Master Baker makes HAMBURGER BUNS - And Bakes an Egg in 'em

It's been awhile since we've heard from the MASTER BAKER, but he is alive and well, and fighting crime, preservatives and additives in the suburban Cul de Sac. Believe it or not, I have been adding lots of recipes to my limited but expanding baking skills.

I am not quite ready to declare myself bread shopping free like my buddy JOANNE from Eats Well With Others did a few weeks ago (click HERE for her Declaration of Wonder bread Independence). There are just too many wonderful non Wonder breads out there. But, I can declare myself as "regular" bread free from here on out. It's just not that hard, not that time consuming and very rewarding emotionally to make your own bread. Now, just a bit of clarifying, when I say not time consuming, it does take time for the rising of the dough, and it does take time for the baking, but after the first two or three times of baking bread, I no longer watch the dough rise. I can multi-task and get the bread dough doing what it does and then go about my day. For me, that means playing on-line poker, but if you need to fold diapers or paint a fence, plenty of opportunity to do both. It just takes a little bit of advance planning.

But I am digressing again... Let's talk about hamburger buns. I asked for a bit of advice from my favorite blog buddy, Mary from ONE PERFECT BITE. I was a bit surprised when she explained that she does not have a recipe of her own, but uses one from another blogger. Surprised until I found the site of said blogger. These are the famous Moomie's Buns (I dream of having someone name buns after me one day, but i digress...). If you google "Moomie Buns", you will find about 212,000 links. Well, here is 212,001.

� 1 c water
� 2 tbsp butter or margarine
� 1 egg
� 3 1/4 c. flour
� 1/4 c. sugar
� 1 tsp salt
� 3 tsp instant yeast

� Place all ingredients in your bread machine. Select dough. Allow to run cycle. � Dump out onto lightly floured surface. Divide into 8 pieces. With each piece, slap into a bun shape. Usually 4 or 5 slaps will do it. Place on greased cookie sheets or your bun pans, cover; rise about 30 to 40 minutes. Bake in preheated 375 degree oven for 12 to 15 minutes til golden. Cool on wire racks.

The recipe above is the "classic" Moomie recipe (I believe, as it is the one I see reprinted most of the time). The site I found that might be the original Moomie site (clouded in mystery, it is rumored she raises goats, so I like this legend and chose not to delve deeper... But I am digressing again).

Master Baker that I am, I made a few changes...

I made whole wheat buns, I replaced 1 1/4 cups of white flour with 1 1/4 whole wheat flour. I also did not add any salt, but instead added 1 TABLESPOON of a commercial garlic flake mix of garlic, onion and salt. Finally, I added 1 TEASPOON of crushed red pepper flakes. And finally, before putting them in the oven, I brushed them with some melted butter and added a mix of equal parts white/black sesame seeds and sea salt.

Here they are going in...

And here they are coming out...

Easy Peasy. The recipe is SOOOO incredibly easy. But also it is very adaptable. Add whatever spices you might like, maybe some sauteed onion or peppers, shaved ginger root, molasses if you do a little hunting around, you will see a ton of possibilities for this recipe. I must be getting jaded with my bread baking skills. I expected them to come out great, and they did... I didn't even pee my pants a little.

So, you have these beauties, what to do with them. As luck and the timing of the Internet gods would have it, while these were rising in the bread machine, I read a blog post from another of my favorites... Cathy from the NOBLE PIG. Well, who am I to argue with such a serendipitous posting. I do my baking in the mornings, and given rising and baking time, my buns would be ready for this in time for lunch. You can read the NOBLE PIG's recipe for these by clicking HERE. Cathy used sourdough bread rolls for hers, and they look amazing!

Cathy's recipe is not difficult, hollow out some of the bread from the bottom of a bun, add an egg and a teaspoon of cream. If you like, add some grated cheese and herbs, bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees. During the last 5 minutes, I also baked the tops with a little butter added so they would toast as well.

Jackie had the day off from her inconvenient day job. Isn't it the ultimate oxymoron that school children are out of school and government workers are given the day off in honor of Martin Luther King JR? Wouldn't he be more honored and his beliefs more respected if school children spent an EXTRA day in school studying "possibilities", and government workers spent a full day working on "nothing but" protecting the civil rights of individuals over the tyranny of the majority... But now I am really digressing...

All I wanted to say was that Jackie had the day off from her inconvenient day job. I served her one of these for lunch, and she LOVED it! The red pepper in the buns really added an unexpected za za zing to the sandwich.