COVID-19 Plan: Bake Bread (and Buns)

How is the stock in your local grocery stores? I have found that certain items seem to be adequately stocked, like fresh fruits and vegetables, while other items are hit or miss. Meat, dairy, bread.

In our area, it was the evening when the schools made their closure announcement that seemed to start it all. We were in the baking aisle and the flour was nearly gone. That's when I knew it was going to be time to get some supplies in my pantry for baking bread. Over the course of a week or two, I added various flours (self-rising, all purpose, white whole wheat) and yeast, along with some oils to have on hand.

This week, I decided to make my own hamburger buns with a recipe I found on Pinterest. It seemed pretty basic. Yeast, sugar, salt, butter, egg, flour. I followed the directions and set the dough aside to rise for an hour.

My dough took a bit longer to double in size, probably because I had the windows open on a nice spring day to let the house air out. I let it sit on a heating pad for a few minutes, and that seemed to help.

The dough was very sticky, however, and I had to flour my hands and the dough surface frequently just to manipulate it into shape.

After making twelve buns, I brushed them with an egg wash and sprinkled sesame seeds on top.

To begin with, the recipe instructs you to add a pan of water to the bottom rack of the oven, and then preheat to 400. This does a nice job of adding steam to the oven as the buns bake.

And after 15-20 minutes, they are golden and fluffy!

The next time I make these, I will shape them into eight buns instead of twelve. When we buy frozen patties, they come in an eight pack. And these buns  were on the smallish size, so I think the recipe will work better for eight.

The verdict? Yummy! I served the boys and I burgers with a side of orzo spinach salad. Delicious!

The next day, I used the leftover buns to make egg sandwiches for breakfast.

I plan on trying some sandwich bread recipes soon, too. Bread is such a simple pleasure, isn't it? Normally, I don't eat a lot of bread because I avoid the carbs. But in times like this, I find that it is necessary to loosen up a bit and take comfort where it can be found.

Here is a link to the recipe:

https://www.thebakerupstairs.com/2017/02/homemade-hamburger-buns.html

Blessings, cafe friends!