Banana rye walnut chocolate chunk cakes

I learned something about bananas some years back. Once they’re ripe and you’re not ready to eat them right then and there, peel ’em, chunk them up and freeze them! You can then use them in smoothies, cakes or quick breads where they lend a special creaminess to the batter. Yum.

This recipe calls for 4 medium bananas which I figured came to about 480 g of banana mash (~120 g per banana). I’m sure you can give or take the amount without negatively affecting the final result so don’t fuss too much as to the exact quantity of said banana.

This is my take on banana rye bread from Brontë Aurell’s book “Brontë at Home - baking from the Scandi Kitchen”. I’ve made these babies a bunch of times and realized that I’ve never written about them. I’ve done variations subbing maple sugar (thanks sister Joyce!) for some of the brown sugar, subbing ground oats and/or whole wheat pastry flour for some of the all purpose flour, adding in chopped toasted nuts like hazelnuts or walnuts, adding chocolate chunks and topping with a nutty streusel. So moist. All good.

Here’s the recipe (including some of the variations I’ve made) and my mise for this version in the image below. It’s a pretty straight forward cake batter - mashed banana, yogurt, lemon juice and vanilla in a separate bowl; dry ingredients in another bowl; cream butter/sugar, add egg then add wet/dry alternating. Basic right?

In this case I’m also adding 170 g / 6 ounces chopped chocolate to the batter and topping with chopped walnuts and raw sugar for a bit of crunch.

You can bake these cakes in buttered/floured muffin tins but I prefer (and love) my Silikomart silicone flexi-molds - so many different shapes and sizes. This time I’m using the 8-well SF028, rather like a standard muffin size. The recipe yield is about 20 cakes using that particular mold. I also often use the 11-well SF022 which is a tad larger than a standard mini-muffin pan - I get about 33 cakes with that mold. NOTE - I have several of each mold.

I place the molds on a wire grid on a half sheet pan - that allows for better air circulation and more even baking.

You can find a large selection of Silikomart molds at bakedeco.com. By the way - I have no affiliate links with any companies - I simply like sharing the things I find useful and fun in the baking kitchen!

Heat the oven to 350ºF. Fill molds about 3/4 full. Sprinkle chopped walnuts and raw sugar on top.

Bake 20 minutes or so - always check about half way through. Your oven may take longer than mine. You want the center to feel set and just the barest hint of a moist crumb on a tester.

Let them rest about 10 minutes then gently turn them out onto a wire cooling rack. If you can’t wait, try one a bit warm when the chocolate will still be gooey, otherwise cool to room temp and enjoy.

These freeze well too. Even better!

Let me add my official Happy New Year to all of you. Time for new projects and, as always, staying active and keeping our collective chins up. OK.

Swedish (cardamom) buns

Time for more Swedish fun! Once again inspired by Brontë Aurell’s “Brontë at Home” as well as Beatrice Ojakangas’ “The Great Scandinavian Baking Book” (a recent acquisition as a result of a birthday gift card!) and a NYT article on cardamom buns, I’ve plunged into the depths of bun recipes and options. Whoa - so much out there!

As I’ve come to learn, the Swedes (and let’s be honest, Scandinavians in general) are HUGE bun lovers - cardamom, cinnamon, blueberry just to name a few. The dough is a pretty basic enriched dough made with milk, usually (but not always) some egg, butter, sugar, salt, yeast, cardamom and flour of course. Once the dough is made and rested/risen, you roll it out and spread it with a filling of butter and sugar (white or brown, either way), fold it in thirds, roll out again, cut it into strips, twist, wind and tuck and voilà, there’s your classic Swedish cardamom bun.

The process as just mentioned is the less buttery bare beginnings of a fully laminated dough, and you can take it in other directions with different shapes and fillings. Think jam, chocolate hazelnut spread, citrus zest, chopped toasted nuts, fresh or dried fruit, almond paste . . . the list goes on.

My first attempt sprang from the NYT article on classic Swedish cardamom buns, and, being intrigued by the shaping technique, I was ready to give them a try. One sees a hint of the shaping in the article images although the shaping instructions in the recipe didn’t give my brain a good image to work with. I played around with it, finally resorting to an online video or two which helped a lot. Just remember - there’s more than one way to shape a bun!

