#340_Homemade Hamburger Buns

Sandwich or Hamburger Buns in 60 minutes

I've owned a Kitchen Aid stand mixer for over 20 years now, but have never used it to make dough until today. I only use the stand mixer for whipping cream, making icing or frosting. I love using it to whip the meringue for Chiffon Cake, but never made dough using it because I'm hooked with my bread machine.
Today that has changed because the dough recipe for this bun was made using the stand mixer, and I wanted to follow exactly the recipe and procedure.
So I followed everything in the recipe except for the rising time because my house is kind of cold. We keep the temperature in our house at 64 degreesF, a comfortable temperature for me and hubby, but not for the buns.(no pun intended). This means that doughs rise a little longer in my kitchen.

The recipe is from a blog, Wives with Knives, click here for the link.

I don't have to say it because as you can see from the picture the buns came out perfect....the height, the size, the texture. They have a lot of substance. Perfect for any kind of sandwich. Although they might not be as perfectly shaped as the ones made by the blogger on Wives with Knife, hubby says they taste really good, a lot better than Sara Lee.
You see I made these for deli sandwiches for Sunday dinner, which is tomorrow, but he can't wait to taste them so he made himself a couple of PJ sandwiches. I'm glad he volunteered to taste test them for me because he is good at it. I trust his taste because he never fails. When he says something is really good, he means it. I only wish though that I can also get him to taste test the Filipino food that I make.
Anyways, if you want to try this recipe you can just go to the link and get the recipe there.

Enjoy the buns!

Update picture:

Here's the deli sandwich

#338_Spanish Bread

Spanish Bread...
another popular kind of bread that Filipinos enjoy.

Why are these called Spanish Bread? I have no clue except maybe it is the same way how we call the "French Bread" here in the States as such even though there is nothing French about them.

As I was making some of the Lion House Dinner Rolls the other day (see post #336), I decided to use the other half of the dough to make some Spanish Bread to see how my G'kids would like them. To my surprise, all of them liked the bread! Our 15 year old g'daughter ate 5 of them, and she would have eaten more if she wasn't worried about gaining weight. Ohhh, so good!

As I mentioned on the Lion House Dinner Rolls post, the similarity between the two breads is the buttering and rolling up the dough. And the obvious difference is the shape. Spanish Bread are longer and skinnier while the Lion House Bread are short and puffy.

Aside from using the Lion House Rolls dough recipe to make the Spanish Bread, you can use any kind of soft dough recipe such as the Ensaymada, click here or Sweet Dough, click here, or even Pan de Sal dough, click here;

Just a side note:I remember back in the Philippines the bakeries over there used "mantekilya" or Star Margarine for the filling.

Shaping the Doughs:
The dough is formed into small balls, then rolled out into about 3"x5", slather the flattened dough with margarine and sprinkle some white sugar.
Starting from one corner, roll up tightly to the opposite corner and you'll end up with doughs looking like the picture above.

Arrange the rolled up doughs on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet with seams facing down. Let the dough rise until double in size. Bake in a pre-heated 375 degrees oven for 15-18 minutes.

Some bakers use bread crumbs on top, but I just brushed the bread with melted butter and sprinkled them with white sugar like you would ensaymada.

ENJOY!!!

#336_Lion House Dinner Rolls

Lion House Dinner Rolls of different shapes
made in my humble kitchen.....

they are nice and fluffy...and yummy!

Lion House Pantry is located in downtown Salt Lake City and is famous for their pastries and bread. According to an article, click here, every year for Thanksgiving, they make 11,000 pies, 75,000 cookies and 65,000 dozens of dinner rolls. Yes, DOZENS! Amazing!! that's a lot of rolls!

These legendary rolls are sold for $6.00 per dozen at their bakery/outlets, but of course it costs less than $3.00 for 20-24 pieces if made at home and they made it possible for us to make them ourselves by sharing their recipe and procedure online.

