Kristi's Soft Buns (Gluten Free!)

Submitted by Kristi Waterworth

"After many, many months of head scratching, weeping, grinding my teeth and praying for salvation, I finally got this one right. This is my first official hamburger/sandwich bun that has been successful. I would think this would also make good hoagie buns, but might have to adjust baking times. Prep time includes rise time."

 

• Ready In: 2hrs 30mins
• Ingredients: 13
• Yields: 6 buns
• Serves: 6

ingredients

• 4 ounces pineapple juice
• 1 cup water (120 degrees F)
• 5 tablespoons brown sugar, separated
• 2 tablespoons active dry yeast
• 1 cup potato starch
• 3⁄4 cup masa harina
• 3⁄4 cup sorghum flour
• 1⁄2 cup rice flour
• 1 tablespoon xanthan gum
• 5 tablespoons butter, separated and melted
• 1⁄2 tablespoon salt
• 1 egg
• flour, for dusting

directions

1. Combine pineapple juice and water. Add 2 tblsp brown sugar and all of the yeast. Stir to combine. If you put the yeast in too soon, the mixture will be too acidic and it will kill them, so be careful. Be sure your yeast is proofing before moving forward.
2. Combine flours, starches and gums in the work bowl of your favorite mixer. Add salt, remaining brown sugar and 2 tblsp butter. Combine. Add egg and combine. Last, add yeast slurry and combine until dough starts to climb the paddle. Switch to your hook and knead for 8-10 minutes on medium.
3. Using approximately 5 ounce portions, portion out your dough a piece at a time onto a floured work surface. Work just enough flour into each piece to be able to work it without it sticking to you and work each into a ball. Place the balls on a baking sheet or in a baking dish and squish them until the are about 1/2 the height of the "ball.".
4. Cover with a moist towel and allow your buns to rise for at least 90 minutes. Set your oven to 350°F.
5. Brush on remaining butter and sprinkle on any toppings you like. I like sesame seeds. Bake uncovered for about 50 minutes or until they are showing really nice color and both the tops and bottoms look done. Allow them to rest for 15 minutes to set their insides.
6. Slice down the middle and have a sandwich. After all, you deserve one. :) These are also nice toasted.

Reviews

[Laith]

I have been baking gluten free bread of many different recipes for a few years now and this recipe is definitely the best yet! The main difference is that these buns can be shaped and rise much like regular wheat based bread. The end result is also impressive, producing bread with an incredibly soft and springy texture - clearly the author has a real talent for gluten free baking to have come up with such a good recipe. The only difference I have made to the original recipe is to have replaced the rice flour with tapioca flour; this gives the buns an improved texture and better capability to accommodate things like hamburgers. Tapioca flour can be bought here in Dubai in most supermarkets, or in Asian / Thai stores in the West.

 

[trenthm]

They taste great! Chewy, hearty, delicious. Buutttt..they don't look that great, and they don't taste like the old "gluten-full" buns we all used to love. This isn't such a bad thing though. These buns are delicious in their own right.. and beauty IS from the inside-out, after all!

 

[RedHeadToToe]

These turned out fantastic for us. I of course had to make a few ingredient changes as we cannot have eggs/dairy either so I substituted with Ener-g egg replacer and Vegan butter to make this non dairy also. I did not have sorghum flour, so I used more masa harina and tapioca flour to make up the measurement needed. These were soft and flexible and tasted really good. Thanks for posting.