Gontran's buns

Gontran Cherrier is a Parisian boulanger (baker) who's had a couple of shows on Cuisine TV here in France. One day a year or two ago I saw him make hamburger buns and thought, hey, I can do that! So I downloaded the recipe and gave it a try.

Home-made hamburger buns ready to go!

Last week I made the buns again and we grilled hamburgers for lunch. They were good and we ate two burgers each along with French fries. The texture of the buns came out denser than a standard baguette, a little chewy and not at all soft like a supermarket bun.

For a change the next time, I'm going to search for recipes for something like kaiser rolls and try that, too.

UPDATE: Here's the recipe I used.

250 g all purpose flour
15 cl water
1 scant tsp salt
1 package dry active yeast
1 tbl sugar
1 tbl olive oil
sesame seeds

Proof the yeast in tepid water. In the meantime, add the flour, salt, sugar, and olive oil to the bowl of your food processor. Add the proofed yeast mixture and pulse the mix until the dough forms a ball.

Remove the dough from the processor and put it into a floured bowl, cover, and let rest for 15 minutes.

Cut the dough into 4 equal pieces and form into balls. Place the balls on a baking sheet, sprinkle them with sesame seeds (paint them with a little water if necessary to make the seeds stick). Cover the buns with plastic wrap or a damp towel and let them rise for about an hour.

Bake at 375ºF (add a shallow bowl of water to oven for steam or sprinkle water into the oven periodically during the baking time) for 30 to 40 minutes. Allow to cool before cutting.