If you’re interested in checking out the NYT article, a quick note on the filling - I found it to be too much butter. There was a LOT of butter leaching out during baking so I’ve reduced the filling amount for this post and for my future bun projects.

As you see below I ended up with a number of different looks to my buns as I twisted, coiled and tucked. Interesting indeed. The one on the bottom left looks like a conch shell, don’t you think?

After reviewing WAY more recipes than I should have, the more I compared them, the more I realized that I can simply take my base croissant détrempe, the dough BEFORE any added butter block/laminations occur, sub in some egg for part of the milk, bump the butter and sugar up a touch, throw in some vanilla extract and add cardamom or cinnamon or a spice mix of choice and you have your basic bun dough. Here’s the recipe I came up with.

In addition to being able to create a variety of buns from that base dough, you can also take that dough even further by adding a butter block and fully laminating it too! It then becomes Danish pastry dough (wienerbrød) like that in the Danish Kringle I wrote about here. Lots more buttery layers to be had.

Let’s take a look at the steps for the Swedish cardamom buns (let’s call it my first trial and error go at it).

I’ve had some green cardamom pods on hand for a while now - time to use these babies. Open the cardamom pods, remove the seeds, toast them over medium heat then crush and grind them with a mortar and pestle. Generally around 6-7 pods will yield seeds to give you about a teaspoon of ground cardamom. You’ll need 1-2 teaspoons for the dough (to your taste), another teaspoon (optional) for the filling and an additional teaspoon to make cardamom sugar for sprinkling. Remember - feel free to sub in other spices!

Make the dough as directed in the recipe. It will be a bit sticky. Lightly ball it up, place in a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rest/rise about an hour at room temperature. Give it a good stretch and fold then ball it up nicely. Wrap tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 4 hours or up to overnight. I usually make my dough in the late afternoon/early evening for use the following morning. It’s all about planning ahead.

On baking day prepare the filling by blending 80 g soft unsalted butter with 80 g sugar (white or brown as you wish), one tablespoon flour, a teaspoon vanilla plus a teaspoon ground cardamom if desired.

Note: You can ramp the filling up by grating 80 g good quality almond paste then blending it into the butter/sugar mixture.

Remove the dough from the fridge about 20 minutes before rolling, filling and shaping. On a lightly floured surface roll it out to a ~ 13”x18” rectangle, the short edge parallel to the work surface.

Spread the filling in an even layer then fold the dough in thirds, the top down toward you . . . . .

and the bottom up over that.

Roll the dough out a bit more to ~9”x14” and trim any uneven edges. By the way - don’t get hung up on precise measurements, just go with the flow.

Cut 2 cm strips. I also created a couple of scrap buns by braiding some of the edge pieces and coiling them up. Why not?!

Pick up and gently stretch each strip, wrap it around three fingers a couple of times then bring it across and tuck it under. NOTE: in the future I’ll twist the strip as I wrap it for an even greater twisty look.

This is where I was a bit confused and my first attempts were clunky. but once I figured out the moves it worked out OK. Even so - variety is the spice of life so do whatever makes you happy.

Hmmmm . . . . going from the top down? Probably not.

Hmmmm . . . . not really it, but I do like a basic coil

Still a mish mash but, once I watched a video I finally got the cross-over-the-top thing to happen!

At any rate, once you’ve shaped your little heart out, place the buns on parchment lined pans, cover lightly with plastic wrap and let rise 30-45 minutes.

Meanwhile heat the oven to 350ºF. Once risen, brush the buns lightly with egg wash and sprinkle cardamom sugar (1/2 cup mixed with a teaspoon ground cardamom) on top.

You can also wait on the cardamom sugar until after baking in which case, once out of the oven, brush your buns with simple syrup and sprinkle with the sugar.

Bake around 10-15 minutes or until nicely golden brown. Remember all ovens are different so watch what’s going on in there!

I haven’t fully decided how I feel about the flavor of cardamom on its own. It can be a bit overwhelming but mixed in with other spices like cinnamon, coriander, ginger and nutmeg, I find it’s a very pleasing combo. Steve and I gave the overall bun texture and crumb a thumbs up. Even a couple of our neighbors who weren’t familiar with cardamom thought they were pretty darn good. Yay!

I did one more batch (doubled) along the cinnamon lines, this time with some variants on the twisty coils. Of course I’ll keep playing around with it.

