Pretzel Burger Buns

Though the Victoria Day weekend is over, it lives on in my heart... and my bread basket. I made a large batch of homemade burger buns for the veggie burgers my mum grilled, and to give it a special twist, I also made a different kind of bun... these ones have the outside texture and saltiness of a pretzel, with the inside pillowy-softness of a roll. I used a specially-designated pretzel salt for the outside, but any coarse salt will do.

These are really good with a pat of butter on their own, or for sandwiches. One good idea is to make elongated buns to use with hot dogs. In any case, these are a welcome addition to any grill-oriented feast or celebration.

Pretzel Buns
Adapted from King Arthur Flour

For the Dough:
4 1/2 C. All purpose or bread flour
1 Tsp. Diastatic malt powder or honey
1/4 C. Whole milk powder
2 TBSP (30 g.) Butter, softened
3/4 Tsp. Salt
1 3/4 C. Water
2 Tsp. Active dry yeast, or 30 g. Fresh yeast

For the Water Bath:
8 C. Water
1 TBSP Salt
1/4 C. Baking soda

To Top:
About 1/4 C. Coarse salt

Mix the yeast, water, and malt powder. Whisk together the flour, salt, and milk powder, and add the water mixture, kneading until a soft dough forms. Add the butter and mix until incorporated. Let rise in a covered, greased bowl for 60-90 minutes, or until doubled.

Divide into 10-14 pieces and shape into balls. Let rest for 20-30 minutes- in the meantime, preheat the oven to 200℃ and bring the water bath ingredients to a boil in a wide, large pot. 

Using a slotted spoon or spatula, lower the dough balls into the boiling water bath and let cook for 30 seconds. Flip and let cook another 30 seconds, then remove and put onto a parchment-lined baking pan.

Score the tops of the buns with a sharp knife in an 'X' pattern and sprinkle with coarse salt. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Kaisersemmeln/ Kaiser Buns

Kaisersemmeln in the foreground as part of an Easter breakfast spread.

What an amazing bun. It's versatile, easy and quick to make, and impressive to look at. The only tricky part is making the knot, but it's very easy once you get the hang of it- form long, well-floured "snakes" of dough, tie a loose knot and tuck the loose ends into the middle, maybe pulling them through and back again if they're long enough to get more loops.

This dough is relatively low in gluten, so it isn't as eager to return to its shape- that would pose a problem for the rolling-out.

High gluten flour helps keep together doughs with large portions of whole grain flours (which lack gluten) and chewy, porous breads, but in this case what you want is a soft bun, hence the all purpose or type 550 flour. (Note: if you live in the GTA, Starsky has a really good selection of European flours! I need to make a 'resources' page sometime.)

A brief note on what the numbers on different forms of flour mean- they refer to the amount of ash (that is, mineral) content in the flour that remains when a sample is combusted. This doesn't mean that the flour is mixed with ashes! Rather, the amount of minerals remaining roughly translates to the amount of the grain kernel left in the dough after milling, since that's where the majority of the minerals are. So, a higher number means a larger quantity of germ/endosperm and bran in the flour, defining its "whole-graininess". Different types of wheat and other grains also vary in mineral/ash content, so the number makes it easier to gauge the properties of a dough made with some flour rather than working with limited information about its origin, processing etc. The French, Italian, German and other classifications vary, but all have the same pattern of decreasing number meaning a finer, more refined flour.

Regardless of if you use all purpose or type 550 flour, this is an amazing bun, with a great flavour and texture that makes it perfect for a holiday breakfast (what I usually make them for), sandwiches, burgers, and so on... they also go down as one of my mum's favourites. So, that should really motivate you to try making them.

Kaisersemmeln
From Chefkoch.de

For the Sponge:
75 g. All purpose/Type 550 flour
75 g. Whole wheat or whole grain spelt flour
135 ml. Warm water
10 g. Fresh yeast, or 3 g. Active dry yeast

Mix all until well incorporated and let rest, covered, for 30-45 minutes.

For the Final Dough:
Sponge 
350 g. All purpose/Type 550 flour
140 ml Water
20 g. Butter
1 Tsp. Diastatic malt powder or honey
10 g. Salt

Add all but the salt and butter to the sponge and knead together. Add salt and knead for about 8 minutes, then add the butter in pieces and knead for 2 more minutes. Let dough rise, covered, for 20-30 minutes.

