Bacon Cheeseburger from scratch

After nearly a two-month cooking hiatus, I'm back in the kitchen.

I was browsing a few of my favorite blogs last week, and found this recipe for hamburger buns at foodwishes (seriously cool blog btw!). It took about a second before I decided a homemade bacon cheeseburger was how I was going to get back on the horse.

Enjoy! This is well worth your time :D


INGREDIENTS (8 buns)
- 3 1/2 cups AP flour
- 1 cup warm water
- 3 tbsp butter (melted)
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 1 egg
- a dash of salt
- 1 pack active dry yeast
- 1 egg and a splash of milk for the glaze


RECIPE:
- prewarm your oven at 375F
- mix the yeast, water and 1/2 cup of the flour in a bowl and let rest for 15 minutes at room temperature until foamy to activate the yeast

- add the melted butter, egg, sugar and salt to the yeast mixture and stir until smooth

- add the rest of the flour and using a dough hook, knead for about 5 minutes until the dough is smooth and springy and form into a ball

- place in a bowl with a little bit of oil, cover with foil and let rise for about 2 hours in a warm place until doubled in size (in the closed oven for example- off, of course)

- after 2 hours, drop the dough on a lightly floured surface and flatten with your hands in to a 1/2 inch thick rectangle. cut into 8 equal sized bits and form into small balls

- flatten the dough into discs and arrange on a baking sheet lined with a silicone sheet (or parchment paper). cover with film (do not tighten the film, just place it on top of the discs) and let rise at room temperature for another hour until the discs have doubled in size

- prepare a glaze with the egg and a splash of milk, and brush over the buns very lightly

Note: if you have sesame seeds, now would be the time to sprinkle them on top of the buns (I skipped that step because I just did not have any at home)
- bake at 375F for about 15 minutes, until golden

- slice the buns in half when they are cool to the touch. Use one for your burger and freeze the remaining sliced buns in bags and they will be ready to pop in the toaster oven next time!.
- Enjoy your homemade burger from scratch!!! I used 90% ground beef, maple smoked bacon, sharp cheddar, romaine, ketchup and homemade pickle.

omnomnomnom....