Now get into your kitchen and create your own shapes and fillings - and just have fun!

On a final nature note, here are a few images from my August walks. Summer marches on.

Keep a steady course, stay safe and find comfort in the trees, skies, flowers and plants. It helps.

Hydrangea

Black-eyed Susan

Summer annuals going strong

Tosca almond torte

This project came about as a result of three forces: Lindsey Shere, Brontë Aurell and Dorie Greenspan. Not a bad way to start eh?

For some months I’ve had the simple almond torte recipe from Lindsey Shere’s iconic book “Chez Panisse Desserts” on my to do pile. I still had some of Mandelin’s fabulous almond paste on hand and thought why not?!

So I made it and LOVED it!

Here’s the torte run down: butter a 9” springform pan or round cake pan and line the bottom with parchment; heat the oven to 325ºF; beat 250 g/1.25 cups sugar with 227 g/8 ounces soft almond paste (it works well to grate it!) to blend well; beat in 227 g / 8 ounces soft unsalted butter and a teaspoon vanilla extract then cream for several minutes until light and fluffy; beat in 6 large room temperature eggs, ONE at a time, until each is thoroughly blended in; fold in 130 g/1 cup all purpose flour, 1.5 teaspoons baking powder and 1/4 teaspoon salt, blending just until combined. Transfer batter to prepared pan, smoothing the top with a small offset spatula.

Bake for about an hour to an hour and a quarter, until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Remember - always check sooner than later! Gently touch the center and it should feel springy. Let it cool in the pan about 20 minutes then un-mold and cool on a wire rack.

Here it is in all its simple glory, bottom side up. No muss, no fuss - just one delicious cake. On it’s own dusted with confectioner’s sugar or with some lightly whipped cream and fresh berries, it’s all good.

Then two other things happened that pushed me to the next step in this process. I happened upon a Dorie Greenspan piece in NYT Cooking with a recipe for “Swedish Almond Cake”.

Hmmm I thought, this one sounds good too. While the cake itself doesn’t contain any almond ingredients, It’s deelish and buttery and includes a cooked almond/butter/sugar/flour topping (known in Sweden as “tosca” topping) that goes onto the cake part way through the bake.

I made D.G.’s version and it’s fantastic. Just go to the recipe and try it yourself - you won’t be disappointed.

Now cue Brontë Aurell’s book “Brontë at Home” to which I’ve referred in both my rye buns and Danish Kringle posts. That’s where I first learned about tosca topping. Her’s is very much like the one Dorie G. uses with just a few slight variations. Hey! Why not make Lindsey Shere’s almond torte and add the tosca topping to it? What a wonderful almond-y treat it could be!

And so I did.

A quick note: I recommend using a springform pan for this since it would be difficult to turn it out of a standard round cake pan due to the topping.

Prepare the almond torte batter and once the cake is in the oven, get the topping ingredients ready to go. I tweaked DG’s topping recipe by reducing the butter and sugar, using brown sugar instead of granulated and subbing heavy cream for milk.

Here’s my mise: 80 g / 5.5 tablespoons unsalted butter; 100 g / ~ a cup sliced almonds; 80 g / scant 1/2 cup dark brown sugar; 2 tablespoons all purpose flour; 3 tablespoons heavy cream.

The baking time for the almond torte is somewhat longer than for Dorie G’s butter cake but either way, bake the cake about half way then make the tosca topping. Mix the topping ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat and stir to melt the butter. Bring to a boil and cook for a minute or so.

Take the partially baked cake out of the oven and gently portion the topping over the cake, spreading with a small offset to cover the top. Pop it back into the oven and finish baking.

The topping should become beautifully golden, the liquid-y appearance should set and caramelize and the aroma . . . . Oh my.

Soon after it comes out of the oven take a paring knife or offset spatula and gently run it around the edges of the cake so they won’t stick to the pan. Then let it cool 10-15 minutes, remove the sides of the springform pan and finish cooling to room temperature.

Enjoy a slice with a fresh cup of coffee or tea or just by itself au naturel. It is SO good.

Here’s to a safe and calm summer with beautiful deep blue skies and nature’s varied hues to give us peace.

We can do this.

Danish Kringle

More fun with laminated dough - an interesting project indeed!

As I was researching and reviewing the pastry known as Danish Kringle I learned that kringle is the word for pretzel and that Danish bakeries typically have a sign outside their shops shaped like a pretzel topped with a crown. A sure sign of good things inside.

