Burger Buns

Servings: 12 buns

Time: 1 hours

Ingredients:

• 19 oz all purpose flour, plus more for dusting the board
• 1 tsp table salt (not Kosher)
• 1 egg, whole
• 1 egg, scrambled
• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• 2 tsp instant yeast
• ⅓ cup vegetable or canola oil
• 1 ½ cup warm (100-110°F) water
• 1 tbsp sesame seeds

Directions:

Heat the 1 1/2 cups water to 100-110°F. Using a kitchen thermometer to check. If you do not have a thermometer, use your finger, the water should feel warm, not hot.

In the bowl, combine the warm water, yeast, sugar, and oil. Whisk lightly to combine everything together. Let this stand for 10 minutes. The yeast will bubble and form a pad on top of the water.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the flour, salt, and whole egg to the mixer.

Turn the mixer on for about 1 minute to let the flour, salt, and egg combine.

Once the yeast has developed, pour the yeast minute into the stand mixer.

Using the dough hook, allow the mixer to knead the dough for about 5 minutes. Stopping halfway through to scrape the sides of the mixing down down with a spatula.

Sprinkle your work surface with flour. Then pour out the dough into your work surface. You may need to use the spatula to help you get the dough from the bowl as the dough will be slightly sticky.

Divide the dough into 12 equal parts (as equal as you can).

After dividing the dough, preheat the oven to 200°F. Yes, 200.

Roll each dough section into a ball. I do this by gently pulling the dough from the top to the bottom, working in clockwise rotations, little by little around the ball until the top is flat and taught and it’s ball shaped. Place the balls on a baking sheet that has been lined with parchment paper. Leave about 2 inches of space between each bun.

Once the oven is heated, turn off the oven and put the dough balls in the oven. This is how I prove the dough. Allow the dough to sit in the off oven for at least 20 minutes, no more than 30 minutes.

Once the 20 minute proving time has passed, heat the oven to 425°F.

Take the buns out while the oven heats to baking temp. During this time, brush the tops of each bun with the scrambled egg. Then sprinkle on the sesame seeds. You can skip the seeds if you like, but don’t skip the egg wash.

Once the oven is heated, allow the buns to bake for 10-15 minutes or until they are golden brown on top.

Remove the buns from the oven, and immediately take them off the baking sheet.

Allow the buns to cool completely before cutting into them.

Notes:

• If you do not have instant yeast, you can replace it with active dry yeast. Just allow the active dry yeast to sit in the bowl for 15 minutes, as it takes a little longer to activate. Also note that instant yeast and rapid rise yeast are the same thing.
• If you do not have a stand mixer, you will need to hand knead the dough. This will take about 8-10 minutes. To hand knead, put the dough in a lightly floured surface. Pull up half the dough and fold it in half. Then pull from the top and fold the dough in half again. Then repeat half and half and half again for about 8-10 minutes.
• Store the buns in airtight containers for no more than a week. You can freeze the buns for up to one month. I pack the buns in bags of 4 so that I can just pull a bag of buns from the freezer whenever they are needed!
• To form the dough balls, you can also just roll the dough around until it forms a ball shape. This method works too, but the bun will be a little more rustic looking after baking.