Whole Wheat Hamburger Buns

I have a really delicious recipe for you today- homemade whole wheat hamburger buns.

Last weekend, my mom was out of town. She was going to be getting home just before Saturday night dinner, so my dad and I were in charge of cooking. We decided to make hamburgers, but we realized we didn't have any buns. 

What would a normal person do? Go to the store. What did I do? Make the hamburger buns. 

I love trying new things. I especially love making bread. I. Love. Bread. 

Anyway, I found a recipe online for whole wheat buns, and I ran down to the kitchen to start the process. They ended up tasting really yummy. However, I was a little bit pressed for time, and I didn't allow them enough time to rise. They were a little bit small, but tasted just as good :)

 Whole Wheat Hamburger Buns 

Whole Wheat Hamburger Buns

Ingredients:

15 oz all purpose flour (3 cups)

10 oz whole wheat flour (2 cups)

1 cup milk

1 cup water

2 tbsp butter

1 tbsp sugar

1.5 tsp salt

2.25 tsp instant yeast (one envelope. Active dry yeast will work too)

1 egg

wheat germ (optional)

Directions:

In a small saucepan, combine the milk, water, butter, sugar, and salt in a saucepan. Bring to a simmer, then remove from the heat, and let it stand until it’s lukewarm (too hot and it will kill the yeast). If you have an instant read thermometer, you want to use it when it’s 110 degrees F.

In a large bowl, whisk the flour and yeast together to combine. Pour the lukewarm wet ingredients from the saucepan into the flour, and stir until the dough starts to come together. If you have a stand mixer, use the dough hook to knead for 8 minutes. If not, knead the dough on a floured surface for 10 minutes (and resist adding too much flour. Adding more flour will make the bun more dense, and heavy).  Place the dough in a large oil greased bowl, and toss the dough to coat.  Cover with plastic wrap and let stand until it doubles in size (about 1 hour).

Redistribute the yeast in the dough with your hands (try not to degas the dough too much) and divide into 12 portions. Make tight balls by pulling the dough out and around and pinching it on the bottom.

Place them on two sheet pans lined with parchment paper, and flatten each ball with the palm of your hand until it’s about 3 or 4 inches wide (wet your hands first). Let the rolls rise until they have doubled in size, around 30 to 45 minutes. Make sure you give them the time to rise, or else they will be very dense.