Potato Burger Buns

After being away from home for a while the first thing I wanted to do was bake, but what to make?  Overindulging in European sweets and pastries the last few weeks had me craving something savory.  While browsing through the May/June 2019 issue of Cook's Illustrated magazine it was the recipe for Sloppy Joes that caught my eye.  But it was the idea of making Potato Burger Buns from scratch that got me excited.   Now I know that many of you may be asking, "why bother making the buns when you can easily buy them?" But to that I say, "why ever not?" 

If you've made bread rolls before then this recipe will be child's play for you.  If you've new to bread making I still stand by my belief that it's not as hard as you might think.  The most challenging step is to mash some boiled potatoes and that's not hard at all!

After tasting the soft and tender homemade burger buns I don't know that I'll be buying them from the store any longer, especially since they were so so simple to make.  In fact, I think I'll make another batch to keep in my freezer.  You never know when you might get a craving for a hamburger.

Iced Fingers

I'm a huge fan of The Great British Bake Off and this recipe for Iced Fingers was featured in one of the earlier seasons of the show.  I'd been meaning to make them ever since I first watched that episode all those years ago so you could say these are long overdue.  There's just something so inviting about a soft and fluffy bun filled to the brim with whipped cream and jam. 

The recipe comes from Paul Hollywood, GBBO "male judge" and bread baker extraordinaire, so you can pretty much assume it's going to be a winner.  And you would not be wrong.  Enriched dough is not as difficult to make as you might think and this one has the most beautiful texture to work with.  You could make the dough by hand, as suggested in the recipe, but I'm too lazy for that and leveraged my trusty Kitchen Aid stand mixer.  It makes your life so much easier!

Baked to a lovely golden brown the fingers had a beautifully soft and fluffy interior.  My main deviation from Paul's recipe was in the filling.  Rather than using whipped heavy cream on its own I added softened cream cheese to give it more structure and stability.  The last thing you want is a weepy iced finger!  Once iced and filled with cream cheese whipped cream and raspberry jam these fingers were a dream to eat.   

One caveat though: I highly recommend making the buns all in the same day to get the maximum freshness and flavor.  I spread it out over two days and found that the buns weren't as soft and fluffy as they were when they were freshly baked...still tasted great though!

Pineapple Buns with Chinese BBQ Pork

Hard to believe but after living in San Francisco for more than twenty years I must confess that I'd never tasted a Pineapple Bun until  just recently when I made them myself from a Cook's Illustrated recipe.  It sounds a bit silly to admit since my neighborhood is literally inundated with Chinese bakeries that sell this popular sweet bread.   One taste of the soft, fluffy interior and crunchy sugar top crust and I was a goner.

The secret to this bread is tangzhong, a cooked flour and water paste, that's added to the dough and makes the interior so light and soft.  I adore working with this dough - it is so forgiving and has the most beautiful elasticity.   You seriously can't mess it up!

The topping is piped in spirals over the proofed buns and is made of a butter, powdered sugar and flour mixture.  In the oven it melts down the sides of the bread and bakes in to a crunchy crust, very similar to craquelin on a choux pastry. 

I ended up filling my buns with Cook's Illustrated char siu or barbecue pork, another staple dish in Chinese cuisine, which I recently posted to my blog.   The savory, sweet filling was a delicious complement to the pineapple bun.   I brought samples of my first batch in to the office and my Chinese-American colleagues gave them the thumbs up.  If that's not the seal of approval I don't know what is!