Lady Bug Burger Buns Recipes

BEAUTIFUL BURGER BUNS

Steps:

• Combine all the ingredients and mix and knead them together, by hand or by mixer, until you have a soft, smooth dough.
• Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover and let rise for 1 hour.
• Divide the dough into 8 pieces and shape each piece into a flattened ball; place the buns on greased baking sheets, cover and let rise 30-40 minutes, until they're puffy.
• Preheat oven to 375°.
• Bake the buns for 12-15 minutes, until they're golden brown; remove from oven and baking sheet and cool them on a rack.
• Split and use for burgers or sandwiches.
• For burgers, butter the split sides and fry them, buttered side down, until they're golden brown and warmed through.

LADY BUG BURGER BUNS

Steps:

• Supplies:.
• Circular pastry cutters in a variety of diameters. I found all mine at a cake supply shop and even used a straw for the smallest cut outs.
• Large red skin was cut using a 7-inch diameter cutter.
• Small black dots were cut using a 1/4-inch diameter cutter.
• Face was cut using a 1" diameter cutter and then cut down using a razor.
• Top of spine black dot was cut using a 1/2-inch pastry cutter.
• Straws to cut out eyes.
• Soft pastry brush in several sizes for details and egg wash.
• 1 teaspoon edible black powder paint (for pupils, lines on teeth and line going down spine).
• Vodka to mix powder paints.
• Egg wash (1 egg whisked with a tablespoon of water).
• Red Lady Bug Dough Directions:.
• In a glass bowl combine food color, water, milk and sugar. Whisk vigorously.
• In a separate bowl combine flours and salt. Pour dry ingredients, wet ingredients and butter into a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Mix on low roughly five minutes until dough forms. (If dough is too dry and you see crumbs not incorporated after five minutes, you can add a tablespoon more of milk or if it's clearly too sticky you can add a tablespoon of flour.).
• Once the dead dough (Just a way of calling dough free of leavening agents) is mixed, place in a zip lock bag in a cool place until ready to use.
• Black Dough Directions:.
• Repeat Red Dough Directions.
• White Dough Direction:.
• Repeat Red Dough Directions.
• Decorative Direction:.
• Rollout red dough and cut with 7-inch circular cutter. Using a 2-inch circular cutter, cut out shoulder and neck area. At the top of the spine, cut out the red with a 1/2-inch cutter and replace with some of the rolled out black dead dough. Then repeat the process with the smaller 1/4-inch cutter over the back keeping your dots balanced on both sides. This is tricky to describe so please see instructional photos.
• After creating each skin and face, seal or cover in an airtight container until ready to apply.
• Brioche Buns Direction:.
• In a glass bowl combine water, sugar and yeast. Allow to rise at least five minutes before using. In another glass bowl combine milk, eggs and food color, whisk vigorously until well mixed. In a medium mixing bowl combine flours and salt.
• Place butter, flour mixture and milk and egg mix into a large stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Begin mixing on low and add yeast mixture. Allow to mix on low speed for five minutes or until black dough ball forms. Remove from mixer and place in a butter grease steel bowl and cover with a damp cloth in a 75-80 degree F area. (Away from heat, but not cold) for one hour. After an hour you can punch down risen dough, knead on counter and cut into slightly larger than a golf ball, but not as big as a tennis ball shapes. Pinch the edges underneath creating a perfect ball (This is kind of tricky, but just keep manipulating until the smoothest shape is achieved. Place on an individually cut 5X5 inch piece of parchment paper and cover immediately with a large upside-down bowl. Allow each to rise about 45 minutes before covering with lady bug skin.
• Heat oven to 400 degrees F.
• When your black brioche buns have risen, place one at a time onto a baking sheet and gently place skin over the top and delicately tuck the edges underneath. Use egg wash to adhere anything that isn't sticking. Brush the back of your lady bug face in egg wash and place directly onto to bun below the spine cutout.
• Note: In the images I cut a shallow line down the spine before going into the oven. You can do this, but I found the buns held a better shape by not doing this and just painting that line afterward with the powder paint.
• Bake one at a time for 16 minutes. Allow to cool before decoratively painting on the pupils, lines on teeth and line going down spine.
• Once all are done they can be cut and served immediately (the tastiest way) or placed in a Ziploc bag and frozen until ready to be thawed and used.

SOURDOUGH BURGER BUNS

Steps:

• Stir together all ingredients except flour.
• Add flour, mixing until it comes together enough to be turned out and kneaded.
• Knead until dough is smooth and satiny (this can be done on a mixer or bread machine, if preferred).
• At this point dough may be refrigerated up to 24 hours for a more flavorful bread. Bring dough back to room temperature before contiuing with shaping.
• Let dough rest for 15 or 20 minutes and then roll it out to 1/2" thick.
• Cut with a 4" round cutter.
• Cover and let rise until doubled in bulk.
• Bake at 350°F for 15 to 18 minutes.
• Cool on wire rack.

