Burger Buns

This week I’ve been grandpa-sitting. Boy’s Mom and Dad took my oldest with them on a road trip to Houston to visit family. To show my appreciation I agreed to keep on eye on Grandpa and help Grandma should she need anything. (Grandma and Grandpa live in the mother-in-law suite that was recently added onto my husband’s parent’s home.)

It’s been a fairly laid back week. I’ve been testing out some recipes (none of which are ready to share) and trying to get caught up at work, sew some birthday gifts, bake and decorate a cake and plan a party for a soon to be 6-year old (the latter is easy when you decide to just go to Chuck E Cheeses – go head judge away).

Since I’ve been living out of two homes this week I’ve been relying on my freezer to feed the family at dinnertime. Before you go all “Heaven Forbid” on me, I just have to say, most of the meals in my freezer are meals I’ve made and frozen ahead of time. (except for the corn dogs and frozen pizza…and raviolis) But I don’t really mean meals, I mean, meal components…like burger buns.

Some of you know that I grew up eating some variation of burgers just about every Saturday night. To some this may sound absolutely horrible but I loved it and have come to appreciate it even more in my adulthood. Do you know how nice it is not to have to wonder what’s for dinner? Most Saturday’s we hit the ground running and we don’t stop until dinner. It’s nice to know that come 4:30, the buns come out of the freezer to thaw, the potatoes get washed and the grill gets prepped – Rain or shine, warm or cold. Burger night is a good thing.

It’s also no secret that I love bread. I love to bake it. I love to eat it. Everything is made better if homemade bread is included, so naturally, in order to make burger night a GREAT thing, I began looking for the worlds best burger bun. 

Whoa Nelly! There are a lot of bun recipes out there. 

But more than any other, the burger with the tag "Comme Ca" kept on popping up in my browser over and over again. What is Comme Ca? Roughly it means – “like this” in French but you’ll notice it’s in caps so that makes it a proper noun or name for something  (I am so smart S.M.R.T) 

Comme Ca is the name of a restaurant I’ve never been to but apparently they are the home of the worlds best burger buns.

The best? Really. Now I’m not as gullible as Buddy the Elf and just because someone posts a sign doesn’t mean I’m going to believe it....

...But I will try it and then make my own recommendation. 

Well... 

wouldn’cha know it! 

The sign out front is true. 

Comme Ca’s burger buns may very well be “The Worlds Greatest Burger Bun”. Way to go! And a special thanks to all the bloggers out there who cleared the path and posted their findings to make it easier for me (and now you) to have buns as good as your burger.

Soon I’ll be posting my 100% whole-wheat vegan version of this - I’ve almost got it perfected – I’ve just got to figure out how to get my sesame seeds to stay on without an egg wash or super glue- suggestions welcome.

Burger Buns

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Makes: 8 buns

Ingredients:

3 tbsp. warm milk


1 cup warm water


2 tsp. active dry yeast


2½ tbsp. sugar


1½ tsp. salt


1 large egg


3 cups bread flour


1/3 cup all-purpose flour


2½ tbsp. unsalted butter, softened

For topping:


1 large egg beaten with 1 tbsp. water, for egg wash


Sesame seeds

Directions:

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer dissolve the yeast and sugar in the warm water. Once frothy, briefly mix in the milk, salt and egg until combined. Add the flours to the bowl, and mix until incorporated.  Switch to the dough hook and Mix in the butter.  Switch to the dough hook, turn mixer on low and add in the butter. Once butter is included, continue to knead (6-10 minutes on low) until dough is ready. The dough will be somewhat tacky, but you want to avoid adding too much extra flour, which will create tough buns.
2. Shape the dough into a round and transfer to a lightly oiled bowl.  Cover with a lid or plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, 1-2 hours. Gently deflate the dough and reshape it into a round.
3. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat then using a long serrated knife or a dough scraper,  cut the dough, like a pizza, into 8 equal sections. Gently shape each section into a round, then press the dough to shape it into a disk. Place each slightly flattened round on the baking sheet, 2-3 inches apart.  Cover loosely with lightly oiled plastic wrap and let rise again, (1-2 hours), until puffed up and nearly doubled.
4. Set a 9 x 13 metal cake pan filled with water onto the lowest rack of the oven.  Preheat the oven to 400˚ F with a rack in the center position.  Brush the tops of the buns lightly with the egg wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds.  Bake the buns about 15 minutes (rotating halfway through baking if they are browning unevenly), until the tops are golden brown.  Transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Notes:

If you have unused buns, go ahead and put them in a zip bag and toss them in the freezer. They freeze VERY well and can easily be brought out to thaw or nuked in the microwave if you need to speed along the thawing time.

Source: Slightly adapted from Annie’s eats, originally from Comme Ca via The New York Times

Gwenevere