July 2020 Monthly Challenge: Hot dog and hamburger buns

[Bill/SFNM]

This reminds me of Howard Johnson's hot dogs where they sliced off the outside of the buns and toasted them.  Supposedly that was a Jaques Pepin idea when he worked for them.  I grew up in California, but I guess HoJo started in New England.  What makes them New England style?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_England-style_hot_dog_bun

According to this, they were developed by HoJo in the 1940s. Pepin went to work there in 1960s

[ARenko]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_England-style_hot_dog_bun

According to this, they were developed by HoJo in the 1940s. Pepin went to work there in 1960s

I may have misinterpreted an interview I saw with him.  Sounded like he was taking credit for it.

[Bill/SFNM]

Very handsome, Bill. While looking into the whole hotdog bun thing, I came across the New England style and the forms to bake them in.

As far as the big question goes: I think the answer is steam! Gotta be....

We are in the high 90's here in Denver and I have no A/C,  just a whole house fan that comes on late at night and shuts off early in the morning. As the deadline approaches, I may have to do a 4 a.m. bake!

Go for it, Paul! And you can have hot dogs for breakfast - one of my goto meals as a starving student. 

[petef]

Here's my typical hotdog bun that I've been using lately. Instead of buying all sorts of different rolls for burgers, hotodogs, and other sandwiches, I simply stock up on Italian bread. The long loaf style. Then cut it and slice it to suit what I'm using it for.

Example below. I cut a the loaf about 6 inches long, slice it lengthwise to form 2 separate hotdog rolls, and then cut a V groove to cut out/remove the center portion to make space for a hotdog. Toast it just a bit, add the hot dog & topping. Delicious!

This is not something I'd want to do for serving many hotdogs, but for just 1 or two at a time, it works just fine.


BTW: The fries are a work in progress, fried in 50:50 Beef Tallow & Coconut oil.
Flavor is fantastic, working on getting a bit more crispy.

--pete--

[Chicago Bob]

I've been really into airbuns lately. Anyone else tried them?

.

My German gf loves those things!  🤠

[sodface]

Made some slider buns and some brat buns.  I tried to recreate White Castles, steamed with dried onions etc.  I inadvertently made 9, I meant to make 6.  I ate them all.  I may never eat again.

[foreplease]

Made some slider buns and some brat buns.  I tried to recreate White Castles, steamed with dried onions etc.  I inadvertently made 9, I meant to make 6.  I ate them all.  I may never eat again.

  Great looking rolls, Carl.

[Yael]

sodface,
I really like the look of these buns: bready, but soft! If you have any Formula & Procedure to share I'd love to try!

[sodface]

  Great looking rolls, Carl.

Thanks Tony!

sodface,
I really like the look of these buns: bready, but soft! If you have any Formula & Procedure to share I'd love to try!

Thanks Yael, see: https://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php?topic=26375.msg623349#msg623349

I did make the following changes, mostly to make the formula easier to remember 

IDY	5g
Salt	10g
Sugar	20g
Butter	40g

Each number is twice the last and sort of close to the original values in the link.  IDY is unchanged. Salt went from 8g -> 10g (2%) and is the value used in the basic formula in the Best Bread Ever book so that's easy for me to remember as I make that formula for little baguette rolls often.  Sugar went from 12g -> 20g which is kind of a big jump but I did want to make them a bit sweeter and this still isn't too out of line with what you see other burger roll recipes using. Butter went from 28g -> 40g, no real reason here other than to double the previous number and to see if it made any difference in the crumb.

All that said, I'm also brushing with melted butter before and after bake to try to keep the crust soft.  It might be too much butter and a bit distracting flavor-wise.  You get the taste of butter before you do bread according to my wife. When I make these again I'm going to have to decide what to do about that. Maybe substitute a different fat for the dough itself and only brush once, probably after bake?

