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π The butter went slack in minutes
Published about 2 months agoΒ β’Β 3 min read
The butter went slack in minutes
I opened the back door for some air. It's been 96Β°F all week, and the oven's side of the kitchen hasn't been much better. The pats of butter on the counter usually take an hour to soften; this week they went slack in minutes.
Which, as it happens, is what a bun dough wants.
For the cookout, I'm working with buns. A lot of buns. But also a few of my crowd favs: a jalapeΓ±o-cheddar loaf, a pizza with all the sliced pepperoni, and an uncommon pairing folded into a dough.
In this week's newsletter:
Recipes: Milk bread hamburger buns, hot dog buns, jalapeΓ±o-cheddar bread, high-temperature oven sourdough pizza, apricot + lavender bread
Baking Tip: How do I scale up your focaccia?
Links: How a Blanket of Dough Becomes an Ethereal Pastry
π Fluffy milk bread hamburger buns
β
My latest hamburger bun recipe that doesn't disappoint.
Whether you're grilling brats, hot dogs, or making a lobster roll, these buns are where it's at. Totally over the top and actually really not that much more involved to make than their round cousins.
Right now in New Mexico, you'll find fresh fire-roasted green chile just about everywhere. When I start seeing the large fire barrels roasting, I know it's time to make this again with chile instead of jalapenoβit transforms this bread into something very special.
But! Chances are very few of you have access to locally grown and roasted chiles, which is just fine. This bread is wonderful with any diced jalapeno and perfect for that end-of-summer cookout.
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I've been baking your simple focaccia all summer and it's become my go-to for pool parties. I want to make double or even triple batches for a big gathering. Can I just scale everything up, and at what point do I split the dough into separate pans?
Scale the recipe up as much as you need by just multiplying everything by the same factor to keep it super simple. Keep it all as one batch through mixing and bulk fermentation, then divide it into separate pans when bulk is done and you're ready to start the final proof. Larger batches can actually be easier to work with during bulk because the bigger dough mass holds its temperature better and ferments more evenly. The only thing to watch is your mixer capacity. If you're tripling the recipe, you might need to mix in two rounds and combine after.
Want to make bakery-quality sourdough bread from home? Subscribe for the best sourdough guides and recipes to take your bread from ordinary to incredible.
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