Dairy Free Hamburger Buns

I haven't posted a Tuesday recipe for a long time.  I used to post recipes every week, but Facebook has become so full of delicious recipes, it seemed everyone was flooded with new things to make.  However, today I thought I could share a hamburger bun recipe I made.  In October we had some friends visit.  She is very lactose intolerant so it was important not to feed her anything with dairy.  Her allergy includes butter so that made it even more interesting to come up with something.  I had made bread for a family friend who had thyroid surgery and for a couple weeks couldn't eat anything that contained iodine.  I came up with a recipe for bread she could eat using only water, oil, flour, yeast and non-iodized salt.  I thought I could convert that recipe into hamburger buns.  It worked out well.  So well, in fact, that I made the recipe into dinner rolls for Thanksgiving.  Easy, fast and no unusual ingredients or additives.

Loaf of bread made without dairy or iodized salt.

Hamburger Buns or Dinner Rolls

1 1/2 cups warm water
2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
2 Tablespoons sugar
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
4 cups flour

I used the kitchen aid mixer first using the flat beater.

In the mixing bowl combine warm water (not too hot), yeast, sugar, oil, salt and 2 cups of the flour.  Start mixing gradually adding another cup of flour.  At this point, I change to the dough hook and mix in another cup of flour.  I set the timer and let the mixer with the dough hook knead the dough for 5 minutes.  If the dough is a little sticky you can add a little more flour until the dough doesn't stick to the side of the bowl.  Then cover the bowl with some plastic wrap and let it rise for about an hour or more until it has doubled in size.

I then punched down the dough and poured it out on a slightly greased surface.  I flattened out the dough and cut into equal pieces.  Each piece gets rolled into a ball and placed on a greased baking sheet.  I actually got out the food scale and weighed the rolled ball so each was the same size.  For the hamburger buns I made them 3 oz. and dinner rolls I made them 1 oz.

Cover the dough and let them rise again on the baking sheet.  The picture shows them all on one sheet, but I actually raised them on two baking sheets.  It takes another hour until they get to the size you want.  Bake in a preheated oven (400 degrees) for 14 minutes.

The Thanksgiving dinner rolls.  The batch made 30 rolls.

Do You Always Get What You Pay For?

Many people believe you get what you pay for.  In many ways this is true.  A million dollar house is going to have more amenities than a one hundred thousand dollar home.  A Mercedes-Benz will probably have more features and power than a Ford Fiesta.  I don't know that for sure because I have never owned either.  I do know my MacBook Pro is still going strong after having it for nine years and my husbands Asus computer only lasted two years plus he had to pay for anti virus protection which I haven't had to do.  My Dyson vacuum cleaner has by far outlasted any Hoover I have ever owned.  That being said there are several things you don't have to waste your money on.  I can't think of anything at the moment, but I am sure there are several.  Oh wait, I can think of something.  Recently I organized all of our old photos.  I had inherited photos from many family members.  As sad as it is, there were many old photos of people I couldn't recognize.  It is very important to label photos of people so future generations can identify them.  As I was going through photos, I found some other paperwork.  One thing I found was a warranty certificate.  As I was reading it, I realized it was for a casket.  My dad had an aunt who died in 1971,  Either her husband or the funeral home thought it was a good idea to buy this insurance.  It claimed that the casket was made according to the highest standards.  It was supposed to be resistant to air and water.  Then at any time within 25 years, the casket would be replaced if it failed to be waterproof, airtight or if the seal failed.  My question is how would anyone know?  It is six feet underground and unless you're a grave robber, you wouldn't be digging it up to see if the seal is holding.  I know on rare occasion, a body needs to be exhumed.  This doesn't happen too often.  I know from experience that the medical examiner has to determine if someone died under strange circumstances.  If there is doubt, they look into the matter before burial.  It just seems like a scam to me.  Go to a cemetery sometime and let me know if someone is buried in a fancy expensive casket that is under warranty or if the person is in a pine box.  Betcha can't tell.

More than 25 years have passed, so we can breath easy.