium Sulfate, Dough Conditioners (May Contain Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, Tricalcium Phosphate, ethoxylated Mono And Diglycerides, Datem, Dicalcium Phosphate, Mono And Diglycerides, Calcium Dioxide, and/or Sorbic Acid), Vinegar, Soy Flour, Yeast Nutrients (May Contain Ammonium Chloride, Ammonium Phosphate, Diammonium Phosphate, Ammonium Sulfate, Monocalcium Phosphate and/or Calcium Carbonate), Cornstarch, Wheat Starch, Enzymes, Calcium Propionate  (to Retain Freshness), Soy Lecithin.

I use Granular Lecithin in some of my breads to aid in preservation but that's it.  Now, how many of you can pronounce all those ingredients?  And can tell me what all they do?  Yeah, didn't think so.  If you really want to take good, active steps towards making your family healthier, baking your own breads is a very good place to start.

Homemade Hamburger Buns
courtesy of KAF's Baker's Companion

3/4 to 1 c. Water (around body temperature.  You can determine the temp the same way you do a baby bottle - feeling with the underside of your wrist.)
2 Tbsp. Butter, melted
1 Egg
3 1/2 c. All-Purpose Flour (or whole wheat)
1/4 c. Sugar
1 1/4 tsp. Salt (kosher is preferred)
1 Tbsp. Instant Yeast
1 Tbsp. Butter, melted (to brush on buns before baking)

1.  Combine all ingredients together and mix until well combined, using 3/4 c. of water to start with. 
Note:  Why the variation in the amount of water?  Well, first off, if you're using whole wheat flour, you'll need to add more water because whole wheat needs additional water to really make it cohesive.  Secondly, yeast doughs are affected by a lot of different factor - the temperature inside your house, the humidity, etc.  If your dough is too dry, you'll add a little more water or if it's too wet, you'll add more flour.
2.  Knead dough by hand for ten minutes, until you have a smooth and supple dough.  (If using a bread machine, use your machine's instruction on how to add the ingredients.  Mine is liquid-dry-yeast.)
3.  Cover and let dough rise in a warm place for 1 to 2 hours or until doubled in height.  (If using a bread machine, allow it complete its dough cycle.)
4.  Using a knife or dough scraper, sprayed with cooking spray, divide the dough into EIGHT portions (I use the pizza slicing method to make sure they're all the same size).
5.  Now you shape the dough into smooth balls (my method means turning the dough in my hand while pushing the dough inward so it gets all smooth on top).
6.  On a large baking sheet, covered in parchment or sprayed with cooking spray, evenly spread out your balls of dough.
7.  Gently press down the dough until it is about 3 to 3 1/2 inches wide.
8.  Cover the buns and allow to rise for 1 hour (they won't look doubled).
9.  While you buns are rising for the second time, preheat your oven to 375.
10. Brush with melted butter (you can top with sesame seeds now if you like!).
11. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes or until golden.

 

For more detailed instructions and pictures, please visit the King Arthur Flour Baking Banter blog.

Blueberry Whole Wheat Muffins

I know what you're thinking... another blueberry muffin recipe?!  Well, I have a difficult secret to let you all in on.  I have waaaaaaay too many cookbooks.  *sighs*  There, I said it.  Do you feel that?  It's a huge weight being lifted off my shoulders.  Doesn't it feel nice? :)  I really do have a lot of cookbooks though - much to Ryan's amazement.  I believe when we counted, we got around 75 (although I have sold some that I didn't use but it has yet to really make a dent in my cookbook collection).  I can never get enough (especially baking cookbooks - no clue as to why.  It isn't like I like to bake or anything.).  So I continue to buy them!  It's a compulsion... I just can't stop.  Even now, I have around four or five cookbooks on my Amazon wish list.  So this is the reason why you will sometimes see the "same" recipe but it's different because it's from a different cookbook.  I shall do my best to ensure no one gets confused but let's be honest with each other, shall we?  I won't post a bad recipe so even if you do get confused, it's all good (literally).

So with this recipe, I wanted to make it slightly better for everyone so instead of making this recipe with regular all purpose flour, I used white whole wheat flour.  It has a more subtle wheat flavor than all out whole wheat flour but with all the whole wheat benefits.  But here's the trick with whole wheat/white whole wheat... sometimes that whole wheat-y flavor can overpower your baked goods.  So how do we overcome that wheat-y flavor??  Orange Juice.  Yep, the same stuff you'll probably drink with these muffins in the morning. Don't ask me why but you don't really taste the orange juice but it does cut through that wheat-y flavor so it makes everyone happy.  You can thank the people at King Arthur Flour later.

This recipe hails from a little bakery down in Savannah, Georgia, which, unfortunately, I have yet to visit but do not fear, Gaited Baker readers, for it is on my to-do list!  The bakery is called Back in the Day Bakery (which is a great name, by the way) and they recently released their cookbook which I drooled over for months before finally purchasing it.  I went back and forth and back and forth, asking myself, "Do I really need another baking cookbook?"  Of course, the answer was, "Yes!!!"

Blueberry Whole Wheat Muffins
courtesy of Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook

2 c. White Whole Wheat Flour (feel free to substitute all purpose if that's what you have on hand)
1 c. Sugar
1 T. Baking Powder
1/4 c. Canola Oil
4 T. Butter, Melted
1/2 tsp. Vanilla
2 Eggs
2 T. Orange Juice + enough Milk to equal 3/4 c. (omit orange juice if using AP flour)
1 c. Fresh or Frozen Blueberries

Preheat oven to 350.
Spray your 12 muffin cup papers and set aside.
In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, and baking powder.
In a separate bowl, mix together the oil, butter, vanilla, eggs, orange juice (if using), and milk.
Mix your wet ingredients into your dry until just combined.
Gently fold in your blueberries (you can toss them with a bit of flour if you're worried about them sinking - I didn't both with that and you'll see I didn't have that problem*.)
Scoop the batter into your muffin cups until about 2/3 full.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until the tops are golden brown and muffins cooked through.
Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 very long minutes while you drool and wait for them to cool.
Store in an airtight container.

* - the few muffins that don't have berries on top are merely an accident.  The berries didn't sink!  Honest!