Bread Machine Hamburger Buns

In Japan, I can't buy hamburger buns unless I go to an import shop. There are a few Japanese-made buns, but they are also only sold in the "gaijin ghetto" areas. For the record, the "gaijin ghetto" in Japan isn't some poor area with disadvantaged people. It's a very wealthy area full of people who are here on expense accounts and can afford maids and cars and to buy food from home all of the time.

My husband bought a bunch of American hamburger (you can't buy all-beef burger in my local markets - it's a pork/beef mix) and we've been waiting for the serendipitous appearance of the proper buns for him to eat them. Unsurprisingly, the burgers have been languishing in the freezer and the bun genie hasn't shown up to grant our wish.

If you don't have access to hot dog or hamburger buns, you may not realize how important they are to enjoying these foods. A good burger bun has to be soft, but not so soft that it squashes. It also can't absorb too many juices and turn all pink and icky. It also can't be too hard or the burger will tend to squish out or be hard to bite into. Finally, it can't be too sweet. One problem with all of the Japanese buns and rolls is that they're all noticeably sweet, even when they're designed for sandwich-making.

I decided to give in and try to make my own buns, but I'm also lazy so I wanted to do part of it in the bread machine and I didn't want to go shopping for special ingredients. I found a well-reviewed recipe on Recipe Zaar, but I didn't have bread flour so I decided to modify it to suit what I usually have on hand. Mainly, I had to use all-purpose flour and whole wheat.

The recipe as modified for my needs is:

• 1 1/4 cup slightly warm milk
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp. Canola oil
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup vital wheat gluten (can be reduce and replaced with flour)
• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast
• melted butter for brushing

Put all of the wet ingredients into your bread maker's pan then the whole wheat flour. Add the remaining dry ingredients except the yeast which should be placed in a well in the flour. Use the bread machine's "dough" setting to prepare the dough.

When the dough cycle has completed, roll the dough out (divide if necessary to accommodate your rolling space) and cut using a glass or biscuit cutter about the right size for your buns. Brush with melted butter. Allow to rise until doubled in size and bake at 350 degrees F./180 degrees C. for about 15 minutes. Note that my oven tends to be slow so your time may be shorter. I also use porcelain baking sheets which are slow to heat.


These made buns which were tender and soft, but I think they puffed up too much. I added 1/4 cup of vital wheat gluten to offset the fact that I wasn't using bread flour (which is higher in gluten) and the fact that I was using wheat flour (which often needs gluten to boost its rising power). I think I'll use the same recipe in the future, but roll them thinner and cut them smaller.

The texture is actually very much like what you'd get from a good commercially made hamburger bun. I was really quite pleased with how they turned out (except for the size).

by Shari (Orchid64)

Best Pancakes Ever

Sometimes I just want to eat something because I like it rather than it being good for me. This is pretty much the case all of the time for my husband when it comes to things like pancakes. While I will compromise and eat whole wheat pancakes at least half of the time to make sure that I'm not overdoing the white flour, he has no interest in such compromises. Honestly, I don't blame him.

For quite some time, I've had a print-out of a recipe from Joy of Baking that I've used for pancakes. The printed recipe is starting to seriously show its age, and I have no confidence that the Joy of Baking site will remain forever (though it has been around for a very long time!), so I'm going to repeat my version of the recipe (which is slightly modified) here for posterity. I have more confidence that Blogger will be around for ages rather than an individual cooking site.

The main changes I've made in the original recipe are for expedience and to make thicker pancakes. The Joy of Baking version calls for melted butter as the fat component and I just use Canola oil. Since pancakes are always buttered anyway, I just don't see the point of fussing with using melted butter in the batter. I'm sure it would lend more flavor, but not enough for the added effort. It also calls for a full cup of milk and I reduced that to 3/4. In fact, I think it might be better if your like thicker pancakes to drop that down to 2/3. Sometimes, I also add about a 1/4 tsp. vanilla or a dash or two of cinnamon to the batter, but the syrup I make (yes, I make my own syrup) now contains vanilla so I haven't been bothering.

Here's the recipe:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tbsp. white sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp. Canola oil
• 3/4 cup milk

Beat the egg, oil, salt, sugar, and milk (and vanilla if using) together until completely blended. Sift (or sprinkle) the flour and baking powder (and cinnamon if using), over the wet ingredients. Mix it until well-incorporated, but not necessarily until lump-free. A few small lumps are fine. You don't need to over-mix.

Heat a non-stick griddle or skillet over medium-high to high heat. Make sure it is thoroughly heated then add sufficient butter to coat the bottom of the pan. You can make any size pancake you like, but I usually use 2 tablespoons of batter for each pancake. The important point is flipping them at the right point. If you flip them too soon, they will break apart. If you flip them too late, they won't be fluffy. If you flip them twice, they will be tough. Flip them when the edges are slightly dry and bubbles just start to pop through the top of the center.

This makes about 10 pancakes that are 4 inches in diameter. It's usually more than my husband and I can eat in one sitting so I either put the remaining batter in the refrigerator and use it the next day or cook up all of it and put the remaining pancakes (usually 3 of them) on a wire rack to cook then reheat them in foil in the toaster oven.

You can also make homemade "pancake mix" using this recipe by putting together all of the dry ingredients and using about 1 1/4 cups of mix with 1 egg, 3/4 cup of milk and 2 tbsp. oil. I usually mix up the dry stuff the night before and leave it in a covered plastic bowl and just add the wet ingredients in the morning, but I only do one back at a time rather than prepare a lot of mix.

by Shari (Orchid64)

Cardamom Vanilla Coconut "Jelly" (Gelatin)

Quite some time ago, my husband picked up a case of coconut milk at Costco. I occasionally use coconut milk in curries or stews, and I've been wanting to try it in other types of dishes. Unfortunately, I've not done much experimenting and the cans are not getting any younger. Through link hopping, I ran across a recipe for coconut jelly. In the U.S., "jelly" is what we spread on our toast, not what we call a gelatin-based dessert like this. However, in Australia and Japan, it seems, they call them jellies.