Just a side note: These rolls remind me of our own Filipino bread called "Spanish Bread". The concept of brushing the rolled out dough with butter then cutting it into smaller pieces, and rolling up each piece is the same, however, the main difference is that we sprinkle white sugar on top of the butter before rolling them up and then brushing the top of the baked bread with more butter or margarine and finish it with sprinkling white sugar and/or bread crumbs on top.

As you can see, I need to practice more on rolling up the doughs,
but as imperfectly shaped these are,
the taste is Heavenly! and they are pillow soft.




Picture of the Lion House signature dinner rolls
as they appear on a cover of one of their books.

Their recipe and procedure is on the net, so I will direct you to their site.
For recipe and tutorial step-by-step procedure on shaping the rolls click on the links below:

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=204&sid=1333738

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f8wPowCbtbo

Note from MaMely:
As always, I used my bread machine to make the dough for these rolls where I let the machine do the mixing and kneading, then I do the fun part. The original recipe doesn't ask for vital wheat gluten and dough enhancer, but for some reason I can't part from my secret ingredients and so I did use them. I also used 1 Tb + 1 tsp of Saf instant yeast and used more flour than suggested on their recipe. As you know when making bread, we get different results from baking them from one area to another even from a kitchen to another kitchen. So, if you think you need to make some adjustments on the liquid or flour, don't be disappointed because that happens.

The Lion House, Salt Lake City

Update: 1-29-12

While I was making some of the Lion House Rolls the other day, I decided to make Spanish Bread with half of the dough to see if our G'kids would like them. To my surprise, they did! in fact our 15-year old G'daughter said she ate 5 pieces and would have eaten more if she wasn't concerned about gaining weight.

Spanish Bread are rolled like Croissant rolls.
When baked, they are brushed with melted margarine and sprinkled with white sugar.

#233_Easter Buns (Hot Cross Buns)

There are so many different recipes of Hot Cross Buns out there. Some are spicy and savory with some dried fruits like currants. Since I enjoy white sweet bread, I decided to use the my Basic Sweet Dough recipe #178, then added raisins, cinnamon powder and orange zest. For the crosses, I used cream cheese frosting recipe. The result? Amazing!

Here's the recipe:
1-3/4 cups warm milk
1 stick butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
6 cups bread flour
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tbsp. instant yeast, (saf yeast)
1 tsp. dough enhancer (my secret ingredient)
1 tsp. vital wheat gluten(another secret ingredient)
1 tsp. salt
4 whole eggs, slightly beaten

Here's the procedure:

1) Put everything in the bread machine pan in the order listed above starting with the milk.
2) Set the bread machine on dough cycle and let it do the mixing and kneading. ( my bread machine beeps when it is time to add other ingredients such as nuts, oats, etc) . So when it beeps, add 1 cup raisins and orange zest from 1 orange.
3) Let the dough rise in the bread machine pan.



4) When doubled in bulk, punch down the dough then take it out onto a floured surface and divide equally into 24 pieces. Shape the dough into balls then arrange them on a parchment-lined baking pan. (12 rolls in one pan)
5) Let the doughs rise until doubled in size.
6) Brush dough with egg wash then bake in a pre-heated 350 degrees oven for 18-20 minutes

Rolls right out of the oven

Let the rolls cool then pipe each roll with Cream Cheese Frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe:

4 oz. (or half a brick) cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, very soft but not melted
4 cups powdered sugar
2 tbps. warm milk or orange juice ( add a little more if too dry)
1 tsp. vanilla

Cream together cream cheese and butter.
Add in the powdered sugar and milk.
Mix well until smooth and there no more lumps.
Pipe on rolls.

#232_ Pan de Coco or Coconut Rolls

Pan de Coco, Coconut Bread or Coconut Rolls,
they all mean the same thing...
bread filled with
Sweetened Coconut or Bucayo.

I found it easier to fill the dough with the bucayo this way,
roll it up like jelly roll.
For the dough I used the Pan de Sal recipe #20, click here.

The rolls can then be sliced across to desired sizes.


The traditional way of making Pan de Coco
is to flatten each ball of dough
then put filling in the center,
gather the edges together then pinch to seal.

Serve Pan de Coco with hot cocoa...yummy!

