Note re Burger Buns in the Washington Post Today
May 23, 2007 | From the kitchen of Rose
if you go on line www.washingtonpost.com you will find a great article on hamburgers with my recipe for the buns.
most of you know this, but i just want to emphasize the importance of using unbleached flour when making bread. bleaching destroys protein which means less gluten development. the bread made with bleached flour will spread sideways and have less height and inferior crumb structure. this info is in the link called "tips to bake like an expert."
also be sure to click on the link "best buns aren't in a bag"
hope you all try these for your memorial day barbecue!
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Rose
06/05/2008 12:30 PM
it's really true that the more you make bread the better you get. in july i'll be posting my newest golden hamburger buns. i shaped and baked them during the power outage yesterday and it was quite hilarious running back and forth with the dough as the solar scale only got enough light by the window! i hadn't thought about the scale and lucky i had it in a drawer where i actually remembered it being! i have lots of photos as well.
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Rose
06/05/2008 12:28 PM
funny i discovered the same thing eventually. one somehow has a tendency to slash on the diagonal. i had to fight it and finally succeeded.
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Matthew
06/05/2008 12:26 PM
I won't argue with that--the sacaduros are a challenge! I lost count of my attempts, but I was eventually successful in producing a roll that looked like beautiful opened artichoke. A few things that helped:
1. Give the dough only one rise.
2. Be generous with flour when making the folds.
3. Bake them quickly in small batches--otherwise the dough tends to reseal itself and won't open.
Good news is that even the ugly ones taste delicious!
I found the baguette to be the second most challenging in that chapter--for the same reason--just getting the perfect appearance. It also took several tries for me to get those beautiful open slashes at the perfect diagonal angle. I learned that you have to slash in almost straight lines down the center of the bread--starting the next slash in the middle of the previous. I was slashing at the finished angle, which doesn't work--after the bread bakes, the slashes will look almost perpendicular rather than diagonal.
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Rose
06/05/2008 06:46 AM
the sacaduros are the most challenging bread in the book! but i know the phillipines has a tradition of exceptional find hand work..
thank you for your lovely sentiments which mean a lot to me. there's little more frustrating than spending time, money, and enthusiasm on something that turns out inedible. i am always conscious of this when i create and test recipes (and edit them!)
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Katherine See
06/05/2008 06:39 AM
By the way, we enjoyed the sacaduros and the cinnamon raisin spiral bread from "The Bread Bible".
My husband enjoys the Apple Crumble pie from "The Pie and Pastry Bible" so much I make it almost every week. We use the Giant Fuji Apple because of our preference for sweet.
I hope to try some more of your recipes in the future.
You know with so little free time for myself with work and kids. It is only with your recipes that I am confident that all the time it would work. So I am sure I would not be wasting time and ingredients on something that might be tasty in the end.
And FYI it was my first time to bake bread and it turned out great.
I hope you continue your quest to learn and educate novice bakers like us.
I really learned a lot.
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Katherine See
06/05/2008 06:19 AM
Manila, Philippines. It is a tropical country with hot summers and very wet rainy seasons.
It is nice of you to reply so soon to my query.
Your blog very informative when I have questions about baking breads and cakes.
Have a good day!
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Rose
06/02/2008 07:40 PM
yes--it's a good idea to combine the bleached with the higher protein to lower the content and make it softer and less chewy. what country are you living in?
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Katherine See
06/02/2008 07:24 AM
In our country we don't have unbleached all-purpose flour. Sorry to say, I haven't seen it in my life. We have bleached all-purpose flour and high-protein bread flour. If my guess is correct 14% protein content in bread flour. and I combine bread flour 60% by weight and 40% bleached all-purpose flour to get an approximate of 9.5%.
Tried using 100% bread flour but too chewy and absorbs too much water.
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Katherine See
06/02/2008 07:22 AM
In our country we don't have unbleached all-purpose flour. I haven't seen it in my life. We have bleached all-purpose flour and high-protein bread flour. If my guess is correct 14% protein content in bread flour. and I combine bread flour 60% by weight and 40% bleached all-purpose flour to get an approximate of 9.5%. Would that be a good enough substitute for unbleached all-purpose flour?
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Rose
10/31/2007 04:10 PM
i use the harvest king for the no knead bread and find it works perfectly. it will absorb differently from bread flour as it has slightly lower protein though higher than most unbleached all-purpose.
wetter is better!