//edit, I meant to mention that the dough weights for these were 30g for the sliders and 85g for the brat buns.  Both were baked on 1/8 sheet pans in the Wolf countertop oven at 365F for ~15-17 mins. I did not post pics of the bottoms because they had zero color.  I double panned them for the entire bake time because I wanted to keep the bottoms soft, worked a little too well. I'd like to see a little bit of color on the bottom, these were totally white, cooked through, but completely white.

//edit2, Oh yeah, I buttered the pans too!

[sodface]

I know I said I wasn't going to eat ever again, but, for lunch I had a brat on one of the buns posted above and it worked out very well.  Now I'm a bit conflicted about the no-color bottoms, makes them nice and soft!

[petef]

Made some slider buns and some brat buns.  I tried to recreate White Castles, steamed with dried onions etc.  I inadvertently made 9, I meant to make 6.  I ate them all.  I may never eat again.

Wow, as far as I'm concerned, you win the monthly challenge!
The last pic of all the WC Burgers looks fantastic!

For years I've been trying (unsuccessfully) to duplicate the White Castle buns & burgers recipe and it appears you nailed it!  Making a WhiteCastle bun could be a monthly challenge all it's own. Can we improve on your perfection?

PS: For those unfamiliar with WhiteCastle burgers, I'm showing a pic below of an original WC Burger.


--pete--

[parallei]

Wow, as far as I'm concerned, you win the monthly challenge!
--pete--

No one "wins".

[amolapizza]

We all just get hungry!

[sodface]

The last pic of all the WC Burgers looks fantastic!

Thanks Pete!

Can we improve on your perfection?

They were pretty good but far from perfect.  I spent some time googling the dimensions of the burgers and found a few references, even a press release from White Castle itself, that said they were 2"x2".  I meant to buy some frozen ones for measurement and taste comparison but realized I forgot to get them on the drive home from the store.  I agonized over it and ultimately went with 3 across on the 1/8 sheet pan even though it's only ~5-3/8" across the bottom of the pan.  So I think my version was slightly smaller and also a little too tall compared to the real thing.  The burger patty also needs a bit of help.  I laid it out into a square on parchment slightly larger than 6x6, froze it slightly, then cut it into squares and poked holes in them with a drinking straw.  That all worked fine but the meat needed to be a little thinner and a finer grind I think, it was a bit too "chunky".

[Yael]

Carl,

Thanks a lot for the detailed explanation and the link!
I'll give it a try soon!!

About the no-color bottom, that could be good for paninis 

[goosta]

Here are Hamburger Potato Buns I made for dinner tonight.

[petef]

Thanks Pete!

They were pretty good but far from perfect.  I spent some time googling the dimensions of the burgers and found a few references, even a press release from White Castle itself, that said they were 2"x2".  I meant to buy some frozen ones for measurement and taste comparison but realized I forgot to get them on the drive home from the store.  I agonized over it and ultimately went with 3 across on the 1/8 sheet pan even though it's only ~5-3/8" across the bottom of the pan.  So I think my version was slightly smaller and also a little too tall compared to the real thing.  The burger patty also needs a bit of help.  I laid it out into a square on parchment slightly larger than 6x6, froze it slightly, then cut it into squares and poked holes in them with a drinking straw.  That all worked fine but the meat needed to be a little thinner and a finer grind I think, it was a bit too "chunky".

No doubt, the White Castle burger is a tough one to duplicate. I'll have to try your bun recipe as a baseline and combine it with what I have learned over the years. We can make a new topic to share our experiences.

I also have a special way of reheating frozen WC burgers that beats the manufacturer's instructions. We can cover that too.

Thanks for your WC posts!

--pete--

[petef]

No one "wins".

I know, I know

How about the person(s) with the most LIKES wins!
Not official, no prizes, just approval by peer review.

--pete--

[parallei]

I know, I know

How about the person(s) with the most LIKES wins!
...............

--pete--

You may not know it, but you just made the best argument for disallowing the LIKE function for this thread.

[cinefoodie]

Okay, so this is from April. Couldn't find AP flour or yeast at the store so these are mostly whole wheat with sourdough starter.