No matter what you call this, it's a wobbly, almost pudding-like dessert which is pretty tasty. I should note that I haven't exactly tried the recipe as I'm going to list it here because my result was far too sweet. I'm placing the modified recipe here so that, when I repeat this in the future, it'll be at a more appropriate sweetness level. I made a mistake when modifying the original recipe and used half as much coconut milk but the same amount of sugar, so mine is actually twice a sweet as it should have been! I used a full cup instead of a half cup, as should have been the case when scaling down the recipe.

Cardamom Vanilla Coconut Jelly:

• 1 can coconut milk
• 5 grams gelatin powder (about 1.5 tbsp.)
• 1 green cardamom pod
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla
• 1/2 cup sugar or granular Splenda (or 12 Splenda packets)
• 1 cup cold water
  

Pour the coconut milk into a saucepan and add the sugar (or Splenda) and cardamom pod. Heat the coconut milk until quite hot but not boiling. Crush the cardamom pod with your spoon after it is softened (to release more flavor). Pour the hot coconut milk into a bowl (making sure the pod goes with it). Cover the bowl to keep the liquid warm.

Wash the saucepan and add 1 cup of cold water. Add the gelatin powder and allow it to sit and dissolve for about 10 minutes. Heat the water and gelatin until quite hot (again, do not boil) and make sure the gelatin is dissolved. Add the coconut milk mixture and heat over low heat, stirring occasionally. Heat it for about 10 minutes (making sure it does not boil).

Remove the mixture from the heat and stir in 1/2 tsp. vanilla. Allow it to cool until you can comfortable handle it. You can now pour it into whatever mold you want to use. Note that you will either need to skim the mixture with a mesh scoop to get out the cardamom bits or pour into your mold through a strainer (I just used a tea strainer for mine). I just used a silicon muffin pan and a couple of very small ramekins. Refrigerate overnight before unmolding.

All but one of mine popped perfectly out of the mold. I'm mainly annoyed at myself for making them so damn sweet that I'm not getting the full subtle flavor effect that I'm sure is masked by the double sweetness. I'm still going to eat them, or at least try to. Mine made 8 servings at about 80 calories each (if made with Splenda). Because I used full fat coconut milk, there was a little waxy "crust" on the top which helped give the jelly stability when I removed it from the mold. If you look closely at the picture above, you can see it as a slightly whiter disc on the bottom. This separation is likely fattier than the rest of the jelly and you can choose not to eat it if you want to save a few calories.

by Shari (Orchid64)

Taco Salad

Sometimes I want to eat a little lighter than a burrito when I make Mexican food for my husband. I also don't mind saving a few calories by eliminating a huge tortilla from the meal. So, I opt for a taco salad, and I realize that this is more about assembling than cooking, but it's Shawn's blog and I'll write whatever I want to. So there.

Anyway, you can use any sort of Tex-Mex seasoned meat that you like, or you can follow my recipe. The main thing is that you don't really use much meat in this meal so it's best used as a healthier alternative to burritos or tacos or to use up small portions of leftover meat. I make the following for the meat portion:

Burrito meat filling:

• 1/2 medium onion or whole small onion, diced
• 1 small green pepper, diced
• 1 fresh tomato, diced
• 1.5 lbs (about 700 grams) ground chicken or turkey
• 1 tbsp. oil
• taco seasoning packet (or whatever seasoning you favor - about 3 tbsp. is good if you use a bulk mix)
• 2 cups water

Heat a skillet and add the oil. Swirl to coat the bottom of the pan with oil and add the onions. Cook them until they've softened just a bit then add the green peppers. Cook until the peppers are slightly wilted. Add the tomato and cook until it disintegrates. Push the vegetables off to the side of the skillet and cook the meat until slightly brown on the other side of the pan. Note: if you use a fatty meat like beef or pork instead of chicken (or turkey), you will want to remove the vegetables, cook the meat, and drain the oil. After the meat is cooked, add the taco seasoning, and water and cook until all of the liquid has cooked off (or do whatever the packet instructs you to do).

For the salad:

• leafy greens (about 4 large leaves), washed and torn into bite-size pieces
• 1/2 medium tomato, cut into 8 wedges
• *green onions (not scallions!), chopped
• 1/4 can re-fried beans (about 3-4 tbsp.)
• 6-8 tortilla chips, roughly crushed (I used chili lime Guiltless Gourmet)
• 2-3 tbsp. meat mixture (as described above)
• salsa as desired
• 2-3 tbsp. grated cheese (any type with a strong flavor like Cheddar is fine)

Place an even bed of greens on a dinner plate. Mound the re-fried beans in the center of the greens. Evenly place the tomato wedges around beans. Spoon the meat mixture on top of the beans, allowing it to tumble off naturally. Sprinkle cheese in the center and then scatter the chopped green onions all over. Drizzle salsa over the tomato wedges and greens. Salt the tomatoes if desired, then scatter the crushed tortilla chips around the bean mound in the center.

To eat this getting the full benefit of all of the ingredients, use your fork to grab some of the beans, meat and cheese in the center and then spear the vegetables and chips from the sides.

The main point of eating this instead of a taco or burrito is that you only use enough meat for flavor and the beans add texture and fiber. You also have a much lower fat meal if you use baked chips instead of fried ones and get in a ton more vegetables.

*Green onions have a small bulb which is not much bigger than the long slender green portion. It has a distinct, but not overbearing flavor which adds a lot to Mexican dishes when sprinkled on them.

by Shari (Orchid64)