Hamburger Buns.

It's no secret that Andrew and I like meat.  Ok we LOVE meat.  Just a little bit.  It makes me feel like a barbarian and not quite as refined as some of my friends and the other classy people I see on the internet, but beef just does my body good.  And Andrew loves a good steak now and then (or a 30 oz steak that we might have shared and devoured on a date night...).  My weakness is hamburgers.  I LOVE a good burger with delicious toppings and a good bun.

That's what I wanted for dinner last night, so we had it.  They weren't just any ground beef burgers with store bought buns.  I got crazy and made buns!  I also used a fun recipe for meat that I'll include further down.

Buns.

Thank you for the visual Mister Brandt.

The recipe I used for the buns was found here.  They aren't any special, super healthy buns or anything, though I'm sure you could make them as healthy as you want them to be.  They are nice, hearty buns that stand up to the juicy burgers that we made.  I didn't make the buns super huge either, which meant the burgers I made were smaller than normal.  And that's a good thing because then you are able to control a little bit better how much you eat!  At least that's my philosophy on it.

Ok here's the recipe for the buns:

40 Minute Hamburger Buns

Ingredients:

- 2 Tbsp. Active Dry yeast

- 1 cup plus 2 Tbsp. warm water

- 1/3 cup vegetable oil

- 1/4 cup sugar

- 1 egg

- 1 tsp. salt

- 3 to 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water.  Add oil and sugar.  Let stand for 5 minutes.  Add the egg, salt, and enough flour to form a soft dough.

2. Turn onto a floured surface.  Knead until smooth and elastic, about 3-5 minutes.  Do not let rise.  Divide into 12 pieces and shape each into a ball.  Place 3 inches apart on greased baking sheets.

3. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes.  Bake at 425 for 8-12 minutes or until golden brown.  Remove from pans to wire racks to cool.  Yield: 1 dozen.

The recipe for the burger meat I found here.  This website is cool because it has some recipes for different types of burgers.  It's just nice to be able to add a little variety to your burgers :)

  

Basic Hamburger

Ingredients:

- 1 lb. ground beef

- 1/2 onion grated or finely chopped

- 4 pinches ground coriander (I used parsley, because I wanted to)

- 4 pinches paprika powder

- a little pepper

- a little salt

- 1 hand fresh bread crumbs

- 1 egg lightly beaten

- 1 quarter beef bouillon/stock cube dissolved in 2 to 3 Tbsp. water

Directions: 

1. Mix all the patty ingredients thoroughly.  Divide and shape into patties.  Cook!

This recipe isn't super specific and you can customize it any way you want, and I love that.  The buns didn't take long to make and the burgers were fun and everything came together to be delicious!  Add some cheese on top of the burgers along with some ketchup, mayo, lettuce, tomatoes, whatever you want!  Mm-mm good.

Sorry Andrew, but I couldn't not use this picture.  He liked our little burgers :)  And I'm sure I didn't look any different stuffing my face.