When we have hamburgers The Man of the House is in charge of cooking the meat. My part of the proceedings is to make the buns.

(This summer our friends Rick and Sara joined us for hamburgers.  Sara is the creative force behind LoveThatImage.com.  She took this fabulous shot of the hamburger buns.)

I’ve been making our hamburger buns for years now.  They always taste great.  I also appreciate the fact that they’re not mushy or squishy.  These buns will not fall apart as you eat them.

The only problem I’ve had is with the sizing.  I recently figured out the trick.  Divide the dough into nine pieces and make nine hamburger buns. I’d always made eight buns in the past.  But once I started using this recipe to make nine buns, all my sizing troubles disappeared.

Hamburger Buns

1 – 1/2 Cups water
1 – 1/2 Tablespoons olive oil
3 – 3/4 Cups bread flour
1 – 1/2 Tablespoons sugar
1 – 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 – 1/2 teaspoons active bread yeast

Use the dough setting of your Zojirushi Bread Machine. When the dough is done put it on a lightly floured board and divide into three equal sections. The goal is to get 9 hamburger buns of appropriate size and shape. When you’ve got the buns the right size and shape put them on a greased cookie sheet. Remember not to put them too close together as they’ll get larger as they cook.

Cover the buns with a clean, light-weight kitchen towel and let the buns rise for half an hour. Then remove the towel and put the buns in a 400 degree oven for 15 to 20 minutes.

Move the cooked buns to a rack to cool.

Enjoy your hamburgers!