Thursday, April 9, 2009

First time for everything


Like everybody else, we have been trying to economize. They had boneless chuck roasts on sale at one of the local grocery stores for $1.99 a pound this week and I bought a couple of them for future meals. I ground them up with plans to stock the freezer with meat to make pastitsio and maybe stuffed peppers but reserved some and made cheese burgers last night.

I have been increasingly annoyed at the price they are asking these days for hamburger rolls - especially since all I can ever find are the mass produced ones that are too soft and disintegrate when you are trying to eat them or the tasteless ones the store bakery cranks out for $3.00 a package. Both are also filled with an alarming array of chemical preservatives, so yesterday, I decided to try my hand at making my own. Since we prefer a more hardy bun I used a recipe for kaiser rolls adapted from the King Arthur Flour website. I do not own a kaiser stamp and didn't feel like going though the braiding process necessary to produce the characteristc whirls of a true kaiser roll so they ended up with the texture, but not the shape, of a kaiser.

Hamburger Rolls


Ingredients:

3 cups unbleached all-aurpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast

1 1/2 teaspoons sugar

1 1/4 teaspoons salt

1 large egg

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

3/4 cup water

1/8 cup milk

1 egg white whisked with a tablesppon of water

Sesame seeds (or poppy seeds)


Directions:


Combine all of the ingredients in the bowl of your stand mixer. With the dough hook, stir until the dough forms a ball and cleans the sides of the bowl. Knead on medium for 5 minutes, then turn off the mixer and let it rest for 10 minutes


Knead for an additional 5 minutes, or until the dough is smooth and supple, adding more flour if the dough is too soft and more milk, a tablespoon at a tme, if the dough is too stiff. Transfer to a lightly greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap and let rise for about an hour until the dough has doubled in size.


Transfer the dough to a lightly greased work surface, and divide it into six equal pieces.




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Shape the pieces into round balls then gently flatten the balls int disks, about 1/2 inches thick or four inches in diameter, and place them on a lightly greased baking sheet.


Cover the rolls, and allow them to rise for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until they've almost doubled in size. Brush the egg white mixture gently over the surface of the rounds and sprinkle with seseme or poppy seeds.


Bake the in a preheated 425°F oven for 15 to 17 minutes, or until they're golden brown. Remove them from the oven, and cool on a wire rack.


Yield: six large hamburger rolls





2 comments:

BurgermeisterWillie said...

These homemade buns are the best. You will never buy another package of Cobblestone Mills, Sweetbay or Publix deli buns if you make your own and nail it the way Jill did.
With storebought buns, you don't know what you're getting. They are very inconsistent, either hard or squishy, and can ruin a great burger.
The freshness and taste of Jill's homemade ones were outstanding. I'll never buy another package of storebought buns. They made the burger taste so much better and easier to eat, like the burger had been cooked inside the bun. They were great.

Jill said...

Uh, thanks dear :)

How much do I owe you for the endorsement?