Shaping Hot Dog Buns

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For hot dog or hamburger buns Brioche dough from The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day or some other enriched white dough that make up a lighter bun. Use any dough that you like and form as below.

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Take a small (3-ounce) piece (about the size of a small plum) from your bucket of dough. Form them into smooth balls, as you would a larger boule.

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Elongate them into 6-inch long ropes.

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Place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a Silpat. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and allow to rest for about 25-30 minutes (10 minutes longer for whole grain doughs).

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

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Paint the top of the buns with water or butter with a Pastry Brush.

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Bake for 18-20 minutes or until golden. They will not develop a crust.

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Slice when cooled, fill with the hot dog of your choice and go crazy with the toppings. (I took the picture prior to dumping a bunch of relish and other goodies on top.)

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123 thoughts to “Shaping Hot Dog Buns”

  1. This may be a dumb question, but is an enriched dough just one made with eggs, etc.??
    BTW, I LOVE your book!

    1. Heather: Enrichment: eggs qualify as “enriched,” in our book, but usually there’s sweetener as well. Thanks!

  2. Making hamburger and hotdog buns with your recipes is a life saver. I bought the hotdog pan and hamburger pan from King Arthur flour and they are awesome now i can make all the bread that I need from home something I have always wanted to do but never had the time.

  3. I love both the ABin5 and HBin5 books and frequently mix up batches of dough from both. However, my favorite is the Portugese Broa or a variation of Jeff’s “light rye bread” that he did a video on this website. (I use 1 cup of whole grain rye flour and 5 1/2 cups of unbleached all-purpose) They’re both so versatile for everything from dinner rolls to pizza crust! I’ve even used the lean rye dough to make cinnamon buns that were great and healthier without tasting too “whole grain”. I wanted to make some hot dog/hamburger buns out of the Soft Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread recipe from HB in 5 on page 92. My husband really doesn’t like wheat flour, so I was wondering if I could use a lighter rye version instead. The recipe calls for 7 1/2 cups of flour total. Could I use 6 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose and 1 cup w.g. rye? How would you adjust the liquids for the different types of flour and would you still add the vital wheat gluten even though there is less whole grain? Thanks for your help and I can’t wait for your pizza/flatbread book!

  4. Hi Zoe, I have a couple of questions in the brioche category. I just made my first WW brioche dough (1/2 batch) and used the first part for the crescents in HBin5. I made part cinnamon and part almond and they are fabulous! I would like to try the pistachio brioche twist but have a question about the nuts. Do you just crack the nuts and throw them in the food processor until they’re finely chopped or is there something special I need to look for in the store? (Hope this isn’t too dumb!)
    I’m also tempted to try the “chocolate ganache brioche” recipe from ABin5 with the WW brioche. Do you think that would work okay?
    Thanks so much! (I am having a ball with these books!)
    Deb
    PS….I, too, am anxious for the pizza book release!

    1. Deb: You can used pre-shelled pistachios for grinding in the food processor, either is fine. In-the-shell will probably be fresher.

      You should be OK with WW brioche in the variation you suggest, but don’t make a really tall one. The risk is that it will be a little harder to keep it from being gummy or undercooked. Use a longer rest time than what we recc for the std recipe. Jeff

  5. Thanks, Jeff, good to know! I think I may stick to the “regular” brioche for the ganache recipe but am anxious to try the pistachio twist now!
    Deb
    (I think the brioche may be the most versatile bread I’ve tried yet! I plan to try the WW version to make hamburger buns also.)

  6. Pistachio twist, lessons learned!
    Just made the pistachio twist this am from HBin5 with not so good results but I think I know how to do it better next time so thought I’d share my thoughts on same.
    1. Don’t roll the dough too thin. (I think Zoe said this somewhere but I can’t find it now!) The filling is somewhat heavy and if there’s a thin spot, it will leak out during baking.
    2. I don’t think I got my pistachios ground fine enough. I used my food processor for grinding but it could have been better. Also, the filling was not “spreadable.” If I do this again, I may try the pistachio paste sold on the King Arthur website. Or, might just stick to my favorite-almond paste.
    3. I would suggest a “thinner” layer of filling in the middle section of the dough as you’re spreading it on. This is the section where the thickest part of the twist is. (And where most of my leakage occurred.)
    I think this could be a beautiful loaf if done right; the “tail” section of mine looked lovely but overall it had the appearance of a garden slug that got stepped on!!! 🙂 Ha!
    Hope this helps someone avoid some mishaps and if Jeff or Zoe have any more ideas I’d welcome them too!
    This was my first failure out of all the recipes I’ve tried so far so I’m not too sad!
    Deb

  7. Deb: thanks for the tips based on these experiences. I love almond paste in everything so yes, that should be a nice swap.

    As you noticed, this won’t work well if you go any thinner than the 1/8-inch that we recommended. Jeff

  8. I made these too, and thought mine were a bit dense. Are you supposed to give it a knead or two when the dough is a day or two old. I’ve been making all of mine within 24 hours and I get a good rise and nice crumb. When I go longer than a day, it’s denser. I was looking at the no knead baguette recipe on king arthur and wondered if I need to fold two or three times to develop gluten and have a better rise. What’s your opinion?