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Joe Provenzano
10/19/2007 12:33 PM
I have been using the no-knead recipe since it came out and have been very successful but noticed when I use the Gold-Medal Harvest King Bread flour, the dough is much wetter than with other bread flours.
Last night I tested this by making 2 loaves --one with the Harvest King and one with the Pillsbury bread flour. Both came out about the same--but before baking the Harvest King loaf was much more wet and difficult to shape and manage and baked slightly smaller.
Does this bread flour absorb water differently than others and is there some rule of thumb to keep in mind when using it? I have never had to vary the "no-knead" recipe with any other bread flour, including the King Arthur.
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Joseph
06/05/2007 08:56 PM
THANK YOU FOR LEADING ME TO ROSE'S BUN RECIPE. I'M MAKING IT TOMORROW. ISN'T THIS A GREAT SITE!!
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Rose
06/05/2007 02:13 PM
i guess surfing the web is kinda like baking--it's not very forgiving, i.e. one letter or word off and you don't get where you're hoping to go!
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Debbie
06/05/2007 11:00 AM
Thanks so much. The search worked fine. I guess it didn't like "hamburger buns" it had to be "best buns"
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Rose
06/05/2007 10:14 AM
i just went to the site and it's right there! go to www.washingtonpost.com
put: beranbaum's best buns
in the search box. the article will appear and right under the photo of the bun, under the red words "buns appeal" there are two links: one is tips to baking like a pro and the other is recipe: beranbaum's best buns. click on that and you wil have the recipe.
FINDING THE RECIPE IS A LOT EASIER THAN MAKING THE BUNS!!!
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Debbie
06/05/2007 10:10 AM
I cannot locate the recipe on the Washington Post Web site. Search come up with no results. The article has links to plenty of recipes, but not the buns. Can anyone tell me how to get to it?
Thanks
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Rose
06/05/2007 08:46 AM
i just went to the site and it's right there! go to www.washingtonpost.com
put: beranbaum's best buns
in the search box. the article will appear and right under the photo of the bun, under the red words "buns appeal" there are two links: one is tips to baking like a pro and the other is recipe: beranbaum's best buns. click on that and you wil have the recipe.
FINDING THE RECIPE IS A LOT EASIER THAN MAKING THE BUNS!!!
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Silvia Williams
06/05/2007 08:34 AM
Dear All Who Cannot Find Rose's Recipe For The Buns.
I googled Beranbaum's best buns and it came right up. But then I google everything.
Silvia
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Adele
06/05/2007 07:53 AM
Dear Rose
As always I enjoy your wonderful newsletter, but I could not find nor locate this hamburger bun recipe in the Washington Post. Any suggestions as no matter what I put in the search engine it would not come up.
Thanks for any help
Adele
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Rose
06/04/2007 10:13 PM
i just went to the site and it's right there! go to www.washingtonpost.com
put: beranbaum's best buns
in the search box. the article will appear and right under the photo of the bun , under the red words "buns appeal"there are two links: one is tips to baking like a pro and the other is recipe: beranbaum's best buns. click on that and you wil have the recipe.
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Joseph Cavato
06/04/2007 09:55 PM
ALL OF YOU HAVE MADE ME ANXIOUS TO TRY ROSE'S BUN RECIPE. I JUST RECEIVED ROSE'S JUNE UPDATE ABOUT THE RECIPE IN THE POST. I TRIED TO GET IT FROM THE POST ARCHIVES BUT TO NO AVAIL. CAN ONE OF YOU NICE BAKERS E-MAIL IT TO ME? PLEASE? THANKS, JOE
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Rose
06/04/2007 06:08 PM
i'm happy to tell you that gold medal still makes self-rising flour.
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Silvia Williams
06/04/2007 12:53 PM
Good afternoon, Rose. All my life Gold Medal Flour has been in our kitchen. I've just turned 70 and in all those years I had never used anything else. However, a friend recommended a Carmel Cake recipe to me made with self-rising flour, something else I don't use. I couldn't find Gold Medal self-rising so I used Washington, what a spongy mess. Great big pores in the cake, exactly like a sponge and it tasted like sweet cornbread. I threw it out immediately, (what and ruin my reputation as a great baker?). Is there a Gold Medal self-rising flour? And yes, there really is a difference if brands of flour. Gold Medal being the best.
Thanks for your comments.
Silvia
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Rose
05/29/2007 12:26 PM
the substitution is: for 1 cup (16 tablespoons) of honey use 1.25 cups (20 tablespoons) of sugar plus 1/4 cup water.