KITTENCAL'S HAMBURGER/BURGER BUNS

Steps:

• Proof the yeast in 1 cup warm water with 1 teaspoon sugar; let sit for 10 minutes until foamy.
• In a heavy duty stand mixer, fitted with a kneader hook, add in the 3-1/2 cups flour, 4 tablespoons sugar, melted Crisco, warm milk and salt (and the malt powder if using).
• Add in the proofed yeast; mix to create a soft semi-sticky dough that holds around the blade, adding in more flour as needed (do not add in too much as it will create a heavy bun, dough should be semi-sticky.
• Knead dough for 7-8 minutes.
• Remove dough, and let rest on the counter, covered with a clean dish towel for 10 minutes (this is an important step!).
• Knead the dough gently for 30 seconds with hands.
• Place dough in a large well-greased/oiled bowl.
• Cover, and let rise in a warm spot for 60-90 minutes, or until double in size (I like to rise my dough in the oven, just set oven to 200 degrees and warm for 3 minutes, then turn off the heat while you are making the dough, this will create a perfect temperature to raise dough in, and usually takes only 1 hour to rise with oven method).
• Punch down dough.
• Shape into large balls, and place on a large greased cookie sheet (you should get 12 balls on the sheet).
• Cover with a light clean tea towel, and let rise in a warm place for 30-40 minutes, or until almost doubled (warm oven rise should take 30 minutes.
• Set oven to 375 degrees.
• In a small bowl, mix together 1 egg white with 1 tsp water; whisk/mix well.
• Carefully brush the tops and sides of the buns with the egg/water mixture.
• Sprinkle with sesame seeds.
• Bake for approx.22 minutes, or until golden brown.

SOFT-N-FLUFFY HAMBURGER BUNS

Steps:

• Place the water, canola oil, flour, sugar, salt, vital wheat gluten, and yeast into the pan of a bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer, select the Dough cycle, and turn on the machine. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
• When the cycle is finished, remove the dough to a lightly oiled work surface, and knead for 2 to 3 minutes. Cut the dough into 12 equal-size pieces, and roll the dough into balls by cupping your hand, with open fingers, over each piece of dough. Roll gently, with just a little pressure, to form a dough ball with a silky surface. Place the dough balls onto the parchment-lined baking sheets, and flatten each dough ball gently into a bun. Cover with a cloth and let rise until doubled, 30 to 45 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Bake the rolls in the preheated oven until the tops are golden brown, about 12 minutes. Let cool on racks before slicing.

HOMEMADE HAMBURGER BUNS

Steps:

• Line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper.
• Place yeast into bowl of a large stand mixer; whisk in 1/2 cup flour and warm water until smooth. Let stand until mixture is foamy, 10 to 15 minutes.
• Whisk 1 egg, melted butter, sugar, and salt thoroughly into yeast mixture. Add remaining flour (about 3 cups).
• Fit a dough hook onto stand mixer and knead the dough on low speed until soft and sticky, 5 to 6 minutes. Scrape sides if needed. Poke and prod the dough with a silicone spatula; if large amounts of dough stick to the spatula, add a little more flour.
• Transfer dough onto a floured work surface; dough will be sticky and elastic but not stick to your fingers. Form the dough lightly into a smooth, round shape, gently tucking loose ends underneath.
• Wipe out stand mixer bowl, drizzle olive oil into the bowl, and turn dough over in the bowl several times to coat surface thinly with oil. Cover bowl with aluminum foil. Let dough rise in a warm place until doubled, about 2 hours.
• Transfer dough to a floured work surface and pat to flatten bubbles and form into a slightly rounded rectangle of dough about 5x10 inches and about 1/2 inch thick. Dust dough lightly with flour if needed. Cut dough into 8 equal pieces. Form each piece into a round shape, gently tucking ends underneath as before.
• Use your hands to gently pat and stretch the dough rounds into flat disc shapes about 1/2 inch thick. Arrange buns about 1/2 inch apart on prepared baking sheet. Dust buns very lightly with flour. Drape a piece of plastic wrap over the baking sheet (do not seal tightly). Let buns rise until doubled, about 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• Beat 1 egg with milk in a small bowl, using a fork, until mixture is thoroughly combined. Very gently and lightly brush tops of buns with egg wash without deflating the risen dough. Sprinkle each bun with sesame seeds.
• Bake in the preheated oven until lightly browned on top, 15 to 17 minutes. Buns will stick together slightly where they touch. Let cool completely, tear the buns apart, and slice in half crosswise to serve.