Exactly?

Mini

The size would be good for individual tarts, or crumbcakes even. KA sells crumbcake liners, but they're 4". These openings are 4" at the top, but only 3 1/2 across the bottom. And, the pan looks more steel than aluminum, so not sure about its baking qualities for pastries. Guess I'll cross that bridge if I ever get to it :-)

I scaled these at 2 1/2 oz, which is pretty close to your 75 grams :-) This batch was 50/50 white and whole wheat---I'm working toward 100% whole grain.

But, the bun pan is twice the depth (1") of the muffin pan (1/2"). That's really the only difference on the dimensions. And the bun pan is a heavy steel-aluminum. I guess you could use the bun pans for tops, but they may be more like small cakes. I imagine they would probably have a thicker, tougher bottom crust because of the weight and type of metal. Don't know that for sure.

When I'm making a full batch, I use a half-sheet pan, because I like to bake them together all on one tray, one oven shelf. I don't think luck has anything to do with it---just selecting the pan from my arsenal that is best suited for the size job at hand. Isn't that what other bakers do ;-)

There's a link to the hotdog buns in my original post, but it may be hard to see. This should take you there:

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/12517/hot-dog-bun-pan#comment-73002

The hotdog buns don't look as pretty, because the dough was bucky and they were hard to shape. But this was another case of improvising with a pan made for something else. As Alton Brown would say, there's room in the kitchen for only one uni-tasker. (And that would be the fire extinguisher.)

I didn't proof the hotdog buns long enough. The hamburger buns got extra time while the others were in the oven. See what a difference 20 minutes makes...

Sorry, I wasn't clear in my previous post. Talking about hamburger and hot dog buns at the same time. You can read a little more about the pan that I used for the hot dog buns over on the other thread. Here is what it looks like:

I don't see why you couldn't use a 9x13 (2 rows of 4, or 6 down the middle), or a sheet pan, if you're doing a large batch. Someone, somewhere, once gave a tip to shape the dough into ropes the same size as hot dogs. And I think that might work well for brats and sausage too---try to match the ropes to the size of what will be going in them---and allow enough space for them to spread. Wider buns for fatter dogs, or dogs with lots of stuff on top. I crammed 7 into this 11 1/2-inch pan, but six would have been better. Hope that helps clear things up :-)

Thanks Beverly. The dough I made for these was just a starting point, really. It is not perfected by any means, but I'll give you the list of ingredients, and my thoughts on what I'd do differently next time:

8 fl oz fat-free milk
1 egg + enough water to equal 4 fl oz
50 gm honey
250 gm whole wheat flour (approximately)
250 gm white flour (approximately)
2 tsp salt
2 tsp yeast
2 Tbl butter

This was actually a variation on my 100% whole wheat sandwich bread---I just replaced half the ww flour (475 gm) with white and adjusted for hydration (because the 100% whole wheat version, while great for other sandwiches, is a little strong for hamburgers IMO). This time, I mixed it as a straight dough, and when doing that, I always give it two full rises in the bulk stage (the first happened to be overnight in the fridge for this batch). Also, with the whole wheat, I find I get lighter bread if I knead and develop the gluten before mixing in the fat, whether butter or oil (and use fat-free milk).

That said, there were two things I wasn't satisfied with:

1) the buns weren't sweet enough for me, so I will increase the honey to 75 gm next time.
2) they were too chewy, so I will try all-purpose flour next. (I just automatically reached for the bread flour without thinking.)

If you would rather go with something tried and true, I suggest googling 'Moomie's Buns.' They've been hugely popular on the Internet ever since Ellen Dorsey posted them on the Baking Circle years ago. You'll find all sorts of flour, flavor and mixing variations---it's a very flexible recipe.

Moomie's Famous Burger Buns

• 1 c water
• 2 tbsp butter or margarine
• 1 egg
• 3 1/4 c. flour
• 1/4 c. sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 tsp instant yeast

Place all ingredients in your bread machine. Select dough. Allow to run cycle.

Dump out onto lightly floured surface. Divide into 8 pieces. With each piece, slap into a bun shape. Usually 4 or 5 slaps will do it. Place on greased cookie sheets or your bun pans, cover; rise about 30 to 40 minutes.

Bake in preheated 375 degree oven for 12 to 15 minutes til golden. Cool on wire racks.

I like to add a tsp of onion powder and about 1/2 tsp dried onion to the dough in the bread machine. It makes a light onion-y flavor that is wonderful!

Variations:

• Dry flavorings (like onion powder or Penzey's Foxpoint seasoning) should be added with the flour
• If you are using honey or molasses instead of sugar, add with the butter and egg

---Moomie

Beverly, I'm so glad you had good results and I'd love to see pictures :-)  It took me a while to figure out how to upload images, because it's a multi-step process, and not all that intuitively obvious. But don't worry, it takes much longer to read my instructions than to actually do it. Just remember you're limited to 800 x 600 in image size. Smaller is fine, but if your images are larger, you'll need to resize them first, or you'll just get an error message to that effect.

1. Click on the tree symbol (next to HTML at the top of the comment box) and the Insert/edit image box will appear.
2. Click on the little symbol to the right of the Image URL field and the File Browser box will pop up.
3. Click on Upload at the top of this box, and a File field will appear.
4. Click on Browse to the right of the file field and the Chose File to Upload window will open.
5. Find and highlight the image file you wish to upload and click Open. This will take you back to the File Browser box.
6. Click the Upload button (right next to the Browse button).
7. Now the file should be listed in the file browser box. Click on it to highlight it, and then click Send to Editor at the top of this box. This will take you back to the Insert/edit image box.
8. Click Insert, and your image will appear in your edit window where your cursor was last positioned (but you'll have to use the preview feature to see how it will look in your posted message).

There is also a Help button in the top left corner of the File Browser box with tips and alternate ways to do things that you might find helpful.