Whole-Wheat Hamburger Buns

Is there really anything better than homemade bread? The elated feeling you get when your dough has risen, the wonderful smell that escapes from the oven during baking, and the glorious texture and flavour you enjoy when savouring it – there is something very therapeutic about baking bread from scratch.

I’ve made several loaves and I’ve also tried some dinner rolls and even bagels, so I was looking for a new doughy treat to try. Whole-wheat bread doesn’t seem to have caught on yet in Tenerife. We have some fantastic bocadillos integrales which are sprinkled with a fantastic variety of seeds and a few dull loaves of pan integral which just taste like stale cake to me, but I have never seen whole-wheat hamburger buns in any shop here.

I found a hamburger recipe which produced great results and thought I would tweak it a little and add some whole-wheat flour in, too. I’ll let you in on a little secret – I didn’t actually omit the sesame seed topping on purpose.

I was baking these whole-wheat hamburger buns at about midnight on Friday after making custard tarts, everything bread, apple-spice cream cheese-filled breakfast muffins and lemon meringue pie in an effort to please my Official Treat Taster’s mom who was arriving that evening to stay with us for a while. I was feeling a bit nervous (and hey, it was Friday!) so I’d also been hammering the mojitos and just didn’t feel capable of getting the sesame seeds out of the cupboard without covering the kitchen floor at the same time. If you’re feeling up to it, top these burgers with your favourite seeds or even swirl some herbs and spices into the dough to liven things up.

Whole-Wheat Hamburger Buns

Makes 8 buns

Recipe adapted from Chocolate, Chocolate and more

Ingredients

¾ cup warm water

2 tablespoons melted butter

1 tablespoon sugar

2 eggs, 1 divided

2 cups flour

1 ½ cups whole-wheat flour

1 ¼ teaspoons sea salt

1 tablespoon instant yeast

Recipe

1. Place everything except 1 egg white in the bowl of your electric mixer. Using the dough hook attachment, mix on low until everything is well blended. Increase the speed to medium and knead for about 10 minutes – the dough should be elastic and slightly sticky.

2. Place the dough in a greased bowl. Cover and leave to rise for 90 minutes.

3. Punch down the dough and divide it into 8 equal pieces. Gently roll each piece into a ball and place on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Slightly flatten each dough ball then leave to rise for another 45 minutes.

4. Add 1 tablespoon of water to the remaining egg white and brush this mixture all over your risen buns. Bake for 15-18 minutes at 375F/160C, until they are golden-brown.



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