Hamburger Buns

Who gets excited about hamburger buns?  No one right, well its because they have never  had mine before.  These are perfect.  They are sturdy enough to hold your burger, but still have that melt-in-your-mouth feature we all love about homemade bread.  These are about 1000 times tastier, 100 times healthier, and 10 times cheaper than their store bought counter parts.  They only rise once, making them come together pretty quick.  Whip a batch of these black bean burgers and you have a quick, tasty, fantastic meal.

1 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup butter
3 cups whole wheat flour*
1- 1 1/2 cups white flour**
2 1/2 teaspoons yeast
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg, slightly beaten

1. Warm milk, water, and butter on the stove or in the microwave until it is the temperature of a warm bath, not hot or it will kill your yeast.  The butter will probably only be partially melted.  Stir mixture until completely melted.

2. I did the rest of this in my kitchen aid, but you can also do it by hand in a large bowl.  Add milk mixture to the bowl of mixer.  Add dry ingredients starting with only 1 cup of the white flour.  Mix until ingredients are well combined.

3.  Add the egg and mix for another minute or two.  This will be a sticky dough, which makes for lighter buns.  If the dough is still extremely sticky, gradually add some or all of the remaining 1/2 cup of flour.

4. Lightly flour the counter and dump the dough out.  Rub a little oil or butter on your hands.  Divide the dough into half, then half again.  At this point you should have four pieces of dough about the same size.  Take each or those pieces and divide them into two or three pieces, depending on if you want smaller or larger buns.  I wanted smaller buns, so I made a total of 12 buns.  Form into flat disks.  I shaped them like I do my rolls, then smashed them a little flatter between my hands.  They will puff up in the oven.

5. Set them on a greased cookie sheet and cover with a clean dish towel.  Let them rise for 30-40 minutes.  Mine didn't look like they changed much in size during that time, but did most of their puffing up in the oven.

6. Bake at 400 for 12-14 minutes.

*As I discussed more at the bottom of this post, I almost exclusively use freshly ground white wheat.  White wheat gives baked products a much lighter texture and flavor.

**The amount of flour you use will vary based on altitude, temperature, and humidity.  You will know when to stop adding flour based off sight, touch, and practice.

Adapted from Pennies and Pancakes.