Slider Buns

[silentbob]

I plan to make sliders for a brunch next week. Where can I find hamburger buns that are smaller (say, half the diameter) than usual?

In the past, I have taken a regular bun and used a cookie cutter, but the end product isn't terribly aesthetically pleasing. Something better-looking would be preferable. Taste is somewhat important, but secondary.

[johnb]

I plan to make sliders for a brunch next week. Where can I find hamburger buns that are smaller (say, half the diameter) than usual?

In the past, I have taken a regular bun and used a cookie cutter, but the end product isn't terribly aesthetically pleasing. Something better-looking would be preferable. Taste is somewhat important, but secondary.

I have had that same problem. Generally, I find that just about any place that has its own bread bakery (supermarkets) and independent bakers as well, is liable to bake some type of smaller roll that can be pressed into service. Look around the bakery area of some markets and you'll probably find something to your liking--you'll likely have to do your own slicing of course. Costco dinner rolls may be one possibility, if you need a bag of 3000 or so.

[dcs]

I plan to make sliders for a brunch next week. Where can I find hamburger buns that are smaller (say, half the diameter) than usual?

Try the soft dinner rolls at Heidelberg. They always looked like slider buns to me.

http://www.heidelbergbakery.com/?q=node/190

[cheezepowder]

Maybe the smaller Martin's Party Potato rolls or the bigger Dinner Potato rolls at the grocery store.

[edenman]

What about these?

[silentbob]

Costco dinner rolls may be one possibility, if you need a bag of 3000 or so.

This is in fact what I ended up using.

The reason why regular dinner rolls hadn't occurred to me is that I assumed most of them were rock hard. But the ones at Costco were fairly soft and did the trick just great.

Thanks to all for the advice!

[monavano]

I forgot about this thread. I posted somewhere else here about meatball sliders-we got individual buns at Bonaparte Bakery at Dupont and I can't tell you how good they were. Two left-no more meatballs tho

[V.H.]

I was recently stuck at home with a napping baby but needed hamburger rolls for dinner. A quick look in The Bread Baker's Apprentice turned up a fairly easy recipe for hamburger buns and since I had all of the ingredients handy, I gave it a spin. The dough is incredibly easy to pull together, especially if you have a Kitchenaid mixer to do the kneading for you. It's a bit richer than your standard hamburger bun what with the egg, sugar, and a bit of butter, more like a light challah roll. The great thing for us has been that I can shape normal size hamburger buns for the adults and smaller slider buns for the munchkin. I can post the recipe if anyone is interested in trying.

[KeithA]

I can post the recipe if anyone is interested in trying.

Please do post the recipe - you never know when you need to make some buns ;-)

[V.H.]

Please do post the recipe - you never know when you need to make some buns ;-)

4.25 cups (19 oz) bread flour

1.5 tsp (.38 oz) salt

3 T (1.5 oz) sugar

2 tsp (.22 oz) yeast

1 lg (1.65 oz) egg, slightly beaten, room temp

.25 cup (2 oz) butter, room temp

1.5 cups (12 oz) whole milk (I use 2% w/no problem), room temp

1 egg beaten with a tsp of water until frothy for egg wash

I mix in the Kitchenaid with the dough hook for 6-8 minutes. You can knead by hand but I'm weak and lazy and am usually standing there eating cookies or something while the machine does the work. Let rise in an oiled bowl until doubled in size. Remove dough from bowl, cut into 12 equal pieces for normal sized hamburger buns or 24-36 pieces for slider buns. Shape into rounds and let rise until double in size. Brush rolls with egg wash before baking at 400 degrees until they are golden brown on top, 15 minutes for regular buns, less for slider buns.

I've had great success with adding in fresh rosemary or raisins after the first rise to make flavored dinner rolls. I just squish the add-ins into the dough lightly before cutting the dough into pieces. I suppose you could add the additional ingredients during the initial kneading but my daughter and I prefer the rosemary rolls and my husband prefers raisins so this way we can make everyone happy.

[squidsdc]

4.25 cups (19 oz) bread flour

1.5 tsp (.38 oz) salt

3 T (1.5 oz) sugar

2 tsp (.22 oz) yeast

1 lg (1.65 oz) egg, slightly beaten, room temp

.25 cup (2 oz) butter, room temp

1.5 cups (12 oz) whole milk (I use 2% w/no problem), room temp

1 egg beaten with a tsp of water until frothy for egg wash

I mix in the Kitchenaid with the dough hook for 6-8 minutes. You can knead by hand but I'm weak and lazy and am usually standing there eating cookies or something while the machine does the work. Let rise in an oiled bowl until doubled in size. Remove dough from bowl, cut into 12 equal pieces for normal sized hamburger buns or 24-36 pieces for slider buns. Shape into rounds and let rise until double in size. Brush rolls with egg wash before baking at 400 degrees until they are golden brown on top, 15 minutes for regular buns, less for slider buns.

I've had great success with adding in fresh rosemary or raisins after the first rise to make flavored dinner rolls. I just squish the add-ins into the dough lightly before cutting the dough into pieces. I suppose you could add the additional ingredients during the initial kneading but my daughter and I prefer the rosemary rolls and my husband prefers raisins so this way we can make everyone happy.

This definitley looks worth a try! For you bakers out there, any suggestions on if the recipe will suffer in converting to Whole Wheat, and if not, how to do so?

[mktye]

This definitley looks worth a try! For you bakers out there, any suggestions on if the recipe will suffer in converting to Whole Wheat, and if not, how to do so?

Substituting approximately half the total amount of white flour with whole wheat is the general rule. So, in this case, use 2 cups whole wheat and 2.25 cups bread flour.

If you use a larger amount of whole wheat, things can get tricky because of lack of gluten development which can result in a very dense bread.