Bucayo
(Sweetened fresh grated coconut)

For the Bucayo filling, I used the recipe of Virginia Ganzon Rodriguez who is a facebook friend and is so kind to give me the permission to post it here, but instead of posting it I'll just send you to her website to get the recipe, click here. It is a good bucayo recipe. The only thing that I changed in the recipe is the amount of water which I decreased to 1/4 cup and then I added 1/2 can of condensed milk when the mixture was almost dry, then cooked it just a little longer, about 2 minutes.

ENJOY:

April 28, 2010
As per request of Maricel, (see her comment below) here is the recipe for Bucayo, the filling for the Pan de Coco or Coconut Rolls which I copied from Virginia's website.

1 lb. brown sugar
Approx. 1/2 cup water
1 pack frozen grated coconut, thawed
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Cook sugar in water, then add the coconut and vanilla. continue to cook until the consistency is dry enough to fill the dough. Cool the mixture.

#216_Honey Whole Wheat Bread

Honey Whole Wheat

I'm not usually a big fan of wheat bread,
but this has become my favorite bread as well as my husband's.
We enjoy it specially when it is fresh and warm.
Although this recipe requires 3 risings, and takes 4 hours to make,
it is still considered easy to make because
the rising time is all waiting time.
The ingredients are simple, but they are healthy ingredients....
honey and whole wheat flour, what a fantastic combination!

Here's the recipe:

(a) Sponge:
1 cup warm water
3 tsp quick-rising yeast
1/3 cup canola oil
1/3 cup honey

2 cups bread flour

Procedure:

1) Dissolve yeast in warm water in a bowl. You can use a wire whisk to do this.
2) Mix in the honey and canola oil, then gradually stir in the flour using a wooden spoon. Mix well.
3) Cover with a plastic wrap and let it proof or ferment for about 20 minutes until the mixture becomes foamy.
This is the sponge, a very wet and sticky dough, which will be mixed in with the rest of the main dough ingredients in the bread machine pan or bucket.

(b) The main dough:

In the bread machine pan or bucket, pour in:
1-1/2 cups warm water,
then add:
the sponge
1 cup bread flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp. salt
2 tablespoons of vital wheat gluten (edited 3-3-10)
1 tsp. dough enhancer
Turn bread machine on to dough cycle and let the machine do the mixing and kneading. This takes exactly 30 minutes with my bread machine.
(bread machines vary so, it is a good idea to get to know your bread machine first)

When the dough cycle is finished, turn the machine off, but leave dough in the pan to rise, with lid closed.

When the dough has risen, punch it down to release the air, then take the dough out of the pan onto a floured or oiled surface. Divide dough into 4 pieces, shape each piece into loaf, and place them in 4 greased 4"x 8" loaf pans.(or you can use 3 bigger loaf pans)
(here's a link on how to fold and roll the dough for bread:) http://www.artisanbreadbaking.com/discussions/folding_dough.htm)

Cover with plastic wrap and let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled in size.
Brush top of dough with egg wash then bake in preheated 350 degrees oven for 40-45 minutes.

Let bread cool on wire rack for about 10 minutes before slicing.

(I made 2 batches, 4 loaves from each batch. As you can see one was already gone as soon as they were out of the oven. This is the beauty of making your own bread at home, you can be the first one to eat and enjoy them while they are fresh out of the oven.)

Enjoy with butter and jam or with more honey!

A note from MaMely:
The dough can be made the night before then baked in the morning. Or prep the dough in the morning and have some freshly baked bread for dinner. Allow about 1 hour for the first rising, and another 1 hour for the second rising. Rising time depends on the temperature of your kitchen.

To do this, I use regular active dry yeast instead of instant or quick-rising. Follow the steps up to the point where you have the dough in loaf pans. Cover with plastic wrap, then put them in the fridge. In the morning (after 8 hours) take them out and set them on the counter for about an hour before baking them.

