Summer arrives here in our little corner of paradise tomorrow when we will finally break 80 degrees. Spring was unusually cool, but not cold. Very odd indeed.
Anyway, with summer comes more hamburgers and hot dogs, as well as pulled pork. Maybe it's just my family. We love a really good burger and seem to love them more in summer. And the same goes for hot dogs. I actually tried really hard to avoid feeding them to my children, filled as most of them are with sketchy ingredients. But, you know, Aaron loves junk food, and he loves hot dogs. So naturally, the kids do as well. Fortunately, he will now only bring home high-end hot dogs, so I now indulge in one or two each year. But there's now way I'd ever eat one without a homemade bun. They make all the difference.
I usually double this recipe for my family. Obviously, there are no preservatives; however, these buns seem to start molding a bit sooner than our regular bread, so don't plan on keeping them for long. They do keep well in the freezer for 3-4 weeks.Hamburger (or Hot Dog) Buns
1 cup water
1 egg
1 1/2 cups white flour
1 1/2 cups wheat flour
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon wheat gluten
1 tablespoon yeast
Combine all the ingredients and knead for 10 minutes or until smooth and elastic. (For the lightest, softest, fluffiest buns, avoid the temptation of adding extra flour. You want a rather sticky dough for best results.) Let rise until doubled in volume. Divide into eight pieces for hamburger buns, twelve for hot dog buns. Roll into ropes for hot dog buns or form into balls and then flatten for hamburger buns. Let rise 10-15 minutes. Bake at 400 for 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on racks. When ready to use, split buns horizontally.
As this recipe can also be made into hot dog buns, you may begin to wonder about canning hot dogs. I did many years ago. So I canned some. They were the most disgusting thing ever. An affront to humanity. But the dogs didn't seem to object. However, you could use the buns for pulled pork sandwiches. That works very well. Pork cans amazingly well and is quite easily shredded. Just add your favorite barbecue sauce.
Of course, this recipe is for conventional times in a conventional oven. Grid-down, we're going to have to use a Dutch oven or a solar oven, or some other method. Honestly, how is this really going to work in a grid-down scenario?
Well, to tell you the truth, the best hot dog buns I ever made were when we were camping outside Rocky Mountain National Park. I had a dough mix prepared before leaving on our trip, added wet ingredients, and kneaded by hand. I let them rise as usual and then baked them in a Dutch oven. They were gorgeous. Miss America beauty pageant winner gorgeous. And they were so, so good.
Family reviews: OK, I make these buns all the time. We absolutely love them.
Links to related posts:
French fries
Ketchup
Mayonnaise
Milk shake
Hamburgers
Tomatoes
11.10.18 11.06.22
Jennifer is there a homemade version of wheat gluten as I see it often enough in your recipes?
ReplyDeleteMichael,
DeleteIt never even occurred to me that wheat gluten could possibly be a DIY thing. So I googled it. ANd lo and behold, it is (supposedly) totally possible to DIY this. For those who can't wait for me to try this out and report on it, here is one address:
https://www.alphafoodie.com/how-to-make-vital-wheat-gluten-and-wheat-flour-starch/
Hopefully I'll get to this soon, though "soon" might be August. Not only do I have the normal work of the garden to do nearly full time, but we've got a family reunion, volunteer fire department fundraiser with cowboy cook Kent Rollins, and my daughters' church singles group conference to cook for. I am afraid I'll be running more posts of previous articles than I would like to for a little while.
But I swear you ask the best questions about topics that never even occurred to me--and which I wish to pursue further.
Have a great Independence Day (though I myself am getting to a point of mourning what we've lost).
"Have a great Independence Day (though I myself am getting to a point of mourning what we've lost)."
DeleteJennifer, you have to remember this isn't our real home.
Hebrews 13: 14 For this world is not our home; we are looking forward to our everlasting home in heaven.
The bible and secular history point out all empires are born, rise to glory, fade and fall. I continue to be fascinated by Romes fall but I didn't want to see it in real time. Debasement of currency has destroyed most empires.
Sodom and Gomorra in Genesis 19 …16But when Lot hesitated, the men grabbed his hand and the hands of his wife and his two daughters. And they led them safely out of the city, because of the LORD’s compassion for them. 17 As soon as the men had brought them out, one of them said, “Run for your lives! Do not look back, and do not stop anywhere on the plain! Flee to the mountains, or you will be swept away!”
Mathew 24: 15So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination of desolation,’ described by the prophet Daniel (let the reader understand), 16then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17Let no one on the housetop come down to retrieve anything from his house.