Scandinavia is on Steve’s and my travel hit list, although it’s strange to contemplate when we might be able to travel again given our current times. We can only hope. In the meantime I’m reading and learning more about the types of baked goods that come from that corner of the planet. Cool stuff.

Made with the Danish version of laminated dough (wienerbrød in Scandi talk), this is a traditional almond filled pastry, popularly served in Denmark for occasions like birthdays, anniversaries and other festivities. Much like croissant dough in its preparation, the primary difference is the addition of egg to the dough. As is true when comparing a number of recipes for a particular pastry, the range of ingredient quantities can certainly vary, particularly the amount of butter used for the laminations.

Inspired by Brontë Aurell’s version in her book “Brontë at Home”, I compared her Danish dough base recipe with several others, most notably the one in my 2004 first edition of CIA’s book “Baking and Pastry - Mastering the Art and Craft” (there have since been two further editions in 2009 and 2015).

It was the first pastry tome I purchased upon our return to the USA after completing my stage at Pâtisserie Pascal Pinaud in Paris’ 5th arrondisement in March of 2007. I used it as my primary reference source (and still refer to it all these years later) during my first summer job that year at JM Gerrish Provisions in Winter Harbor Maine. My how time flies.

I ended up creating my dough recipe based on an amalgamation of Aurell’s and CIA’s - pretty similar actually, save for the lesser butter block quantity in CIA’s version. I tend to take a “less is more” approach in my croissant dough too.

The dough: remember if you’re going to mise out your ingredients ahead of time, keep the yeast separate from the salt until ready to actually start mixing since the salt can inhibit the yeast.
Using a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, mix 375 g / scant 3 cups bread flour, 43 g / 3 tablespoons granulated sugar, 6 g / 2 1/8 teaspoons instant yeast, 6 g / 1 teaspoon salt, 40 g / 3 tablespoons soft unsalted butter, 1 large egg, 1 large egg yolk and 175 g / 3/4 cup room temperature whole milk. Blend on low speed for 2 minutes then increase to medium speed for 4 minutes.

Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover and let rise for about 2 hours. Gently turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface, fold it over and form a rectangle on a parchment lined sheet pan. Wrap tightly and refrigerate overnight.

Form 243 g / 2 sticks + 1 tablespoon unsalted butter into a ~8”x8” square by tapping/rolling it between plastic wrap. Keep it wrapped and refrigerated until you’re ready to perform the butter incorporation and the laminations.

Let’s review the steps of creating a laminated dough. Take the butter out of the fridge about 20 minutes before you’re ready to go, then tap it with your rolling pin to make it more malleable - you want it cool and bendable.

Remove the dough from the fridge and roll out to ~8”x 16” rectangle. Place the butter in the middle of the dough and fold one end over it to cover half of the butter as seen below. Do your best to keep the corners square.

Fold the other portion of dough over the remaining butter. You can stretch the dough a bit to square off the corners and pinch the edges and center seam together so as to completely envelope the dough. This is called the “lock-in” or le beurrage en Français.

Next you’ll roll the dough out to an ~8”x 24” rectangle, paying attention to the edges and center seam to keep things together and prevent any butter from sneaking out. I like to roll the dough with the sealed edges positioned at top and bottom and the center seam vertical to me. Feel free to flip the dough seam side down as you roll.

If your dough ever becomes too warm and butter starts breaking through, wrap and chill it for 15-20 minutes to firm things up again.

Typically croissant and Danish dough are put through three 3-folds (also called letter folds), but for this project I started with a 4-fold or book fold. Visualize the center of the dough, fold each end into the center to snuggle up to each other (leave a skosh of a space to allow for folding it) . . . . .

then fold it on itself like a book.

An important thing to remember when making laminated dough is that after each fold you turn your dough 90 degrees before you roll it out for the next fold. Think of it as the spine of a book on your left.

Now wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for 30 minutes before doing the next fold. That keeps the dough/butter cool and stable and allows the dough to relax as well.

Roll it out again into a rectangle but this time visualize the dough in thirds and fold it like a business letter. One end up . . . .

the other end down.

Wrap and chill another 30 minutes. Making sure the “spine” is on your left, roll it out and repeat another 3-fold. Now the dough is complete. Wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes or up to overnight before rolling it out for its intended use. It can also be frozen up to a month.

