Hot Dog Buns

Last week, we had B's preschool teacher (Miss Jaymee) over for a visit. We picked lemons, played Lego's Banana Balance, read Spanish books, watched Ponyo, dinner, root beer float, and made hot dog buns. Yes, we packed a lot in the short 6 hours and it flew by quickly.

The whole purpose of Miss Jaymee's visit was to make hot dog buns together (and my kids had been begging to see her for a while). I was introduced to this recipe by my friend Bella. She told me about Christine's Recipes about a year ago. I've made these buns about five times now and I want to think that I got it down. I made a few changes and translated the recipe to share with you. So here's my version.

HONG KONG STYLE HOT DOG BUNS 港式腸仔包

Yields 10 buns

INGREDIENTS:
Hot Dogs (get the no-nitrate ones) 10
Bread flour 4 ½ cup (630g)
Cake flour ½ cup (70g)
Sugar 60g
Salt 10g
Unsalted Butter (room T) 60g (if you use salted butter, don’t add salt)
Eggs 3 (2 for dough, 1 for glaze)
Milk Powder 14g (optional)
Milk (room temperature) 2 cups (250ml)
Instant Yeast 10-12g

Paste: bread flour ⅓ cup (50g), Milk 1 cup (250ml)

DIRECTIONS:
1. make paste in a small saucepan and let cool
2. In mixer, mix milk, egg, roux, salt, sugar, and bread flour.  Make a well in center, then add yeast
3. Mix well, then add melted butter, continue mixing until dough is smooth and “glossy”.
4. leave dough in mixing bowl until it doubles in size (about 2-3 hours)
5. dust flour on clean work surface
6. knead dough to squeeze out air, divide into 12 parts, knead in a ball, fold side down, cover in plastic wrap, let sit for 15 minutes.
7. shape into long ropes (about ½” in diameter), wrap around hot dog, put on baking sheet
8. cover with wet cloth and let double in size (about 45 min...sometimes I don't have 45 min so I just put them in the oven as soon as the oven is preheated)
9. preheat oven 350 degree
10. beat 1 egg and brush on top of buns
11. bake for 35 minutes.

The roux

Step 2 & 3 - the dough

Step 6 - divide and let rest

Step 7 - wrap dough around hot dogs

Step 10 - brush egg on buns

 Yummy

We ran out of hot dog but still had dough left so we got creative. We made a swirl bun and a braided bun like Challah bread. It was such a fun day. Please come back soon, Miss Jaymee!