The other day I suggested to Pete that we have Beef Dips for dinner. He loves any excuse to make his favourite Hoagie Buns so he jumped at the chance and popped into the kitchen to make these beauties. He also slow cooked beef - but that's another post :) These buns are good for sandwiches, smokies and garlic toast. We've served it in place of bagette as well - it's always a big hit! If we can make it yummy - you can do it too!
Hoagie Buns
- 260g (1 cup + 1 Tbsp) Milk
- 10g (1Tbsp) Active Dry Yeast
- 13g (1 Tbsp) Sugar
- 400g (3 ⅓ cup) AP Flour
- 9g (½ Tbsp) Table Salt
- 20g (1 ½ Tbsp) Oil
- 1 Egg White (beaten lightly)
- 250ml (1 cup) Ice cubes
- Warm milk to 38 – 44°C (100-110°F). I use the stove top, but 30 second pulses in the microwave will also work. If you don’t have a thermometer, the milk should be at about skin temperature, if you don’t feel a temperature change when you dip a (CLEAN!) finger in, you are ready to go!
- Add the milk, yeast and sugar to a mixing bowl and whisk together for a few seconds. This helps to break up any clumps of yeast so they can all get to some water and start eating some sugar.
- Wait! (Not strictly necessary, I do it more out of superstition than anything else, if you know your yeast is healthy and you nailed the temperature, throw caution to the wind!) Around 10 minutes later, you should have a nice frothy bowls of happy little yeast.
- Add the flour, salt and oil (I usually like olive oil, but avocado oil also works! I should probably try some other kinds… I’ll let you know when I do). Use a spatula to combine the ingredients into an ugly, shaggy dough.
- Knead the dough senseless. This is a tough dough, so it’s going to take at least 10 minutes of kneading. And knead it rough! Throw it at the counter, lean into hard, put it in the tumble cycle of your dryer on low heat. (Note: I have not tested the last method and do not recommend!)
- When you think you’re done, try stretching a small piece of dough. It should be able to get thin enough that you can see some light through it. If it is tearing instead of stretching, toss it back in the dryer (See note above).
- It is rise time! Lightly oil a large bowl (I usually use the same mixing bowl), toss in the dough, give it a little roll around in the bowl to coat with oil or if your swanky like me and have an oil spray save those precious dough-ball-rolling seconds and spray on, my friend. Cover the bowl with a damp towel, and place in a warm area. If you house doesn’t have a warm area because your spouse thinks all of the windows need to be open all of the way ALL OF THE TIME… ahem, sorry, put the bowl in your oven with the heat off and the light on.
- Wait! (This time, yes, strictly necessary) After 1.5 to 2 hours, you should have an approximately doubled-in-size ball of dough. Yay!
- Pull the dough off the sides of the bowl, pushing down towards the center to deflate the dough and then dump the dough onto a lightly floured surface.
- Cut the dough into four equal pieces and:
- Option 1 (the easy way): roll into a general hoagie shape, about 20cm (8”) long
- Option 2 (the “company is coming, and I want all my hoagies to be consistent!” way: with a rolling pin, roll the dough to a 20cm (still 8”) by 20cm (I’m sure you’ve figured it out by now) square. Grab the edge of the square furthest from you and roll towards yourself pressing the dough down on top of itself as you go
- You now have a hoagie shaped dough ball, congrats! Now do it 3 more times.
- Place the soon-to-be hoagies on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Optionally, you can add a little cornmeal to the sheet to add a little texture to your buns.
- Find that towel that was on top of the bowl and toss it (gently!) over the cookie sheet and put the cookie sheet in your warm place.
- Wait! (Yup, mandatory again ☹) In about 30 to 45 minutes, you should see a little more puff in your buns. That’s an excellent time to turn on your oven to 190°C (375°F). If your warm place was the oven, probably best to remove your dough first.
- Take off the towel and paint the dough with the egg white (If you want to add a tablespoon of water to the egg white, feel free, but I like the darker finish with just egg white). Just the top is fine, but I usually get the sides as well for an overall nicer finish.
- If you want some added flavour, now is the time to sprinkle some seasoning (or maybe some seeds?) on the top. Perhaps oregano, thyme, garlic powder, parmesan cheese and parsley flakes for an Italian effect? Also, no need to be timid, load up those bad buns.
- With a very sharp knife, score the top of the bun with 45° cuts about 4cm (1.5”) apart, or, you know, however you want your hoagies to look, be creative!
- Add the ice cubes to an oven safe container, and place in the oven.
- Put the hoagies in the oven for 20 to 25 minutes according to your love of doneness.
- Mange!