Hotdog & Hamburger Buns

I prefer homemade bread of every kind to store bought. So, I often make our own hamburger and hotdog buns when there is extra time. Having a Bosch mixer with a dough hook or a bread maker with a dough cycle makes bread making SO much easier. If using a Bosch mixer for kneading, the dough is ready when it pulls from the sides of the bowl and the bowl looks clean.

1 ¼ cups skim milk, warm
1/3 cup vegetable/canola oil
¼ - 1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 ¾ cups bread flour
2 ¼ teaspoons active dry yeast
butter

Dissolve yeast in warm milk. Add oil, sugar, salt and flour. Knead well until smooth and elastic to touch.
Let rest in warm, draft-free area for 15 minutes. Punch down and knead gently.
Roll in a long log. Cut into 12 pieces for hot dog buns or 9 pieces for hamburger buns.
Hot Dog Buns: Roll into a long skinny hotdog shape.
Hamburger buns: Flatten with palm of hand till thickness of a pancake.
Put on parchment lined baking sheet.
Brush with melted butter.
Cover with cloth or pam sprayed plastic. Put in warm oven for 45-60 minutes to rise.
When doubled, remove from oven.
Bake on top shelf of oven.
Preheat oven to 400°F. Place buns in oven and turn temperature down to 375°F immediately. Bake hot dog buns abt. 15 minutes and hamburger buns abt. 17 minutes.

Utah Scones

Scones in Utah are different from scones I’ve had anywhere else. They’re similar to Indian frybread, made with a sweet yeast dough and buttermilk. They are absolutely delicious. These can be used as a dessert/breakfast food with honey, butter, jam, etc. Or you can use them for Navajo Tacos. One of my daughters likes to just eat them plain. They’re very versatile. Be warned, this recipe makes a massive amount of medium sized scones, so make sure you have enough people to eat them! There are ten people in our household and it takes us 3 to 5 days to eat them all.

1 envelope active dry yeast
1/4 cup lukewarm water
1 quart buttermilk
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
8-9 cups flour
oil for frying

Sprinkle yeast over warm water. Warm buttermilk (careful not to overheat, as it can seperate. Warning, it stinks while heating). Add sugar, eggs, butter, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Stir in yeast mixture. Beat in 4 cups flour. Continue to beat until smooth and well mixed. Stir in enough flour to make soft dough. Knead until smooth and elastic. Cover, put in warm place (I prefer my oven) and allow to rise until double in bulk. Punch down. The dough will keep for three days in fridge, just be sure to punch it down daily.

Heat 1-2 inches of oil in a deep pan to 375°F. Pinch out some dough and roll in hands into a ball about 1 to 1 1/2 inches diameter. Then pull flat until dough is almost see through. Place in oil and fry until scone puffs up and is lightly browned. Turn and brown opposite side. How many you can fit at once depends on your pan and how big you're making the scones. Drain on paper towels. Serve warm.

Tortillas

2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
¾ tsp baking powder
3 tbsp lard
2/3 cup warm water

Mix flour, salt and baking powder in bowl. Rub in fat, stir in the water and knead lightly to a soft dough. Cover with plastic wrap and leave to rest 15 min. Divide into 12 pieces and shape into balls. Roll out on a floured surface into 6-7in. rounds. Heat a heavy frying pan or griddle, add one tortilla and cook for 1 ½ - 2 minutes, turning over as soon as the surface starts to bubble. It should stay flexible. Remove from the pan and wrap in a towel to keep warm while cooking remaining tortillas.

WHAT I LEARNED
First off, I didn’t know what the recipe meant by rubbing in the fat. So I called mom. And she explained that it was what I used to watch her do while making biscuits. You hold the lard in your hand and pick up the flour mixture, pressing them together between your palm and fingers and letting the mixture slip through your fingers. You do this over and over until all of the lard is evenly distributed. I found it very interesting how easily I could feel the lard breaking up into the flour and find left over clumps to break up.

Second – when rolling out the tortillas, it takes a lot of flower. The dough is fairly sticky and you need the flour to be successful in rolling it out. Make sure you roll the dough very thin, almost translucent. Otherwise your tortillas will puff up more like a pita.

Third – don’t think you can roll one tortillas out and cook it, then roll out a second and cook it, etc. Roll them all out at once, and then start cooking. The reason is very simple. Your pan is going to be very hot and there is loose powder on the tortillas after rolling them out. If you let the pan sit in between tortillas for any amount of time, the loose flour left behind burns and will get on your next tortilla (and make the house stink).

Last – don’t coat your pan with any non-stick agent, like Pam. It will cause your tortilla to fry instead of bake, making it stiff and tough instead of soft and flexible. Don’t’ worry about your tortillas sticking. They are fairly dry and cooking hot and fast, I didn’t have any problem with them sticking in a pan that is horrid for cooking eggs.