Hamburger Rolls

My usual go to meal to take to a new mom is Chicken Spinach Pasta bake. My friend Sarah brought it to me when I had Miss F and I have brought it to a number of my new mom friends. My friend had her gorgeous baby Stella this month and I decided to break out of my pasta casserole rut and make her Dr Pepper Pulled Pork instead. And I decided to be extra daring and bake rolls without using my bread machine. I turned to Confections of a Foodie Bride for a fantastic recipe and she totally came through.  I am not sure I will ever be able to have store bought rolls again.

Hamburger Rolls

2 tablespoons sugar
1 packet yeast
¼ cup warm water (105°-115°)
1 cup warm milk (105°-115°)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt
3 to 3 ¾ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon cold water
Sesame seeds for topping

In a bowl of an electric mixer, dissolve the sugar in the warm water. Sprinkle the yeast over the surface and let sit for 10 minutes. If the mixture hasn’t started to get frothy, start over. Add the warm milk, oil, salt and 1 ½ cups of flour to the yeast mixture. Beat vigorously for 2 minutes.

Add an additional cup of flour and then the remaining flour 2 Tablespoon at a time, until the dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl. This particular dough should be quite slack, i.e. very relaxed in order to make soft and tender buns. So you want to add only enough more flour, past the 3 cup point, to make the dough just kneadable, sprinkling in only enough more to keep it from sticking to you or the work surface.

Switch to the dough hook and knead until you have a smooth and elastic dough, about 7-9 minutes. Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl. Turn once to coat the entire ball of dough in oil. Cover with a dampened towel and let rise until doubled, about one hour.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly oiled work surface. Working with oiled hands, divide the dough into 9 equal pieces (a bench scraper and kitchen scale come in handy here). Shape each piece into a ball, and flatten into 3 ½-inch disks. For soft-sided buns, place them on a parchment or silpat-lined baking sheet a half-inch apart so they will grow together when they rise. For crisper bun, place them three inches apart. Cover with a towel and let rise until almost doubled, about 45 minutes.

15 minutes before you want to bake the buns, preheat the oven to 400°. Just before baking, brush the tops of the buns lightly with the egg wash and sprinkle with any desired toppings.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the internal temperature of the bread reaches 190°. When the buns are done, remove them from the baking sheet to cool on a wire rack. This will prevent the crust from becoming soggy.

Adapted from Confections from a Foodie Bride

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