Check out these layers!

Before rolling the finished dough out for the Kringle, make the almond filling (remonce) by blending together 100 g EACH of almond paste (Mandelin brand is great!), softened unsalted butter and confectioner’s sugar. This is enough filling for one full Danish Kringle. Many Kringle recipes also include raisins but I opted out on that one.

Side note: New word alert for me! Remonce is said to be a Danish word and creation and refers to a commonly used filling in many Nordic cakes and pastries. Almond is a common flavor but it can be made with other nut pastes like pistachio or hazelnut or flavored with cinnamon, cardamom and/or vanilla, depending on what you’re making. For cinnamon rolls the confectioner’s sugar is often replaced with dark brown sugar. Life is full of variations, eh?

For this my first Kringle attempt I followed Aurell’s instructions for rolling, filling and shaping the dough. Because her description of the process wasn’t terribly clear (there are no images in the book to help), I checked out a couple of YouTube videos and also went somewhat by instinct.

On a lightly floured surface roll the dough lengthwise to a rectangle about 7”x20” then split it right down the middle length wise. A pizza cutter is a great tool for this.

Then roll each piece again length wise to achieve a width of 4” and a length about 24”.

Working with one piece at a time, place half the remonce in a line down the center. Fold the top edge over the filling . . . . .

Then bring the bottom edge up and over to make a log.

Repeat with the second piece then place both pieces on a parchment lined sheet pan in horseshoe shapes with their ends touching each other.

Turns out there’s actually supposed to be a narrow gap down the centers exposing the filling (that’s what I get for not paying attention) but, once the dough had risen, a gap developed during baking so it all worked out okey-dokey.

Now grab one end of each horseshoe and bring them toward the other side, crossing each other to form a pretzel. This is one monster of a pastry! Reminds me of some kind of sea snake or something.

Egg wash and let proof in a closed space (I often use an overturned clear tote bin for my cover) for about an hour. About 20-25 minutes before the end of the rise heat the oven to 375ºF.

Repeat the egg wash then sprinkle with toasted, coarsely chopped hazelnuts or sliced almonds (or a combo!) and some raw or pearl sugar.

Bake for 10 minutes, turn the oven down to 350º and bake an additional 15-20 minutes. Since the thickness at the crossover point is essentially double the rest of the pastry, I tried to be sure that it had baked through. Not necessarily an easy task. I reduced my oven temp by 25º and continued checking every 5 minutes or so, but it’s not really until you cut into something that you know for sure.

Wow - check this out!! Nice and golden, plus you can appreciate the layers and how the top opened up to reveal the filling. Actually quite a messy looking end result, eh? But after all, it’s about sharing the experience and learning from it!

Once it had cooled I started carving. While a bit gooey at some points the flavor and flakiness are definitely there, and our taste testing ended with a thumbs up.

Slice it up, dust it with some confectioners sugar and share it with all your friends (safely distancing of course). They’ll thank you for it.

Wait - I’m not finished yet! As if you haven’t had enough already, I made one more Kringle with a half batch of dough, hoping to make a more petite pretzel without the overlap.

The dough was a bit wider than I would have liked, but I proceeded with the filling and the folding over, leaving the gap in the center.

It was too thick and bulky to form the pretzel I was envisioning, so ultimately it became a circle. Hmmm . . . those ends don’t really want to stay together. Oh dear.

Once risen I topped it with sliced almonds and pearl sugar and baked ‘er up.

Even though the risen Kringle looked pretty good, my ends did not stay together in the oven. This baby baked into a shape not unlike those leather horse harness collar thingies that you might see on a team of Clydesdales.

Not to worry however. This one baked up beautifully with nice flaky layers, delicious flavor and came with the confirmation that I am now an official fan of remonce filling.

Quite a project all-in-all. I’m not giving up on this one folks. It’s so important to share the processes, especially the first time around. Remember, if at first you don’t succeed . . . . you know the rest.

More Kringle? You bet! Stay tuned.

Happy baking, stay safe and think of the good days yet to come.

Rye buns

These buns are a true delight! Based on a recipe from “Brontë at Home: baking from the Scandi Kitchen” by Brontë Aurell, they come together like a dream, are great for any type of sandwich, have a lightness about them yet are sturdy enough to hold up to the juiciest grilled burger (which Steve’s tend to be!).

