Perfect Hamburger Buns

Today I decided to try my hand at making whole wheat hamburger buns. Wanting to stay strictly with the South Beach Diet (no white flour) I'd looked for a WW bread recipe that didn't call for any white flour (not an easy task, as you may already know). So, when I noticed the WW bread recipe on the back of the package of King Arthur Flour (whole wheat) at the supermarket, I bought the flour and tried the recipe. After making one loaf of WW bread with the flour, I believed that the recipe needed more yeast. So, here's what I did.

  I doubled the amount of yeast called for in the recipe on the package. I also used pure maple syrup as the sweetener (the recipe calls for either sugar or maple syrup or molasses). I stirred the double amount of yeast into the hot water and dropped in a few drops of maple syrup. The yeast foamed up into the highest, puffiest foam I've ever obtained with yeast. Should have taken a pic, but I was too busy to become photographer as well as baker. As called for in the recipe, I put all the ingredients in my KitchenAid bowl and mixed slowly with the bread tool. Then, when the dry and liquid ingredients were mixed well, I kneaded the dough with the KitchenAid dial set at 2. (I'd doubled the recipe, so the KA had to work pretty hard for the next 6 minutes. Kneading done, I put the dough in an oiled bowl, covered it, and put it in the oven (that I'd heated to the lowest temperature, then shut off) for an hour. The dough nearly tripled, as you might imagine. Once again, I shoulda taken a photo. Next time, I will.

I then, according to the recipe, scooped the dough from the bowl and placed it on a lightly oiled plastic mat (interestingly, instead of using flour on the mat, the oil kept the dough from sticking to either mat or my hands...I used a light canola oil, which I'd also used in the dough). I then cut off chunks of dough, weighing each to be sure the chunks were all approximately the same size, and formed each into a ball. I placed the balls on parchment-paper covered baking sheets, making a sort of flat bottom on the dough ball by pressing the ball on the baking sheet. I also placed the balls about 3 inches apart, expecting them to rise and spread out as they sat for another hour. Oh, yes, I brushed the tops with half and half and sprinkled sesame seeds on the liquid. I then rolled out a piece of saran wrap, oiled one side, and placed the wrap over the dough balls, oil side down (to prevent the wrap from sticking). Here's what they looked like.

  Not having a "real" recipe, I adjusted the time the recipe called for had the dough been formed into loaves and baked. My first batch was a bit too dark, and this is what it looked like, so I adjusted the time down for the next batch.

  Here's a photo of the final batch, adjusted for time in the oven. We made hamburgers and used two of these perfect little buns. As RR would say: Yummo!!