Ellen's Famous Burger Buns

1 cup water

2 tbsp margarine or butter

1 egg

3 1/4 cups flour

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp salt

3 tsp. yeast

 

Optional ingredients include a tablespoon of dried minced onion, plus a half tsp onion powder. Gives a terrific onion-y flavor to your buns! Place all ingredients in the bucket of your bread machine. Select dough cycle. Press start. Allow machine to complete it's cycle. Dump risen dough onto a lightly floured surface. Divide into 8 pieces. Take each piece, and slap it, hard! Flatten into hamburger bun shapes. Place on greased cookie sheets. Cover, let rise 40 to 45 minutes. Preheat oven to 375º. Bake buns for 12 to 15 minutes til golden. Remove to wire racks to cool. We enjoy these buns split, buttered and toasted on a hot skillet for burgers. They are fabulous for your favorite sandwich filling!

 

Karen Noll...baking circle member kindly worked up directions for making the dough in her food processor. A HUGE thanks to Karen!

 

Don't Need to Knead? Make Ellen's Buns in the Food Processor!

Place flour, sugar, salt and instant yeast in the bowl of the food processor (7-cup or larger model) fitted with the steel blade. Pulse ingredients briefly to combine.

Add the egg and butter or margarine, and pulse briefly again to combine.

With the motor running, add the water (90 - 95 degrees) slowly through the feed tube just until a rough dough ball forms, usually about 20 seconds. Stop the machine, check the consistency of the dough (it should be slightly sticky), and adjust water/flour if necessary. Process for an additional 20 seconds, for a total processing time of no more than 45 seconds to avoid overheating your dough.

Place in a slightly oiled bowl or dough rising bucket, cover loosely with plastic wrap, and let rise for about an hour until doubled in bulk.

Continue with directions for shaping and baking.

 

Notes:

To include your favorite variations:

Dry flavorings (like onion powder or Penzey's Foxpoint seasoning) should be added with the flour;

If you are using honey or molasses instead of sugar, add with the butter and egg;

 

 

Dinner Rolls from this dough

 

This dough can also be used to make the best dinner rolls! Divide into 12 pieces. Shape into balls. Place in a greased 9 x 11 inch baking pan. Cover, let rise 40 to 45 minutes. Bake at 375º, 15 to 18 minutes til golden.

The Best Loaf of White Bread!

For a fabulous loaf of bread, I credit Shirley Seigrist for her bold experimentation! Shape dough into a traditional loaf. Place in a greased large 9" aluminum loaf pan. Let rise 40 to 45 minutes til loaf rises above the lip of the pan. Preheat oven to 350º. Bake loaf for 30 minutes or til golden. Remove to wire rack to cool, brush outer surface of loaf with butter. This is a fabulous loaf of squishy white bread! Enjoy!

Favorite Variations from King Arthur Baking Circle Friends

From Barb; She substitutes one cup of wheat flour for one cup of white flour. She also likes to add 2 eggs rather than one, for favorite dinner rolls.

For sandwich buns, Barb adds 1 cup of oatmeal to the basic dough, then shapes according to directions.

Another favorite is to substitute 2 tablespoons honey for the sugar, and while shaping, flattens one side in asiago cheese, and places the cheese side up on the baking sheets.

From Glory; Her favorites are the onion flavorings. She loves to add Foxpoint seasoning from Penzey's, onion powder or onion salt while omitting the regular salt. She also loves to top them with charnuska and toasted onion bits for a tasty as well as pretty finish!

From Furbie; She loves to make bread sticks! She gently rolls the dough into a rectangle, brushes it with olive oil, then sprinkles it with sesame seeds on half, poppy seeds on the other half. She takes her pizza wheel, slices the dough into strips, lays them out onto parchment paper lined baking sheets. After baking for 10 minutes at 450º they turned out wonderfully crispy! She also suggests Pec/Romano cheese and freshly ground black pepper!

Sandipcbeach also likes to substitute one cup of whole wheat flour for one cup of all-purpose flour. She also reduces the sugar to 2 Tbsp. She also loves to use the Foxpoint seasoning in them!

ElaineL's favorite version is to use 1 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour and 1 3/4 cups of all-purpose flour. She loves the results she gets from this version!

Maddie adds 1/2 cup of instant mashed potato flakes and 2-4 tbsp more water. She added the 1 tsp of onion powder to this version---baked it into a traditional loaf for a super loaf of bread, perfect with soups and stews!!! Her family loved it!

Naschol enjoys making "Pigs in the Blanket" with this dough. She also adds mustard and minced onion to each wiener before rolling it with the dough.

Judy Kitchens made the buns using half whole wheat flour and half spelt flour. They turned out perfectly!

Karen Greene, also known as Bookbag to her friends on the King Arthur Baking circle, enjoys substituting King Arthur's Irish Whole meal Flour for half the all-purpose flour before shaping according to the directions. She's also working on another variation, with more to come!

Chanticleer uses 100% white whole wheat, freshly ground along with honey and molasses as the sweetener. She reduces the amount of sweetener a little and adds 1 tsp diastatic malt powder to the mix. She also enjoys brushing them with a bit of garlic oil and presses in a bit of dried onion before baking.

Judiec adds 2 tsps fox point seasoning and 2 to 2 1/2 ounces of roughly chopped sundried tomatoes. She also cuts back on the salt just a bit. Judie is having an incredibly difficult time keeping up with order from friends and family with this variation! ha!

 

 

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