Divide the dough into 10 equally sized pieces. Form balls and let rest for 10 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 250℃. Roll out each ball of dough by hand on a floured surface into a long "snake". When it's long enough, you should be able to tie a loose knot. Tuck the two "tails" of the knot into the centre of the dough, and moisten it with a bit of water to help it stick. If your dough is rolled out far enough, you can pull the tail(s) through the centre hole and back up again to make more twists. (Alternatively, you can use a kaiser bun stamp, but rolling it out and tying a knot helps to give it a nice texture.) Repeat with the remaining dough. Dust with flour and let rise 45 minutes. 

Bake for 10 minutes, adding steam with a spray bottle of water at the beginning and end of the period. Reduce the heat to 200℃ and bake for another 10-15 minutes, covering the buns with aluminium foil or a baking sheet on an upper rack to stop the browning. 

Übernacht Sonntags-Brötchen - Infinitely Adaptable Overnight Buns

There are few things in the baking world simpler and more versatile than this recipe. It's my go-to for when there's been a glut of sweet things around the house, and I want to make the Sunday breakfast on the savoury and simple side while letting people customize to what they want. And buns are awesome in that they're basically personal breads- the German name pretty much translates to that. Breadlings. Nice.

Real bakeries are already staffed by the wee hours of the morning to ensure that there's bread to sell at opening time, but most of us don't want to (or in my case, simply can't due to sleeping family members) get up at 4 to start making bread for breakfast. Even though many breads are supposed to rest in the fridge overnight, they also often need to warm up to room temperature, get shaped, rise a bit more, and so on- so they really aren't ready in time for a Sunday breakfast. In such a case, one wants something fast, easy to make the night before, and preferably not requiring much morning preparation. These fit that bill very well.

It's also very forgiving. You can use just bread flour or even all-purpose flour, more or less spelt or whole wheat, and skip the malt if you want- it just adds crustiness. The yeast can be fresh or dried, and though I always choose fresh if I can, it works very well with either. You don't even need to do the step of preheating a pan to put the bread on- it's just another way to make them more crispy, as is the water-spraying. I like crusty buns, but you can make them softer by skipping these things.

You can also go nuts with add-ins! I like the plain ones because of the attractive floureyness, but they're also fantastic with sesame or poppy seeds. You could also use caraway, or even cumin. They're also great with grated cheese added as a final touch, not so early for it to burn- just enough so that is forms a crispy delicious crust. I added olives to some on the request of my brother. 

Of course, it's nice how simple these are because they can accommodate just about any desired filling, spread or topping. Any extras can be used for sandwiches, with soup, as toast, or wherever some fresh morning-baked bread might be appreciated.

Overnight Buns
Adapted from Chefkoch
420 g. Bread flour
80 g. Spelt flour, whole wheat flour, or a mix (can substitute more regular bread flour- or use more of another flour in place of the bread flour, though more whole grains will make it denser)
1 1/2 Tsp. Diastatic malt powder, or 1 TBSP malt syrup (optional- honey also works)
2 Tsp. Active dry yeast, or 25 g. Fresh yeast (fresh if you can!)
350-400 ml. Lukewarm water, preferably filtered
1 TBSP Salt
Toppings: Extra flour, any seeds or grains desired, or about 100g. grated cheese such as edam or gouda. Get creative!

Blend flours, malt (if powdered) and yeast (if dry). If using fresh yeast, crumble into the water and mix to dissolve. Dissolve the malt in the water as well, if it is a syrup.

Pour water onto flour and mix with a dough hook on medium-low until incorporated. Increase speed to medium-high and mix until it no longer sticks to the sides of the bowl. Alternatively, work the dough by hand on a lightly oiled surface until it forms a cohesive, relatively nonsticky mass. The dough is quite moist, so it will never be completely unsticky, but it should cling to itself well. On drier days, you may need the larger amount of water.

Add the salt and mix on medium-high for 5-7 minutes, until the dough forms strings when you stretch a small piece apart with your fingers. This can be done by about 15-20 minutes of working by hand.

Cover in a floured or lightly oiled bowl and place in the refrigerator for at least 12 hours.

Preheat the oven to 220℃. Heat up a baking tray, pizza stone, or Dutch oven. 

Divide the dough into 8-10 pieces and let rest 20 minutes covered. Using extra flour to prevent sticking, shape into desired form and slash the tops with a bread lamé or very sharp knife. Add any desired seeds or grains on top by first dusting off the flour, then spraying with water from a spritzer and sprinkling on top. 

Place the buns onto the hot pan, stone, or Dutch oven bottom. Spray the inside of the oven with water. If using the Dutch oven, cover them. Bake for 20-25 minutes, uncovering after 15 if using the dutch oven, and spray with more water after 5 and 10 minutes. Sprinkle with cheese 5 minutes before you plan to take them out if desired.

Let cool about 20 minutes, or 30 if using the whole grain flour.