Since the end of September, I've been striving (that means making a conscious effort) to purchase no foods in plastic. By the way, if you haven't seen my guest post on Fake Plastic Fish My Plastic Free Life ... please check it out and share :) Collect Your Plastic. Change Your Life. Over the past few months, one thing that I've struggled with is bread making... and I had even succumbed to purchasing some in plastic during the past few months... but I'm over it... I'm no longer purchasing bread in plastic...and tonight I wanted burgers... so I had to make buns!!!!
For real... I made homemade burger buns with my two hands!!
(Is my excitement shining through??)
I have to say that when I found the recipe... I was cautiously optimistic as I've looked up so many bread recipes these past few months... only to learn that I can cook and I can bake... but I fail in my bread making skills. BUT... after the dough rose, and I formed buns... and the smell filled the house... I learned tonight that I CAN make bread!!! Happy Dance!!!!! :D
Recipe from: Ultimate Veggie Burgers
Makes 8 buns
Ingredients
1 cup warm water
2 TBSP olive oil
1 TBSP honey
130 g whole wheat flour (I used Whole Wheat Pastry Flour)
260 g bread flour
1 tsp salt
1 TBSP yeast
Method
- Mix together the dry ingredients. Make a well in the middle.
- To dissolve the honey, mix it into the warm water. Add the honey water into the well, then add the olive oil.
- Mix everything together by hand to form a dough ball.
- Knead the dough by hand for about ten minutes.
- Let the dough rise in a bowl until doubled in size (about 1 hour).
- Divide dough into 8 pieces (do this by cutting the dough in half, then quarter each half). Roll out to flatten each piece. To form a ball, bring 2 opposite ends together and then bring the other 2 ends together.
- Place the dough balls seam side down on a baking sheet. Cover with a towel and let buns rest until they rise. (about 1 hour)
- Bake in pre-heated 375F/190C oven for 15 minutes.
By this point this should come as no shock... dinner tonight ROCKED!!
I was dancing in my kitchen because I was so over-the-top excited about my victory! ;) Check out my 100% Plastic-Free and oh so YUMMY dinner!!!!
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| Homemade Black Bean Burgers on my homemade buns, with roasted potatoes and green beans!!! YAY!! |
Well done! We're working on reducing our plastic waste, too, and bought our last package of store-bought bread three weeks ago. My poor kids had to endure some WAY dense slabs of "bread" before it finally clicked for me. Good for you!
ReplyDeleteHi, stumbled across your site from Beth's blog, and I have to say I am really encouraged!!
ReplyDelete@Desi. I feel ya!! I stopped buying bread and my kids kept telling me that they didn't like my bread!! Then I picked up "The Bread Bible" from the library... and now every loaf that I've made has been perfection :) Now with these buns I'm convinced that I am a bread making queen!! ;)
ReplyDelete@Robbie. Seriously, if I can make these... anyone can!! I'm never buying store bought buns again!! :D
Those look seriously delicious. I love to make bread. I will have to check out that cook book. I have always tried to cut down on my plastic, but it is so hard sometimes.
ReplyDeleteHow often do you make bread? Is it a once a week job, or more often?
Hope your holidays were great!!
@ Katie
ReplyDeleteSince I just figured out "how" to make bread....I haven't gotten a bread making routine down. I'm going to try to make 2 loaves of bread at a time and freeze one loaf... an emergency loaf of sorts ;) Then not have to worry about making bread. Because the past few months I wouldn't plan accordingly and I wouldn't have enough time to make bread... then I would end up purchasing bread. :(
2011 is the year of no bread in plastic!! No ifs, ands or buts about it!!
Hi Danielle!
ReplyDeleteI'm in the challenge also, love your blog. Could these buns be made into hotdog buns? They sound yummy...
Sabrina
Hey Sabrina!
ReplyDeleteI don't see why they couldn't!! I haven't tried it yet... but I imagine that it's just a matter of getting the shape right!! If you make them, I'd love to know how they turn out!! :)
Fantastic! I will try this! I have just started Greening the house and getting rid of as many plastics as possible right now. Great to see others doing the same thing!!!
ReplyDelete