help needed for soft Kosher hamburger buns
Unlike chewy crusty flavorful sour dough breads eaten for their taste and texture, a good hamburger bun needs to be soft, mild and even a bit fluffy in order to function as the perfect platform for a hunk of char grilled meat. Most hamburger buns are made with milk and butter to achieve the correct texture. However, for those of us who keep kosher, we can't mix meat and milk products. Does anyone have a recipe and/or technique for making a good soft kosher hamburger bun? (Most kosher store bought hamburger buns are small,hard, dry cardboardy things that taste of too much potato flour.)
I have tried a variety of tricks including water roux, non-dairy milks , parve margerine, potato flakes etc, and keep ending up with flat hard bisquit like rolls instead of puffy bread. Embarrasingly, my best results were when I increased the yeast, and added vital wheat gluten, barley malt, and liquid soy lecithin. They puffed up, and looked like decent buns, but the tops were still a little too hard. I ended up cramming them into a plastic bag for 48 hours, and that softened them up a bit, but I feel like a traitor for having to use all of the dough conditioners, and breaking all of the bread baking rules I have learned on this forum.
This is the final recipe I used, which is a modification of a King Arthur Seeded Hamburger Bun recipe I found on their web site.
Ingredients
2 ¾ C KA Bread Flour (fluff and loosen before measuring)
2 TBS sugar
2 Tsp kosher salt
1 TBS INSTANT yeast
½ Tsp vital wheat gluten
½ Tsp barley malt
¾ C lukewarm water (100 degrees F)
1 large egg
2 TBS canola oil
1 TBS liquid soy lecithin
- Mix dry ingredients in large bowl (flour, sugar salt vwg, barley malt)
- Add wet ingredients: egg, oil, H20, lecithin
- Knead by hand to form soft dough
- Allow to rise in warm place, covered til it doubles, or place in fridge until you are ready for it (I did fridge overnight). Remove from fridge, and allow to warm to room temp.
- Gently degass, and divide into 6-8 pieces. Place in ramikins or other ceramic dish of the size needed . Paint w egg and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Cover with saran and towel and place in warm area
- Allow to double.
- Bake 15 mintues at 375. Check browning and re-arrange and tent if necessary. Finish baking another 5minutes. Temp of dough should be 180-200 degrees F.
Any advice or proven kosher recipes are welcome. Thanks in advance for your help.