We’ve discovered that they’re great with most any sandwich you can dream up - one of our favorites is thinly sliced dried beef from our local Kingma’s market (no not the stuff you buy in packages in the cold meat section) with crisp lettuce and a schmear of mayo - yum! And a bit of cheddar never hurt either!!

Here’s an interesting bit of trivia: in Aurell’s book she mentions these buns are especially good for Biff Lindström. Now what in the world is that I ask? Biff is the Swedish word for beef and, as it turns out, there’s a Swedish specialty named after one Henrik Lindström, a prominent industrialist back in the 1800s. It’s a fried burger made with ground beef, egg, onion, pickled beetroot and a bit of its juice, capers, seasonings (salt and pepper) and optional chopped chives. Hmmm . . . . not being a beet fan, I’m not sure I’ll go for that one, but you might like it - you never know!

Even though they’re called rye buns and contain dark rye flour, these buns have only the teensiest hint of rye flavor. That’s neither good nor bad, just a simple observation.

For this project I used Bob’s Red Mill, a line of wonderful flours readily available at local markets around here. While I’m a big fan of King Arthur Flour’s range of products and can buy the standards (i.e. all purpose, bread, whole wheat, white whole wheat, self rising and even the sprouted wheat) at the grocery store, their specialty flours have to be ordered from the company which obviously requires some planning ahead. Cue Bob’s - yes!

The range of rye flours available go from white/light rye, medium rye, dark rye and pumpernickel. Here’s a great overview of rye from King Arthur Flour. Since rye flour doesn’t contain as much gluten as its wheat flour counterparts, for a better rise and lighter texture it’s best to combine it with all purpose. Using all rye flour makes for a dense loaf, plus the larger percentage of rye you use in your bread, the slower the rise.

No matter - this recipe works. You can accomplish it in a morning or afternoon and have fresh buns for supper. What’s not to like.

I use instant yeast as my go to dried yeast. It doesn’t require jump starting in tepid liquid like active dry does, however, if you’re proceeding with the recipe to complete that day, it’s doesn’t hurt to give the instant yeast a little bath in the warm liquid - gets it going just a tad faster.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, mix 10 g / ~3 teaspoons instant yeast with 160 ml (2/3 cup) EACH of tepid water and whole milk. Let stand 10-15 minutes to become frothy. Add 50 g (1/4 cup) light brown sugar and mix until dissolved.

Have 200 g (1.5 cups) dark rye flour and 390 g (3 cups) of white bread flour at the ready, as well as 1.5 teaspoons salt, 1 large egg, 84 g (6 tablespoons) softened unsalted butter.

On low speed add the rye flour to the yeast/milk mixture along with the salt, then the egg and butter. Increase speed to medium low and start adding the bread flour. You may not need all of it. Continue to mix for about 5 minutes.

You’re looking for a slightly sticky dough that’s pulling away from the sides of the bowl. FYI - I did end up using all of the bread flour.

Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place about an hour until doubled.

Before the first rise

After the rise

Turn the dough out on a lightly floured work surface, gently knead to form a log that you will then divide into your chosen sizes.

Note: the recipe yield will vary depending on the size you wish to make. For example, if making 9 buns (as the base recipe suggests), each one comes in at a hefty 122 g (4.25 ounces) which is a bit too generous methinks. For my first batch I chose 85 g (3 ounces) which gave me a yield of 13 buns, but since Mr. Steve prefers his burger buns a little larger, my second go-around yielded 11 buns at ~100g each.

Into the slider thing? Make them even smaller!

Shape each piece into a nice boule, place on a parchment lined sheet pan, cover with a damp towel or a lightly oiled piece of plastic wrap and give them a second rise for about 1/2 hour.

Meanwhile heat your oven to 350ºF. Brush lightly with egg wash and sprinkle sesame seeds (white or black or both) on top (or any seed mixture you like).

Ms. Aurell suggests moisture in the oven during baking. Place the sheet pan of buns onto the middle rack and place a shallow heat proof pan with a cup or so of hot water onto the bottom rack. Bake about 13-15 minutes until golden and sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.

Great buns!!

So far we’ve had grilled burgers on these babies twice and a couple of different sandwiches. Definitely a keeper. Give ‘em a try - you won’t be sorry.