Sunday, September 7, 2008

Better late than late for dinner!

This month, or rather, LAST month, the family cooking club had the challenge of making a different recipe of burgers. Any kind of burger. Turkey, veggie, ham (as in hamburger). Whatever.

I decided right away that I wanted to do a stuffed burger.

And I waited. Until today.

Here is my result:



And this is what Darrell's looked like when it was cut in half:



Doesn't the bun look delish? Yeah. I made 'em. The recipe will follow the burger recipe.

I used 80% lean hamburger (they really should call it 20% FAT), since it really makes the juiciest burgers. I had about 1.75 pounds. I added an egg, some Worcestershire sauce, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper. I formed 8 really big and skinny patties. For Darrell's, I used grated cheese and bacon bits, sprinkled some in the middle and slapped two patties together, sealing well. For mind, I added some cream cheese. I made 2 burgers for each of us, but froze one set for later.

Darrell grilled over mesquite lump charcoal until done. (No pressing down on the patties while cooking, or a mess will ensue).

Here's the recipe for the buns:

1 cup milk plus 1 tablespoon, divided
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons butter, plus more for buttering bowl
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg, yolk and white divided
2 and 1/4 teaspoon yeast (I use SAF)
3 cups flour

In a microwave safe small bowl, combine 1 cup milk, sugar and butter. Heat until butter just melts and mixture is warm but not hot. If it is hot, wait until it is lukewarm to proceed. In a large bowl, combine salt, egg white, yeast, and flour-one cup at a time, to form a soft dough. (In a separate small bowl, combine remaining egg yolk and tablespoon of milk). Knead dough briefly, about three minutes. Butter same bowl, replace dough, cover and let rise for about 1 hour, or until doubled. (At this point, you could punch the dough down and refrigerate it for up to 24 hours, or until ready to proceed.) Shape dough into 10 separate round buns. You can roll them out and cut them with a biscuit cutter, or you can simply shape them into 10 round buns. Let rise on a greased baking sheet for about 45 minutes, or until light and risen. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Brush buns with egg yolk mixture. Bake for about 15-18 minutes, or until nicely browned.


They tasted yummy and I look forward to eating these again!