Monday, January 7, 2013

Gluten Free Hamburger Buns

Bun after the collapse.
Bun before the collapse. So puffy.
The interior looks like the regular bread I know.
Now that I'm determined to keep my son's gluten intake almost non-existent, I've been buying lots of Better Batter Gluten Free Flour and trolling BetterBatter.org for recipes. This one looked interesting, and turned out even MORE interesting. The whole beating the batter for 10 minutes was weird. And four eggs? After reading the recipes and reviews, I decided they'd probably turn out like cream puff shells, but I'd try them anyway.
First of all, once beaten, the batter/dough felt so cool! I mean, I wanted to keep some and play with it a little bit. It felt like marshmallow fluff, but not sticky. When I smoothed the tops with the water, I was afraid they'd collapse because there seemed to be so much air incorporated into the batter, but they didn't. And they puffed up beautifully in the oven and they look great. My picky gf son even liked eating them plain.
Oh, one more note: the recipe on BetterBatter.org calls for 1/3 cup sugar, and I made mine with a scant 1/3 cup. I thought they were too sweet, so I reduced the amount to 1/4 cup below. So, if you like a sweeter burger bun, use the 1/3 cup. If you like it more savory, I would even try cutting back a little more. I'm just not sure if that will affect the finished product though.

Gluten Free Hamburger Buns
     --from BetterBatter.org

Ingredients:
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and arrange your oven racks to accommodate two pans. Get out two sheets of parchment paper and trace six evenly spaced 3.5 to 4 inch circles on each, in pencil. Invert paper onto baking sheets so that the pencil is on the underside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, whisk together the flour, salt, and sugar. Beat the eggs and milk into the dry ingredients on high speed for 7-10 minutes. While batter is being beaten, place a gallon size zip-top bag into a large plastic cup, ready to fill with the batter when it's done.
After 7-10 minutes, your batter should become a thick fluffy mass that seems very wet. Naomi at BetterBatter.org described it as "a consistency between soft butter-cream and cookie dough."
Working quickly, scoop/scrape the batter into the prepared zip top bag. Twist the opening of the bag and snip one inch of a corner. Pipe batter into the circle shapes, the way you would frost a cupcake with a piping bag of frosting. Circles should be about 1/2 inch thick. Do not let the buns touch.
Still working quickly, dip your fingers into water and smooth over the tops of the batter circles to make smooth, shiny tops. Sprinkle with sesame seeds, poppy seeds, or onions, if desired.
Bake at 400 degrees for 15- 20 minutes, switching buns from one shelf to the other at about 13-14 minutes. Bake until tops are well browned.
Remove from oven and allow to cool COMPLETELY before slicing. They will deflate a bit.
Freeze unused buns and pop them in the microwave for 20 seconds or so, or in a 300 degree oven for about 10 minutes when ready to use.

Makes 12 grocery store brand sized hamburger buns

6 comments:

  1. I tried these a while back too. Mine didn't puff up near as much and flattened out to more like a flat/sour dough bread, but they sure were tasty!

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    1. Yes, they ARE tasty. :) If you try them again, make sure the eggs are at room temperature before starting. I've found that with popovers, at least, room temperature eggs produce a better puff than cold eggs.

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  2. I made these tonight and they were *exactly* as you described! The room temperature eggs definitely made the difference. So tasty and so easy!! Thank you :)

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    1. Excellent! Thanks for letting me know the recipe worked for you and that you liked them. :)

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  3. Can I use just a regular gluten free baking flour?

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    Replies
    1. I'm no expert, but from my experience, each gluten free flour mix is slightly different. You'd just have to try it to see if it works, I think. I only know that it works very well with the Better Batter. Sorry. If you go to http://glutenfreeonashoestring.com/all-purpose-gluten-free-flour-recipes/ she has a lot of information on and recipes for different gluten free flour mixes.

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