Monday, June 13, 2011

Hamburger Buns

I was bored the other day and I decided to try making hamburger buns. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. I made a basic dough in the bread machine, then pulled it out and shaped it into 6 or so rounds (maybe an inch thick?) and let it rise for 30 minutes. Once they were done I brushed the tops with butter and sprinkled on the sesame seeds (the sesame seeds didn't stick tho, next time I'll try an egg wash). And 10 or so minutes later, I had nice hamburger buns. Quite tasty too (if I do say so myself). I didn't take a picture, but I plan on making more tomorrow, so I will post a pic then.

Homemade Crispbread


So, I was at the grocery store yesterday and I was looking at the cracker section and the Wasa Crispbread looked especially appealing. But then I noticed the $4 price tag, which got me to thinking how hard could this be to make at home. Went home and googled crispbread and I found a few recipes (and all from European sites) which I compared to the ingredients list for the Wasa. The only thing I fixed on the recipe I used, was I used canola oil instead of butter. After baking for 8 or so minutes I let the crispbread sit in the warm oven overnight to dry out. I had a piece when I got up this morning, and it was pretty good! It would be even better with the addition of cheese/meat/etc. (or the Wasa site, they have tons of topping ideas!) And total cost was well under the $4 store price. Next time I make them I might experiment with swapping out whole wheat flour for rye, and I used sesame seeds and sunflower seeds, but pumpkin seeds would be good too. And apparently you can make sourdough crispbread too... hmmmm....

Crispbread Recipe
(I left the ingredients in grams and milliliters as I'm too lazy to convert it!):
150ml water, lukewarm
5 grams dried yeast
12 grams butter
1 tsp salt
115 grams all purpose flour
100 grams whole wheat flour, stone ground
60 grams mixed seeds

Dissolve yeast in the water.
Stir in butter, salt and seeds and whole wheat flour.
Add all-purpose flour and work the dough by hand for about 5 min on a floured surface. Place in a lightly greased bowl and let rise in a warm place for approx. 1h.
Divide the dough into 8 pieces and roll out into thin sheets on a floured surface. Prick with a fork before baking at 475 degrees for 5-8 min. Let dry on an oven rack before storing in an air tight container.