Today, it’s BURGER BUN day! QUIZINE IN QUARANTINE is going to be showing you how to make a mega burger, entirely from scratch! In this two part recipe, we begin by showing you how to make your own burger buns. You will be amazed by how much creating your own buns will bolster your burger experience.
This round, risen bread designed specifically to hold a burger patty has been perfected over the last few centuries. Where the bun originated is hotly debated, but here are two theories about how it came about.
Some say in 1880, a man called Fletcher Davis from Athens, Texas in the USA made a hamburger patty and served it between two pieces of bread thus giving birth to the burger as we know it. However, people have rebuked this by saying it was more a patty melt as opposed to a burger.
Others say the bun is credited to Walter Anderson who founded the fast food restaurant White Castle in 1921 in Wichita, Kansas, USA. Anderson is said to have created the bun and modern grill in 1916. The story has it he was on a mission to change the hitherto public perception that the meat packing industry lacked adequate sanitation. Anderson would make his burgers out in the open instead of way back in the kitchen and in order to keep up with the increasing demand for his burgers, he had to come up with a standardised, easy method for making buns. Lo and behold the bun as we know it was born.
All that on just the bun, imagine what the history of the patty beholds! Find that out tomorrow when part two of Quizine’s recipe is released.
INGREDIENTS (8 buns):
20g fresh yeast
450g plain flour
240ml water
2 eggs (1.5 for patty, 0.5 for egg wash)
50ml melted butter
40g sugar
5g salt
15ml warm milk
sesame seeds to sprinkle
1. Put fresh yeast into bowl. Now add sugar, milk and warm water to the yeast and mix.
2. The mixture should begin to bubble, cover and leave to rest for approx 15mins.
3. When you remove the lid from yeast, you should notice it has become frothy in texture.
4. Now grab a big bowl and throw in flour, yeast mixture, melted butter and egg. Mix until mixture forms into a dough. It should be very soft and sticky in texture.
5. Transfer to surface and knead for approx 8 mins.
6. Put dough back in bowl, cover and leave to rest for a minimum of 2 hours.
7. When you come back to it, the dough should have at least doubled in size.
8. Cut the dough into 8 pieces (for quarter pounders), mould each piece into a flattened ball shape.
9. Put all pieces of a baking tray, cover and leave to rest for approx 20 mins.
10. When you come back to the buns you’ll see they have further expanded in size – the joys of fresh active yeast!
11. Now apply egg wash to buns and sprinkle with sesame seeds
12. Bung in the oven and bake for approx 20 mins at 190°C. The buns will a beautiful brown colour when they’re done.
Watch us put this together below, tomorrow will be showing you how to make the accompanying burger patty!