Hamburger Buns

In the midst of an extremely hot dry summer, the last thing I want to do is cook up a storm in the kitchen. Summer is a time for light meals that doe not involve too much slaving over the stove. With the tomatoes ripening fast on the vine, what better then than to eat them with buns.

This massive burger which was our dinner had slices of sweet juicy tomatoes from the garden, shredded lettuce, pickled zucchini, thin slices of steak, bacon, fried egg and a squeeze of tomato sauce. Mr Redneck had his with a slice of smoked cheese as well.

The buns were soft and did not break up or disintegrate halfway through eating unlike those supermarket buns. Wholesome gourmet burger at a fraction of the cost !

Makes 6 buns (4" diameter)

Ingredients
245 ml warm water
360 gm high grade bread flour
35 gm (¼ cup) wholemeal flour
1½ tsp salt
1 Tbsp melted butter
1 tsp sugar
1½ tsp surebake yeast

½ tsp garlic flakes (optional)



Method
1. Breadmaker setting : Dough

2. Place all the ingredients into the bread pan in the order according to your breadmaker instructions and press start.

3. Cover the breadpan with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or leave in a warm place to rise until dough double in bulk. (I prefer to let refrigerate overnight where it will rise slowly).

4. Next morning remove breadpan from fridge. Divide and shape into 6 buns. Sprinkle top with sesame seeds. Cover and leave to double in volume again (1-2 hours).

5. Lightly mist the buns with a light spray of water from a height of 12".

6. Preheat oven to 180C. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden.


Note :
Replace wholemeal flour with bread flour if you prefer pure white burger buns.

Tip:
Store leftover buns in the freezer.

Recipe : The Bread Book by Bernard Clayton (adapted)