I Have Great Buns

The experiment with the pitas combined with the cooler weather had us contemplating a daunting task: making our own buns. Hamburger buns, specifically, to accompany the burgers the husband was making for himself and the boy from the gift of a pound of ground chuck I gave him. Yes, I know, I'm terribly generous, Gentle Reader. But I'll let the husband tell the tale.

--The Faudie

We had crunchy coconut and lime burgers again this weekend...or, at least, I had them again--the coconut-disliking boy got a plain hamburger patty while Angela abstained from the red meat altogether. And what was so special about these burgers that warrants a post? This time, they had homemade buns!

It was Angela who suggested I try making hamburger buns. With her relative success at making pita bread fresh in my memory, I decided to give it a shot. The Bread Machine Cookbook has a recipe for hamburger buns, but we decided to adapt a healthier-sounding recipe instead.

Whole Wheat Sandwich Rolls

1 1/8 C water
2 T vegetable oil
1 T honey
1 1/2 t salt
1 C whole wheat flour
2 T wheat or oat bran
1/4 C wheat germ
2 C bread flour
1 1/2 t yeast

1. Place ingredients into bread machine in the order suggested by the machine's manufacturer.
2. Select the Dough option on the machine, then start the cycle.
3. When the cycle is complete, remove the dough from the machine.
4. Form the dough into 12 balls, make into desired shape of rolls and then let rise for 50 to 60 min. on a lightly greased baking sheet.
5. Bake in an oven preheated to 375 degrees for 20 minutes or until done.

Yield: 12 rolls

Nutritional Info
Not provided, so there's no telling what too many of these buns will do you your buns.

The Husband's Futzings
The only real change I made to the recipe was the number of rolls I prepared. Because I wanted them to be large enough to hold a hamburger patty, I made nine largish rolls instead of a dozen smaller ones.

Five of the rolls I baked on a baking stone; the others on a baking sheet. The ones on the baking sheet unfortunately got a little too hot and burned on the bottom. But other than that, they came out fine.

It ain't pretty, but it's pretty good-tasting

The bun in the above picture is actually two of the burned buns after the blackened bottoms had been cut off. Whatever works, right?

I'm wondering if Angela and I might want to invest in some stone baking tiles. I could get used to having fresh-made rolls with dinner!

Happy little buns