Monday Menu: New England Hot Dog Rolls

Which are also known as lobster rolls, as they are perfect filled with lobster salad on a hot summer day.  These are top-cut buns that are easily toasted on the sides and are mostly found in New England.

And can be found at Fenway (the best stadium ever, IMHO) wrapped around frankfurters, lobster or spicy Italian sausage.

Hot dogs are also served at the area restaurants in these buns. I have fond memories of summer fast food stands and Friendly’s (RIP) serving up grilled dogs in these buttery toasted buns.

Easily found in markets around New England, good ones are difficult to find elsewhere. After I purchased another lackluster name-brand faux New England bun, I went looking for recipes.

I found a good recipe, but the problem was they needed to be baked in a special (and expensive pan). I decided it was best to recipe test before I invested in something I might only use once.

New England Hot Dog Buns

• 2 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 1 cup (227g) water, lukewarm
• 3 cups (360g) Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons (8g) table salt
• 3 tablespoons (37g) granulated sugar
• 6 tablespoons (85g) butter, softened
• 1/4 cup (28g) nonfat dry milk
• 1/4 cup (46g) potato flour or ½ cup (43g) instant mashed potatoes or 1 cup cooked and mashed potato
• Egg for egg wash

Weigh your flour and combine all of the ingredients, mixing thoroughly and then kneading to make a smooth dough. With the stand mixer, I mix the dough, let it rest for two minutes, and then kneaded for 2 minutes or more on low speed.

Let the dough rise, covered, until nearly doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

Grease hot dog pan (pictured above)*

Deflate the dough and divide into 10 pieces and gently stretch and roll to 6 to 8 inches long**. Place one in each chamber and let rise to just below the top of the pan. Give a light egg wash.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

Now, here’s the fun part – this is optional. Grease a baking sheet and invert over the pan, then top with a cast iron skillet (or any heavy oven-proof skillet). This makes a flat top bun for a more authentic roll. Otherwise, let it bake and rise on its own.  Bake for 15 to 18 minutes until the internal temperature is 200 degrees F. Remove the baking sheet for the last two minutes to brown the tops completely.

* I used two 8×8 cake pans in my test run. I placed the rolls side by side and then pulled them apart once they were done. Made a nice replication of the rolls.

** Another method is rolling out the dough to 6″x15″ and stretching it over the pan. I watched videos on both methods and didn’t see a difference in the rolls – but rolling the dough out seemed a bit more difficult. If I acquire a pan, I’ll test out both methods.

These rolls were amazing and would be great as hamburger rolls, too. I would make 8 rolls instead of ten for burger rolls. Bake on a greased baking sheet. You can also make regular hot dog rolls this way. Create the 6-8 inch rolls, and bake on a baking sheet.

I will definitely make this recipe again.

Meanwhile, I’ll be scouring the thrift stores for a discarded pan. Fingers-crossed.