Sodom and Gomorrah Hamburger Buns (Garlic, Sea Salt and B&W Sesame Seeds)

Greetings... To be fair, this is my version of the classic internet hit, "Moomie Buns".  If you Google them, more than 200,000 links pop up.  I've been making Moomie buns for a very long time, adding a bit of this, that and changing a few and have come up with my favorite version.

I sub just 1/4 cup of whole wheat flour for AP.  I add a TBS of herbs in the mix for aromatics.  But my big change is to add some of my salt substitute spice mix that I call Sodom and Gomorrah.  The Garlic makes these garlic rolls, the sea salt adds an expected terrific snap.  The sesame seeds, not only add a little beauty, but also a bit of nuttiness to the taste.

And, easy and 100% works perfect EVERY time.  Fear of yeast, give these a try.

One suggestion, get a bread machine.  I make almost all of my own bread.  On occasion I do kneading and rising and oiling the bottom, etc that makes bread making more of a chore.  But using a bread machine literally makes these about 10 minutes of hand on work.

If you do not have a bread machine, you can still make these.  Just need to do the mixing and kneading (second choice would be to let a stand mixer (Kitchenaid) do all that work).  Allow to rise for about 2 hours. But honestly, make a commitment and buy a bread machine.  The single greatest lazy man's appliance ever invented.  Every Goodwill Store in the country has one usually for about $10.

First thing to know about using the bread machine is to NEVER let the machine do the actual baking of the bread.  I only use it to mix, and provide the perfect setting for the bread to rise.

That is the "Dough" setting...

The machine comes with a galvanized little box with a half wing shaped mixing tool in the bottom.  No need to do any mixing, just start dumping the ingredients in...

3 cups All Purpose Flour
1/4 cup Whole Wheat Flour
1/4 cup Sugar
1 tsp Kosher Salt
1 Egg
2 TBS Softened (room temperature) Butter
3 tsp Quick Rise (sometimes called Bread Machine) Yeast
1 TBS Not Your grandmother's Herbes de Provence (or any savory herb mix of your choice... Chives, rosemary, etc)
1 cup warm (about 100 degrees) Water

You will also need for later...
1 egg for an egg wash
2 TBS Sodom and Gomorrah Sesame Seed/Garlic/ Sea Salt mix

Set the machine to "Dough" and start...

My machine take 90 minutes.  No fuss, no muss... no need to do any more (once you start making these every month or so, this takes 2 minutes).

At the end of the time, your bread should be expanded to just about filling the machine...

And let the photos do the talking...

Pull out of the dough (be sure and pull out the little wing thing that mixes but tastes awful) from the machine.

Form into a ball and plop on a lightly floured surface.

Divide into eight equal sized mini'balls..

One of those expensive Sillipat, silicon sheets is perfect for these.  Or you can always use a sheet of parchment paper.

An egg wash is just like it sounds, whisk an egg and paint the balls.

Sprinkle the spice mix on... Give the Sodom and Gomorrah a try, or just use some garlic flakes or course grain seas salt or just Sesame Seeds... Whatever you like!

One more painting of egg will seal these spice onto the buns so they do not flake off.  The egg wash is very important.

Allow the second rise of about an hour.  Best to leave these covered loosely with plastic wrap, in a warm spot.

Then bake in a 375 degree preheated oven for 15 minutes, until golden brown and delicious!

You will never buy hamburger buns again!

And these certainly qualify as a "Top Five" Breads for my new project!