"Buttery NE Hotdog Buns-TRY FIRST

By RoketJSquerl

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 1 cup lukewarm water
• 3 cups (12 3/4 ounces) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 6 tablespoons soft unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup Baker’s Special Dry Milk or nonfat dry milk
• 1/4 cup potato flour, or 1/2 cup instant mashed potato flakes

Details

Servings 1
Adapted from blog.kingarthurflour.com

Preparation

Step 1

Combine all of the ingredients, mixing then kneading to make a smooth dough.

Let the dough rise, covered, until nearly doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

I like to use an 8-cup measure for raising dough; it lets me track exactly how much it’s risen. No more trying to eyeball “doubled in bulk.”

Lightly grease a New England-style hotdog bun pan.

Gently deflate the dough, and stretch it until it’s about 15″ long and 6″ wide.

Cover the pan (a large shower cap works well here), and let the dough rise for 45 to 60 minutes, until it comes to within 1/2″ of the top of the pan.

Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 350°F.

Grease a baking sheet, and place it on top of the risen buns.

Put the covered buns into the oven, weighing the baking sheet down with something heavy and oven-safe; a cast-iron skillet works well.

Bake the buns for 18 minutes, remove the weighted baking sheet, and bake for several minutes longer, if necessary, to brown the buns.

Notice how the bread has risen beyond the lip of the pan? I used a 4-pound skillet, but that yeast is strong stuff. Next time I’ll be sure to use a heavier pan – or a couple of bricks!

Remove the pan from the oven, and cool the buns in the pan for 5 minutes.

Then turn them out onto a rack, rounded side up, to cool completely.

While the recipe doesn’t call for it, I like to brush the buns with melted butter before slicing them up. When it comes to the butter in buttery buns, I say in for a penny, in for a pound!

Cut the slab of bread into individual buns; just follow the indentations.

Slice each bun down the middle vertically, without cutting through the bottom.