Addendum:

You can also use this recipe to make wheat rolls (picture on the left below)
or wheat Pan de Sal at right

#192_Pumpkin Dinner Rolls

Classic Pumpkin Dinner Rolls
Baked in a 9x13 baking pan

This was inspired by a bread (pan de sal) they make in the Philippines where they incorporate squash in the ingredients. So I thought I'd make some using pumpkin since pumpkins here are pretty inexpensive and are always available. In the Fall season, the fresh ones are found every where even in backyards, while canned pumpkins are always available in grocery stores.
Of course, if I were in the Philippines, I would use squash or kalabasa instead.

Look at the texture! a good sign of soft and fluffy roll.

I only used 1/2 cup of pumpkin puree to the recipe and it made the texture of the rolls so incredibly soft and the color is fabulous, but I was a bit disappointed because the taste of pumpkin is not there. Maybe I should add more pumpkin puree next time I make it.

Arrange dough close together to get a classic roll look.
You can make 48 rolls with this recipe

The recipe is pretty much like the Basic Sweet Dough,
recipe #178, with a few modifications.

Here's the recipe:

1-3/4 cups milk, warm

1/2 cup pureed pumpkin ( I used canned)
1 stick butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
6 cups bread flour
1 tbsp. SAF instant yeast
1 tsp. dough enhancer
1 tsp. vital wheat gluten
1 tsp salt
2 eggs, slightly beaten

Put all the ingredients in the bread machine pan starting with the milk and set the the machine on "dough" cycle. Let the bread machine do the mixing and kneading. When cycle is finished, let the dough rise in the bread machine pan until doubled in size. Take the dough out onto a floured surface and cut it in half, then cut each half into 24 pieces. Form each piece into balls and arrange them in 2- 9x13 baking pans lined with parchment papers. Let them rise until doubled in size. Brush top of dough with egg wash then bake in a pre-heated 350 degrees oven for 18 to 20 minutes.

Update:
If you want to use more pumpkin in the recipe, you need to adjust either the liquid or the flour...less liquid or more flour.
Example:
If using 1-cup Pumpkin Puree, decrease amount of milk to 1-1/2 cups, same amount of flour.

A tip from MaMely:
For Speed Rising...this is just for the second rising or proofing.
Turn the oven on for just 1 minute or until the temperature reaches 8o degrees and then turn it off. (Make sure the temperature is not hotter than 80 degrees). Place the baking pan (with the formed dough) in the oven below the middle rack then shut the oven door. Let the dough rise until they are soft and springy to the touch, about 20-30 minutes.
Take the pan out. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Bake rolls for 18 to 20 minutes.

Enjoy!

Update: 11-18-11

Here's the link on How to make your own Dough Enhancer...

http://www.ehow.com/how_7480650_make-homemade-dough-enhancers.html

#191_Learning to Braid Bread

I was just fascinated by the way a FoodBuzz friend, Laura braids her breads. Her Braided breads are works of art, so I decided to give it a try. I used my Basic Sweet Dough recipe #178 to make this bread. Hers look a lot better, but I think mine is not that bad for a first-timer, (patting own back!) Click here to go to her site.

I hope to do a better job next time.

#188_No-Knead Dinner Rolls

Here's another no-need-to-knead method of making breads or rolls that I'd like to share with all of you. I got the recipe from the November issue of BH&G magazine. If you don't want to get your hands messy from kneading the dough or if you don't want to use your bread machine or mixer for some reason, this method is for you.
As for me, after making this recipe twice in a row, I think I'll stick to my bread machine method using the Basic Sweet Dough recipe, click here.

The picture above is the result of my second attempt at the recipe. There's nothing wrong with the rolls except they're not any better than my other bread recipes. In fact they taste too salty. I like the sweet bread better, but give it a try because you might like it.

