Home Made Hamburger Buns

I found this idea here, my current favorite food blog.  I have only tried making bread about six times in the past couple of years.  I liked the Babka bread for something sweet, the Challah bread (a Jewish passover bread) for something new, and I wanted to see if these hamburger buns would live up to the hype on Annie's eats.  Well, they were very tasty and if you have the patience to make home made bread, this was oh so worth the wait!

Homemade Hamburger Buns:

3 tbsp warm milk
1 cup warm water
2 tsp. instant yeast
2 1/2 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 large egg
3 cups bread flour
1/3 cup all purpose flour
2 1/2 tbsp butter, softened

In a bowl with a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment combine the water, milk, yeast, sugar, and egg.  Add the flours and mix well.  Mix in the butter (I had to slightly melt mine, because oops I forgot to take it out of the fridge earlier) Switch to the hook attachment and knead for 6-8 minutes.  I think I only did mine for about five.  Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and wait for at least 1-2 hours.  Once the wait is over, take the dough out, cut out 8 equal parts, and then gently roll into balls.  I just took the pieces and kind of folded it back until I formed a ball.  Her recipe calls for parchment paper or those lovely silicone baking mats, neither of which I had on hand..so I just sprayed the heck out of my baking sheet and sprinkled on corn meal.  Place the balls on the sheet, about 2-3 inches apart.  Gently cover with a lightly oiled piece of plastic wrap and let raise another 1-2 hours.  I was running out of time, so mine only raised for about 45 minutes.  Preheat oven to 400.  Place a metal cake pan filled with water on the bottom rack of your oven.  brush your buns (hee hee) with a egg wash..1 egg, 1 tbsp water whisked together.  Sprinkle on sesame seeds, which I didn't have, so I put poppy seeds on top.  Bake for 15 minutes, rotate your pan half way through cooking.  Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Verdict, I will be  making these again, in fact, I don't think I would want to go back to the buns bought at the store.  These held up pretty well, and let's face it, it tasted a lot better too.