Hamburger Buns, Hotdog Buns, or Dinner Rolls

DIRECTIONS

• Note: I gave up trying to put in weights in addition to volumes in the ingredients section. Water is 296g. Flour is 544g.
• In bread machine pan combine the warm water, oil, yeast, and sugar, mixing to dissolve.
• Allow yeast mixture to bloom for 10 minutes.
• Add egg, flour and salt to bread machine pan.
• Set bread machine to dough cycle and allow to run full cycle. (this is for 2 lb bread machine, if using a smaller bread machine then remove after kneading and allow to rise in a lightly covered bowl). Half way through the kneading cycle check your dough and if necessary add either water or flour 1 tablespoon at a time to adjust consistency. This can vary due to brand of flour or humidity.
• Coat your hands with flour and shake off the excess.
• Transfer the dough from the bread machine pan (or bowl if you are using a smaller bread machine) to a lightly floured dough board.
• Knead dough 6 or 8 times, folding over and turning a ¼ turn each time.
• With bench knife (or other knife) cut dough into 12 – 32 pieces, depending on what you are making.
• Shape dough into balls (or cylinders for hotdog buns) and place on sheet pan (I use a 16” pizza pan) lined with parchment.
• Loosely cover dough and let rise until ripe (30 minutes to 1 hr plus depending on temperature and the age of your yeast). Dough is ripe when approximately doubled or when you can press your index finger up to the first joint and it leaves an indention.
• Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C).
• Just before putting in oven, brush the buns with half of the melted butter.
• For a variation brush with egg white instead of butter and sprinkle with sesame or poppy seeds.
• Bake until golden brown, 18 to 25 minutes (my oven takes 21 minutes).
• Take the buns from the oven and brush them with the remaining melted butter.
• Slide the buns off the baking sheet onto a wire cooling rack rack and cool completely.