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jane b
05/29/2007 11:35 AM
I made the buns for a barbeque on Monday - they were great. (started them on Sunday, with a rest in the refrigerator, and baked them on Monday) I used King Arthur all-purpose flour and their whole wheat. One question - the only honey I had in the house was buckwheat, which is strong, so I substituted a like amount of sugar. Should I have decreased/increased that amount?
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Patrincia
05/25/2007 05:21 PM
Oops, my apologies to the Harvest King people.
(okay, so I have flour dyslexia) :)
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Rose
05/25/2007 01:42 PM
harvest king IS really really better for bread! wait til you try it!!! by the way, my husband reports that no knead bread (which he loves) is not great for sandwiches as it tends to fall apart. that makes sense given the less gluten development.
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Yet Another Anna
05/25/2007 01:18 PM
Thanks for the weights, Rose, I appreciate it!
FYI, I'm continuing my experiments for a Sunflower bread, so far the best results have been using raw sunflower seeds instead of bulgur in the Cracked Wheat loaf from The Bread Bible. (Just soak the seeds in water, exactly the way you do the bulgur) want it to have a hint of lemon, but so far my experiments haven't given any reliable results.
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Steve R
05/25/2007 09:47 AM
Thanks Rose...
I didn't know about Harvest King replacing the better for bread, no wonder I haven't found it lately!
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Rose
05/25/2007 09:18 AM
judy--please look at the top posting where i highlighted to use UNBLEACHED flour. harvest king is somewhere between bread and all-purpose which you can also use for different effect as long as it is unbleached.
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Rose
05/25/2007 09:16 AM
it's called HARVEST KING and has replaced gold medal "better for bread"
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Judy
05/24/2007 08:26 PM
Ahhh, I didn't know that. I've never seen it in any of our grocery stores. I usually use King Arthur or Gold Medal. I'll have to inquire at our grocery stores around here. Thank you again.
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Patrincia
05/24/2007 07:45 PM
Judy - King Harvest is Gold Medal's artisian bread flour.
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Judy
05/24/2007 05:59 PM
Sorry Rose, I should have been more clear - I meant do you use bread flour, all-purpose flour, bleached flour or unbleached flour. Thank you.
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Rose
05/24/2007 04:28 PM
as i mentioned above: harvest king (gold medal) available in supermarkets across the country.
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Judy
05/24/2007 04:27 PM
What kind of flour do you use to make these hamburger buns? Thank you.
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Rose
05/24/2007 02:49 PM
here are our beloved weights:
unbleached all-purpose flour (preferably harvest king: 1 pound/454 grams
whole wheat flour 1/4 cup/1/25 ounces/36 grams and 1 1/3 cups water/11.2/322 grams.
actually in the bread bible for those who will notice, for my basic hearth bread page 306 i list bread flour/448 grams total but since all-purpose is slightly lower in protein it's fine to round off at 1 pound.
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Hector
05/24/2007 01:50 PM
http://www.realbakingwithrose.com/2005/12/a_quick_and_easy_sourdough_sta.html#comment-39169
I posted some pics of bread done with bleached flour.
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Steve R.
05/24/2007 10:19 AM
I admit it, I weight flour... so I'm thinking by weight it would be about 15.6 ounces ap and 1.5 ounces whole wheat?
Any one have any thoughts?
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Matthew
05/24/2007 03:26 AM
Rose,
I've been looking forward to this recipe ever since you first mentioned it. I went directly to the site, converted the recipe to grams, and got started.
Since this is a straight-dough method, I knew the seeds would be an important aspect of the flavor, so I decided to use all five that you suggested. This reminded me a lot of making the olive oil bread in the Bread Bible (although the flavor is different). Was that part of your inspiration?
Here are a couple of photos. They were very delicious.
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Anita
05/23/2007 04:16 PM
A-ha! I always wondered what the reasoning was behind unbleached vs. bleached -- other than the obvious "less processed = better" mentality, which I support anyway. But now I have another reason. :D
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Linda
05/23/2007 09:15 AM
Great recipe in the POST. However, some time please include instructions for converting these recipes for use with bread machines. Often I feel that "real bakers" (I AM one)or recipe writers frown upon their use. I own two good quality ones, and as I am busy professional woman, I use them all the time. Many times I use them for prepping and rising doughs, then I hand-shape and bake them. Some people can make the conversion adaptations themselves; some can't. And sometimes there is a nuance of adjustments needed. Please consider including such adaptations, at least once in a while. Thanks.
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