  9. One other thing, I tried making the buns with eagle mills flour and I enjoyed these better with a nice crumb. I used the bench scraper to divide the dough into four buns, but not separating. It kept them close together, touching so they would be soft like store-bought buns. I prefer this better than individual baking. Also, I’m using the whole grain olive oil dough, but I often sub canola oil. just thought I’d let you know. I make a batch at least twice a week for our family of six. I actually make four loaves for a friend, every other week b/c she loves it just as much as her former bakery!

    1. Jackie: we don’t knead after the initial rise, we find that increases density. Have you been through all the suggestions re: density in the book(s)? Which book of ours are you using, which recipe/page number? Are you getting density from other recipes?

      The olive oil dough is a little denser than others. Jeff

  10. Jeff and Zoë,

    First of all, THANK YOU for your book and website! Making bread had always scared me before, but as soon as I got your ABin5 I was hooked!

    Thanks for the tips on shaping the hot dog buns. My husband volunteered me to make the buns for a “gourmet” hot dog party, and I was nervous about how to do it. The tips here will be helpful.

    I will probably make the brioche dough for these, but I’m curious: would the challah dough work as well? I make that recipe just about every Friday, and always have plenty left over.

  11. Once again, the ABin5 archives already have the answer! After making homemade bread, it’s hard to go back to store-bought buns. My first batch, made before I looked for this post, came out more the size of hoagie rolls, so I see that I just started out with too much dough per bun. Thx!!

  12. I have pre-ordered your gluten free bread in 5 mins and am looking forward to receiving it. But can you tell me if I can substitute linseed and chia seed for guar gum and xanthan gum since I cannot eat these, and if so could you give me a guide line on how much of the seed I should use as a replacement

    Regards Gillian (newly diagnosed gluten intolerant)

    1. We found guar gum didn’t work well anyway, so we didn’t put that one into the book. Likewise, we weren’t fond of the results with chia seed, and we didn’t try linseed. What we did find was a good substitute for the traditional xanthan gum in GF breads was ground psyllium husk, which we use as a swap for xanthan in the upcoming book– it’s a little complicated depending on the recipe– you’ll see when you get it.

      1. Thank you Jeff for your reply I did know about psyllium husk powder as a substitute but find it hard to come by in the UK except it is sold in small quantities as a colon cleanser but it works out very expensive buying in this way, however I have had a look on amazon and see that you can purchase it from them so will buy some when I receive my gluten free in 5 book which I have ordered
        Regards
        Gillian

      2. Yes, sadly, one of the most popular brands is called “Colon Cleanser” here in the US as well. Not the best for a food author! Good luck with it.

      3. Hello again Jeff,
        re- our discussion about substituting Psyllium husk powder for Guar and Xanthan gum could you please tell me how much I should use to make your gluten free boule, I would like to try it while I am waiting for your new gluten free book to be published (I have it on pre-order) am still trying to get used to gluten free baking and am missing bread dreadfully (only recently diagnosed) I would be so happy if you could help in the mean time, and I could purchase a small amount of psyllium husk powder (under the colon cleanser guise) rather than buy in a larger quantity and find that it does not agree with me ….like the gums…because it is quite expensive.

        regards
        Gillian

      4. Gillian: It’s complicated but if you’re making one of the simple recipes made mostly from white rice flour, sorghum, tapioca, and potato starch, it’s a 1 to 1 swap by volume or weight. If you’re using a lot of whole-grain flours like brown rice, teff, oats etc., it’s more complicated and this will have to wait for the book’s explanation. It may seem too loose when first mixed but will firm up.

  13. I am using your gluten free cook book. Which recipe should I use to make GF hamburger and hotdog buns? Will I need a pan vs free form? Thank you in advance

    1. You can adapt, re-shape, and resize any of the buns that start on page 90, and you can use enriched or plain dough. Egg-white or plain dough can be baked at 450, challah/brioche at 350. The enriched ones give a softer result.

  14. Have you ever made New England Style Hot dog buns? I got a fancy pan for making them for Christmas and i am trying to figure out what bread dough would be best for this type of bun. I would like to toast the flat sides with butter. Any thoughts?? I am just getting into your books and I love them. I am thinking a need a second fridge so that i can have bread going all the time 🙂

    Thanks So MUCH!!

    1. Hi Kerry,

      I would use the challah recipe from The New Artisan Bread in Five book. I think that will have the closest texture to what you are looking for.

      Thanks, Zoë

  15. Sorry, potentially dumb question: Do we bake the buns at whatever temp is recommended for the particular dough we’re using, or is there something magical about 350 for baking the buns? Thanks!

    1. Doughs enriched with eggs may scorch above 350, but otherwise, no. That said, 350 usually gives a softer crust (though most ovens won’t brown as well at that temp unless you oil the top-crust).

  16. I made these with the whole wheat version and I found them a tad on the dense side, but as you can tell from my confession above, I love a junk food hot dog experience. Take a small (3-ounce) piece (about the size of a small plum) from your bucket of dough.

  17. So my chilled dough was very very sticky, hard to form and did not rise a lot. Do i need to add more flour to the batter?

      1. Ah, got it. Follow the suggestions on page 34. Consider weighing your flour (see page 31), but if you measure by volume, see suggestions on page 41, and in the sidebar on page 54.

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