Great buns don't come cheap, especially here on the Big Island, where you can expect to pay over 3 bucks for a package of regular hamburger or hotdog buns. But here's an easy way to have great buns the next time you fire up the barbeque: make your own using a bread machine....
Great Buns - The Easy Way
Load in the machine:
- 1 cup lukewarm water
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 cup bread flour
- 1 cup all purpose flour (or you can use 3 cups AP only)
- quarter cup sugar
- shy quarter cup olive oil (cheap kind is fine)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3 1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast (I use the Costco kind that's one-twentieth the cost of grocery stores, and keep it in the fridge)
Select the "dough" setting on the machine and press start. At the end of the cycle, the machine will turn on the paddle again and punch the dough down for you. Flour a board, dump the dough in the middle and pull out the paddle. Roll the dough into a rough cyclinder and cut it in half, then cut those pieces in half, and then those pieces in half again. You will have 8 pieces. (I have a scale and just whack off 100 gram chunks, which comes out just right for 8 pieces). Flatten the chunks a little and form the pieces into buns by turning the outside edges gently under and in, so you have a smooth top, and put them on a greased, heavy cookie sheet. Cover with a dry dishtowel and let them rise in a warm place until doubled. Preheat the oven to 400 while they rise. When the oven is ready, bake on the center rack for about 10-12 minutes, or until they're brown on the outside. I rotate the cookie sheet after 8 minutes. Cool on racks.
Use as is, or let cool and split and toast on the BBQ for some extra crunch.
And, you know, I can do the whole clean up in the time they take to bake in the oven!