Hot dog buns that would make better dinner rolls

I have been eating frugally when my husband is out of town for quite awhile now.  We'll have things like hot dogs and mac and cheese, spaghetti with meat sauce, hamburgers, sandwiches, etc... However, the other day, when I took the last hot dog bun out of the package that cost about $2, I thought....I bet I could MAKE these by myself!  So, I did.  And so began my obsession with bread baking this week!

My first attempt, while tasting good, ended up being twice the size they should have been.  I used a bread loaf recipe and just cut it into 8 pieces.  The next batch, pictured below, I cut into 12 pieces.  This was much better size-wise.  While pleased with the flavor, they were a little more dense than I would prefer.   I'm still in the test phase of hot dog buns!  I'll let you know when I come up with a better one.  Remember, this is one big experiment!  These were not bad by any means; I'm just looking for better.  On a positive note: my son chowed them down!

In your bread machine, dump the following ingredients in this order:

11 oz Whole Milk* (your liquid measure should have ounces on one side)

1 1/2t Salt

1 Egg

2T Olive Oil    (which creates a softer crust)

4 1/4C AP Flour**

1 1/2T Sugar

2 1/4t Active Dry Yeast

I selected the Dough setting on my (ancient and not-often-used) Bread Machine and let it do all the work.  After it was done, I just spread the dough out on a floured surface and formed into as close to a rectangle I could get.  I didn't roll it out or anything, just used my fingers.  I cut them somewhat like a bread stick you'd receive from a pizza place. I turned the edges under to make them appear more rounded on the ends, then placed them on a parchment-lined pan, about 1/2" apart.  I popped them in the oven at 375 for approximately 15 minutes.  Note: my oven may run hotter/cooler than yours, so please watch them the first go-around.

These store and thaw beautifully!  What I did was to let them cool completely, then slid them into a gallon zip top bag and put them in my freezer.  When I use the last ones from the fridge or counter top, I just take out two or three more from the freezer, slip them into a smaller zip top bag and place them in the fridge for the next time I'll need them.  If you look closely at the below pic, even though I cooled the buns completely, there are still little tiny water droplets clinging to the bag. I think if you were to take them directly from the freezer to the counter, you could end up with a soggy or perhaps gooey bun.  Just a thought.  Could be wrong.  I often am.  Don't tell anyone.   ;)

Had I been thinking about a blog at the time, I would have taken pix of the process like those more exciting blogs do, but it never crossed my mind.  I'll try to remember that for next time.  As you can see, I'm no food stylist, but this hot dog was darn good!  I didn't say healthy, I said GOOD!  :)  BTW, try to ignore my fine china below! 

Notes and Things I learned from this experiment:

*We buy our milk at Aldi's, which is $1.99/gallon EVERY day!
**The recipe called for Bread Flour, but all purpose was what I had on hand, so I used it.  I think it worked out fine.  I used store brand flour, which was only $1.76 for the whole five pounds!

This whole batch of 12 buns cost $1.40!  That's less than .12c each!  So, about .96c for a typical package of 8,which is less than half of the store price.  Not bad, but I think I can do better.

{Printer Friendly Version}

Pin It