Burger Buns

Decent burger buns are available at all manner of grocery stores and bakeries, but it is a worthwhile treat (and perhaps a fun challenge) to make your own. If you don’t own a stand mixer, don’t let that stop you from trying out any of these recipes. Bread has been around far, far longer than our precious KitchenAids. In fact, I often find that making breads and burger buns by hand gives me a better feel for the dough and results in a better outcome. Here are some guidelines.

• A wetter dough will be less dense: This realization, late in my life as a baker, shattered my approach to bread-making. I imagine that many of us who grew up helping make bread were told that we should be liberal with flour and then just knead, knead, knead, until the dough is “smooth and elastic.” News flash: If you add too much flour, it will never get “smooth and elastic.” One should, in fact, opt for a wetter dough and resist the urge to add additional flour during kneading; a dough that might stick a bit to your hands and the work surface will make better bread. This is one reason I’ve come to prefer making bread by hand to using a stand mixer. With the stand mixer, it’s difficult to resist adding more flour as it sticks to the bowl and the dough hook.

  To knead a slightly sticky dough, knead with one hand and hold a dough scraper in the other. Use the scraper to get underneath the dough and flip it after each kneading.

• When using a stand mixer: If you do opt to use the stand mixer, here are a few guidelines. Start with the paddle attachment, which will ensure that the base dough is thoroughly combined. After about 2 minutes, switch to the dough hook. Add as much flour as is needed for the dough to form a ball. As the dough kneads, periodically turn off the mixer and remove the dough from the hook with your hands so that all the dough gets uniformly kneaded. I recommend kneading by hand for the final few minutes, if for no other reason than posterity’s sake.
• Combining flours: Breads and rolls that are not made entirely from all-purpose white flour have a more nuanced flavor and an enhanced nutritional profile. I prefer that half the flour be unbleached all-purpose white flour or bread flour and the other half a combination of whole wheat or spelt. Other types of flour—rye, buckwheat, oat—can be incorporated, but I don’t advise using any more than 25 percent of the total flour volume. Due to the higher volume of perishable oils they contain, whole grain flours are best stored in the refrigerator or freezer in an airtight container, where they will stay fresh for months.
• A Note about Gluten-Free Rolls: Gluten-free bread-baking is a skill set of its own, and practitioners of the craft have come a long way since the first edition of this book was released in 2010. In that first edition, I included a recipe for gluten-free sandwich “bread,” using a packaged mix and cooking it in a square pan, then slicing it like focaccia and splitting each piece in half for burgers. This is still a great way to go, but since that’s such a simple alternative, I don’t think it merits a recipe, so it no longer appears here. More importantly, I encourage you to seek out the skilled GF bakers in your hometown to support.