Here's the recipe for the No-Knead Dinner Rolls:

Ingredients

• 1 cup whole milk
• 6 Tbsp. butter (room temperature)
• 1 pkg. active dry yeast
• 1/4 cup warm water (105 degrees F to 115 degrees F)
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 3 Tbsp. sugar
• 4 to 4-1/4 cups all-purpose flour (not unbleached)
• 1 Tbsp. kosher salt
• Melted butter
• Softened butter

Directions

1. Heat the milk to 120 degrees F to 130 degrees F; add the butter and set aside to cool to room temperature. Meanwhile, in a large bowl dissolve yeast in warm water. Add cooled milk, eggs, and sugar to dissolved yeast and stir to blend. With a wooden spoon stir in 2 cups of the flour and the salt; stir until smooth. Add 2 cups of remaining flour, 1 cup at a time, stirring vigorously for 3 to 5 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic and only slightly sticky. (Only if needed, after 3 minutes of stirring and dough is overly wet, stir in 1 tablespoon flour at a time.

2. Cover the surface of the dough with lightly oiled plastic wrap. Cover the top of the bowl with a second piece of plastic wrap. Let rise until doubled (1 to 2 hours)

3. Lightly butter 24 muffin cups. Gently press the dough to deflate. With lightly buttered hands pinch off generous 1-inch pieces of dough. Fold the dough over, turning and tucking the edges to form a ball. Pinch the seam together to seal. Dip in melted butter and arrange three dough balls in each muffin cup. Let rise until fully doubled (about 1 hour).

Tip from MaMely:

Instead of pinching off one inch of dough at a time, I divided the dough into 72 equal pieces

then arranged 3 pieces of doughs into the muffin pans.

4. Heat oven to 400 degrees F. Bake rolls for 20 to 25 minutes or until well-browned. If needed, to prevent over browning, cover rolls with foil during last few minutes of baking. Remove from oven. Brush with softened butter. Return to oven for 1 to 2 minutes.

5. Remove rolls immediately from cups to a wire cooling rack. Let cool about 5 minutes before serving. Makes 24 dinner rolls.

These were the first rolls baked in 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

I doubled the pans when I baked the rolls and they still turned out somewhat burned. I thought the temperature was too high.

So the second time I made them, I lowered the oven temperature to 350 and baked them for just 18 minutes. They came out alright.
I made two different kinds of rolls from the same dough.

#186_No-Knead Bread Dough

No-Knead Bread...
No kidding! Just let time do the kneading!

When I saw this bread recipe in NY Times a while back I was intrigued by the method used by Mr. Lahey, but I wondered how a bread would taste without any sugar in the ingredient?
There are only 4 ingredients used. Did the author forget to include oil and sugar? How can you make bread by using more salt than yeast? I didn't think I want to try the recipe, but I bookmarked it anyway.

Then out of curiosity, I finally gave it a try the other day when I saw it again in my Bookmark. In a way, if it fails I'll only waste 3 cups of flour, 1-1/4 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp. yeast and water. Yeah, big deal!
Well, it didn't turn out as rustic as it should be, (no regrets!) that's because I didn't follow Mr. Lahey's method of placing the dough in a hot heavy pot with lid on, ( because I don't own a heavy pot with a lid). Instead, I just brushed the top of bread with egg yolk.

The bread, turned out the way I like it...not a typical hard artisan bread which pulls my teeth out when bit into it. My husband even liked it too and he described the bread as the kind they serve at Cheese Cake Factory, only softer. I totally agree with him. There's just perfect crispiness (or crust) on the outside, both top and bottom of bread, and soft and a little chewy inside, but not hard at all! It is rather salty, though, just like the Philippine Pan de Sal of old. Next time I make this bread I might reduce the amount of salt. Now, a light bulb just popped up! Maybe this is how those Pan de Sal were really made before they were modified into sweet bread, hmm... another idea!

To get the recipe for this bread, click here, and for a technical explanation by Mark Bittman on how Mr. Lahey's method works, click here.

It is the easiest way to make bread.
Just combine everything in a bowl....

then stir to blend all the ingredients together...

Cover with plastic wrap.... then wait for about 12-18 hours

before 12 hours...dough looks like a starter.

I baked this in 375 degrees oven for 45 minutes.
(my modified version)

Serve with your favorite jam or with just butter

The taste is so incredible considering there are
only 4 ingredients and no sweetener.
You probably won't believe me if I say that this bread is full of flavor.
The long fermentation did that!

Really good!! you oughta try it!!