A few weeks ago I ordered some new bakeware from King Arthur Flour.  I’d always wanted to try some of their bread mixes so I gave into temptation and ordered a few.  I’d never made sourdough bread so I was excited about their Alaskan Sourdough Yeast Bread mix.

In addition to the contents of the box [...]]]>

A few weeks ago I ordered some new bakeware from King Arthur Flour.  I’d always wanted to try some of their bread mixes so I gave into temptation and ordered a few.  I’d never made sourdough bread so I was excited about their Alaskan Sourdough Yeast Bread mix.

In addition to the contents of the box I needed water and oil.  I followed the instructions and put all the ingredients in the pan of my Zojirushi bread machine.

The bread looked great when it came out and it tasted pretty great too.  It had a lovely sourdough flavor and was pleasantly chewy.

This was a real winner and it made me think about making sourdough bread on a regular basis.  That would mean buying sourdough starter or making starter from scratch.  The Zojirushi actually has a setting to make sourdough starter so that would be fine.  However starter has to be fed and maintained.  I wonder how much time and effort that takes?  Hmmm . . . I’ll have to do some more investigation.

The first step was to make the dough for the buns.

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I had puzzled over how to make hot dog buns with dough from my bread machine. Then I noticed that King Arthur Flour sells a hot dog bun pan.  Here’s how it looks. See all the ridges?

The first step was to make the dough for the buns.

Bread Machine Hot Dog Buns

1 – 1/4 Cups water
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 Egg
3 Cups bread flour
1/4 Cup instant mashed potato flakes
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 – 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons active bread yeast

Add the ingredients to your bread machine as per the machine’s instructions. Use the dough setting.  Turn the dough out on a floured surface and make it into a rectangle shape that will fit into the bun pan. Grease the pan and then add the dough.

Here’s the part that threw me off. It sounds a little strange but what you do next is grease the bottom of clean cookie sheet and put this on top of the pan. The idea is that the cookie sheet will help shape the buns.

Let the dough rise until it’s almost filled the pan. I let it rise for an hour and I think that was a little too much. Next time I’ll check it after forty five minutes.

Then put the pan with the cookie sheet still on top into a 375 degree oven. Cook the rolls for 18 minutes. If they’re not brown enough for you then take the cookie sheet off the top and cook for a few more minutes. I didn’t have to do this though. Mine turned out wonderfully without the extra minutes.

Cool them on a rack in the pan for five minutes. Then take the buns out of the pan. Flip them over and let them finish cooling.

The pan makes ten buns. To prepare them you cut each bun down the middle without cutting through to the bottom. Then cut down the indented lines to separate the ten buns.

And here’s one of the buns in action:

We used them for hot dogs and ham sandwiches. I did have a problem with the bun being a little too big when I ate my hot dog. This wasn’t a problem for Mr. Diva and it wasn’t a problem for either of us with the ham sandwiches. I think that keeping an eye on the rising dough next time will help keep the buns a more manageable size.