Monday Menu: Perfect Wheat Buns

I was in the mood for hamburgers and also in the mood to bake some bread. So these were inevitable.

These were easy to make, but with a few more ingredients than my usual breads. The dry milk and potato flour make all the difference.

Wheat Hamburger Buns

• 2 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 1 cup (227g) water, lukewarm
• 1-1/2 cups (180g) Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1-1/2 cups (170 g) Whole Wheat Flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons (8g) table salt
• 1-1/2 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
• cornmeal
• Sesame Seeds
• 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 knead for 2 minutes or more on low speed.

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

Deflate the dough, divide into 8 pieces, and gently stretch and roll to balls. Place on a baking sheet, dusted with cornmeal.  Flatten slightly.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

Let rolls rise for 30 minutes.  Give a light egg wash, top with sesame seeds, and bake for 15 minutes, turn and bake for an additional 10 minutes or until the center temp is 200 degrees F

*Fun fact. As it was super cold here when I made this bread, I pulled out an old low-temp heating pad (originally for an elder cat who hated it) and placed it under the dough bowl to help with proofing. Worked perfectly. You can buy dough heating mats, but this will now be my go-to.