New England Hot Dog Buns

King Arthur Flour New England Hot Dog Rolls I used this recipe and tried it two ways.

I typically do weigh out at least the flour and water portion. So 198 to 255 grams of water. I found that 198 wasn’t enough, and 255 was pretty wet so next time I will start with about 215 grans and add as needed.

2 teaspoons yeast

1/4 cup dried milk, 2 tablespoons diastatic malt powder, 1/4 cup potato flour, 1 1/2 teaspoon salt.

361 grams all-purpose flour

add 1 large egg and 2 tablespoons melted butter and mix well until a soft sticky dough forms

place in greased bowl and turn once to cover with oil

allow to rise for 2 hours in a warm place

Spray your pan with cooking spray.

USA Pan New England hot dog bun pan is the pan I used.

Press into pan and allow to rest for about 15 minutes.

After resting 15 minutes, push dough into corners of pan and allow to rise for about 45 minutes. How long you allow it to rise is at your discretion and some of this is how you like the buns. As I said I made this recipe two different ways.

The first time, I followed the directions on the King Arthur Flour site, and allowed the dough to rise about 3/4 of the way up the sides of the pan. I then covered with a greased cookie sheet, put a heavy pan on top of it, and cooked at 375 for about 18 minutes. This resulted in a bun that was very dense, and quite short. It still tasted good but not quite what I was looking for.

The second time I made the buns, I allowed to rise to the top of the pan, then cooked as above but without the cookie sheet and heavy pan on top of it. This made for a bun with a much nicer texture and a more pleasing height.

This is what the bottom looked like the second time I made them.

And the top. Next time I will blend the dough more and press more firmly because some of the buns did crack.

After baking bread I typically set bread on a rack so it doesn’t get gooey on the bottom from the humidity that’s still coming out of the bread.

Cut.

Butter.

Toast in a pan.

This is the comically short bun made from the original instructions. It was pretty dense too.

It’s hard to tell from this picture (and the bun cracked a bit) but the texture and height were much more pleasing on the second batch. They are definitely delicious!

This is of course the traditional bun for a lobster roll, and the buttery flavor compliments perfectly.