Moomie's Buns ARE beautiful!

Her burger buns that is,  I've never met Moomie in person so I can't speak for the other "buns."

This recipe is from the King Arthur Flour message board, The Baking Circle .  Moomie, or Ellen her real name, is a contributor there that shared her recipe for homemade burger buns.  They were so popular King Arthur added them to a cookbook and they quickly made their rounds on a couple message boards I frequent.

Today I spent the afternoon in the kitchen making these beauties......okay not the whole afternoon, they take longer to rise than to actually make, and they are totally worth it!  I don't think I will ever buy a store bought hamburger bun again.  These were so quick and easy to make.   I don't know why I waited so long to make them.  Golden yellow on the outside, tender on the inside, and so delicious.  I made the mistake of letting the kids taste one and now I think I have to hide them just so I'll have some left for dinner tomorrow.  Which reminds me, stop by we're fixin' butts tomorrow. ;)

On to the recipe.  Here is Ellen's Site if you want to check out her notes and variations.  This really is a very versatile recipe.  You can make burgers buns, hot dog buns, even dinner rolls using this recipe.  Some people say they will try to make hoagie rolls out of the dough, but that's where I draw the line.  As a chick who grew up outside of Philly, working in a hoagie/steak shop, we take our hoagie and cheese steak rolls VERY SERIOUSLY.  There just isn't the right chew for these to be hoagie rolls.  Sorry Moomie, but I will be using these buns for many other things, like tomorrow with indoor pulled pork......mmmmmm pork.

Here is the recipe I used, since finding this recipe I've noticed a few slight variations, a little more yeast and a little more salt, than the one I used.  There are versions for the bread machine and for a stand mixer, I used my Kitchen Aid stand mixer.

Moomie's Beautiful Burger Buns

1 cup water (mine was lukewarm)
2 tablespoons butter or margarine (butter baby)
1 egg
3 1/4 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon instant yeast ( I opened two packages of rapid yeast to measure 1 tblsp)

Place all ingredients in your bread machine. Select dough. Allow to run cycle.

Dump out onto lightly floured surface. Divide into 8 pieces. With each piece, slap into a bun shape. Usually four or five slaps will do it. Place on greased cookie sheets or your bun pans, cover; rise about 30 to 40 minutes.

Bake in preheated 375 F oven for 12 to 15 minutes till golden. Cool on wire racks. I like to add a teaspoon of onion powder and about 1/2 teaspoon dried onion to the dough in the bread machine. It makes a light onion-y flavor that is wonderful!

When I do these for burgers, I split the bun, butter, and fry in a skillet till brown. Yummy! They make great sandwich buns too! Nice and soft! You can't go wrong with this recipe!

Tizzy notes:

Using your stand mixer, attach the dough hook.  Mix on low to incorporate the ingredients, then turn up your mixer to about 2 or 3 speed and let it knead the dough until it forms a ball on your hook.  It will be very sticky.  Pour out onto a lightly floured surface and hand knead until it's nice and smooth.  I kept adding flour to the top and board until it stopped sticking, wasn't much tho.

After you are finished kneading grease a bowl with oil.  Drop your dough ball in there and turn it around inside the bowl to oil the surface of the dough.  Either top the bowl with a tea towel or saran wrap and put it in a draft free place in your kitchen.  I like to turn my oven on warm, turn it off in 30 seconds, and place my dough inside the oven.

Let the dough rise for 1 hour or until it doubles in size.  After it has doubled punch it down (after you let your DD who is watching you like a hawk touch it)then divide it into 8 equal buns and slap it around 4 times (let DD slap it too because she says "what's more fun than slapping dough around?" obviously she doesn't get out much.)

After you have slapped the dough, form the bun shape and place on greased cookie sheets, or parchment paper like I used, no fuss no muss.  Cover the pan with a tea towel or saran and let them rise again for 30 to 40 minutes.  Then remove the cover, brush them with a little melted butter or egg wash if you wish and bake in a preheated 375  degree oven for 12-13 minutes or until golden brown. Split, serve, enjoy!

Now......