Date Night In's Burger Buns

This recipe is from a cookbook called Date Night In, and it is such a beautiful cookbook.  The pictures are fabulous, and the stories and ideas presented are fabulous, as are the recipe.  Aaron and I had our first "date night in" a few weeks ago, and I wanted to feature these burger buns because they turned out so well.  I have tried making buns before, and they were a flop, but these were great, and we had them again after freezing them and they were still delicious.  We gave the buns a 9, and each bun was 175 calories.  Here's what to do:

1 c warm water
3 T whole milk
2 t active dry yeast
2 T honey
1 egg
3 1/4 c bread flour
1 t salt
2 T unsalted butter, at room temperature

Egg wash
1 whole egg
1 egg yolk
1 t water

Start this dough the day before you plan to use it.  In a mixing bowl, whisk together the water, milk, yeast, honey and egg.  With the dough hook attached, add the flour and salt all at once and mix for five minutes on medium low.  Add the butter and mix for another 2 minutes.  Seal the bowl tightly and place in the refrigerator.
When ready to make the buns, remove dough from the refrigerator and divide it into 12 equal portions.  Roll each portion of dough into a ball by covering the dough with one hand and gently rotating that hand in a circular motion.  Use your fingertips to tuck the dough under itself.  Place the rolled buns on a parchment-lined sheet tray.  Spray the buns with non-stick cooking spray, cover the tray loosely with plastic wrap, and allow the dough to rise about 1 1/2-2 hours.  Preheat the oven to 400.  Whisk together the egg, yolk, and water.  Once the buns have doubled in size, carefully remove the plastic and brush the buns with the wash.  Bake for 15-20 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking time.  The buns should feel hollow when tapped.  Cool, then use or freeze tightly wrapped for later use.

Hamburgers

We had hamburgers tonight, and these are fun and easy.  I made my own hamburger buns using this easy recipe, and we had fun eating them.  We found the buns too crunchy on top, we like the super soft hamburger buns usually, you know, the $1 for 8 of them store brand ones, so these were a little different from what we were used to.  However, they turned out pretty well, and the only change I made was to not add the sesame seeds.  We gave the buns and hamburgers an 8, and the calories for each bun, I made 21 instead of 18, were 103/bun.  With the hamburgers, the calories were 229.
Pan Fried Hamburgers
1/2 lb ground beef
salt, onion powder, pepper
1/2 c cheese, grated

Mix together and cook on a griddle or in a pan.  Serve.

I know that's not even a recipe, but it turned out well, so I want to remember it.  We really enjoyed it, and Cook's Illustrated recommended grating the cheese into the hamburger meat rather than laying it on top, and I like how it turned out.  We had some oven fries with this as well as the corn, and the boys just gobbled everything up.

Tomorrow we're having some mini calzones and panzanella.