Hamburger Buns
I made hamburger and hotdog buns over the weekend, and thought I'd share my results. I used a soft, enriched, whole wheat sandwich bread recipe that has milk, egg, oil and a little honey. The formula is fairly ordinary for soft, fluffy bread, but the baking pan deserves a mention, so I thought I would post about it here. I actually have a hamburger bun pan, even if it always seems to be my last choice. When I'm making a full batch of 12 buns, I reach for a half-sheet pan. It's the perfect size for the buns to grow into each other just a little and support each other in the oven.
But this time, I wanted to use half the dough for hotdog buns, [1] so I got out the hamburger bun pan, which makes six at a time. Then I spied the muffin top pan that I added to my bakeware collection not too long ago. Surprisingly, the wells are exactly the same 3 1/2 inces in diameter as the bun pan. I like the shape better, and the pan has a non-stick finish with no seams for easier clean-up. So, I gave it a test run. I may never use the hamburger bun pan again. The muffin top pan is my pick for a small batch of burger buns :-)