Professor Butter Beard’s Hot Dog Buns
Ten buns
3 Tbsp cumin seed, toasted and cooled
8 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
2 tsp instant dried yeast
1/3 cup whole milk, heated to body temperature
2 cups bread flour
1 tsp fine sea salt
2 Tbsp granulated sugar (separated)
2 large eggs and 1 extra yolk
1) Toast your cumin seeds over medium heat and set aside to cool.
2) Heat the milk slightly to body temperature. Stir in 1 Tbsp of the sugar and the 2 teaspoons of dried yeast. Set aside to bloom.
3) In the bowl of a standing mixer, mix together the bread flour, additional sugar, the salt and cooled cumin seeds. Add the eggs (and yolk) and then the yeast/milk mixture. Switch to the dough hook and mix on medium speed for about 6-8 minutes to form a soft, elastic dough.
4) With the mixer on low, add in the butter, 1 Tbsp at a time, mixing to form a shiny dough that is elastic and soft to the touch. Remove the dough to a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and set aside to rise for about one hour (until doubled in size).
5) Gently punch down the dough and stretch into a rectangle roughly 15” by 6” to fit your greased hot dog bun pan (via King Arthur Flour). Cover again with plastic wrap and let it rise for another 30 minutes.
6) Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
7) When ready to bake, lay a piece of parchment paper over the top of the bun pan. Then place an inverted baking sheet over the parchment. Place the two pans into the oven and weigh the baking sheet down with a cast-iron skillet. Bake the buns for twenty minutes and then remove the cast-iron skillet, baking pan and parchment paper. Bake for another 3-5 minutes to complete the baking and evenly brown the top of the buns.
8) Remove the buns from the oven and let cool on a wire rack 5 minutes before turning them out of the pan to cool completely.
9) When completely cool, slice each bun down the middle vertically, without cutting through the bottom, and then separate into ten individual buns.
