My Buns Look Good Don't You Think?

It's grilling season and that means burgers! In our house that means turkey burgers, but whatever they're made of, grilled burgers demand buns. And I have a gluten-free recipe for them that is quite good!

I adapted this recipe from Bette Hagman's The Gluten-Free Gourmet Bakes Bread. Bette Hagman, as you may know, was one of the first people to write recipes for gluten-free food that actually tasted good. And I (and all gluten-free people) owe a great debt to the work she did and included in her cookbooks.

I mainly made changes to the amounts of things. And I deleted some ingredients I didn't find helpful. I think my flour recipe works better than her's does--it has more body and is a better texture. I consider this to be version 1 of my bun recipe. I will refine it and post more later.

Gluten-Free Hamburger Buns

Note: this recipe uses my gluten-free flour mix:

Jeanne's Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour Mix (mix together and store in fridge):
1 1/4 C. brown rice flour
1 1/4 C. white rice flour
1 C. tapioca flour
1 C. sweet rice flour (also known as Mochiko)
2 scant tsp. xanthan gum

(you can also use the gluten-free flour mixture of your choice--just be sure it has xanthan gum in it. Or, you can add 1/4 tsp. xanthan gum per cup of gluten-free flour. If you use bean flour, it will add a bean taste to the buns)

Special equipment needed:
-Hamburger bun pan (I got mine at King Arthur Flour) or English muffin baking rings.
-For some reason, I can't find the bun pan on the web at the moment. You can either order the English muffin rings or make your own bun ring by placing rings of folded up aluminum foil on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Each ring should be 4" across and 1 1/2" deep. Make 6.

-heavy duty mixer (a hand mixer will do in a pinch)

Gluten-Free Hamburger Buns
makes 6 buns

Ingredients:

1 1/2 C Jeanne's Gluten-Free Flour Mix
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1 tsp agar-agar (or unflavored gelatin)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 TBL sugar
1 TBL active dry yeast (I use Red Star)
1 C warm water
1 tsp vinegar
1 egg
2 TBL vegetable oil

-Place your bun rings on a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet and grease with vegetable oil and dust with tapioca flour or grease and flour your bun pan
-in a medium bowl whisk together flour mix, xanthan gum, baking powder, and salt
-in a small bowl, dissolve sugar and agar-agar (or gelatin) in warm water. Then dissove yeast into this mixture. Set aside to proof (foam up)
-in a bowl of a mixer, briefly beat together vinegar, eggs, and vegetable oil
-add foamy yeast mixture, mix briefly
-add flour mixture--beat for 4 mins (until smooth)

-Spoon the batter into the prepared rings
-let rise in a warm place for 45 mins (until about double in bulk). I usually let it rise on top of the stove while it's preheating


-While the buns are rising, preheat the oven to 375 degrees

-When buns are double in bulk. . .

. . .Bake for 20 minutes--until tops are golden brown

-Carefully remove from oven and let cool for 10 mins. before removing from rings/pan. Cool on wire rack.

They will be light and fluffy--just like "regular" buns. I also found these to smell heavenly--just like a bun should!

Enjoy!