Super Soft Enriched Hot Dog Buns
The secret behind these super soft buns is a clever combination of sourdough levain and poolish. The sourdough adds a mature depth of flavour and the poolish helps keep the crumb nice and soft. For those who don't know, a poolish is a pre-fermentation of flour, water and yeast that's added to the main dough.
These work perfectly for hot dogs but are equally great for bacon and egg breakfast baps or chip butties. In fact, I'm struggling to think of something that wouldn't work well in these buns!
Quick Navigation
- The recipe vitals & baker's percentages
- The equipment you’ll need
- The Baking Timeline
- The recipe
- Watch the video tutorial
- Printable recipe sheet
The recipe vitals & baker’s percentages
This recipe makes 4 hot dog buns with individual dough weights of 130g
This formula uses 100% strong white bread with a protein content of 13.2%. The dough is 74% hydrated and produces a dough that is easy to handle and shape. Using flour with a lower protein content is fine but remember that you may need to reduce the hydration slightly as the rolls may be a bit trickier to shape.
Remember that the absorption capability of flour differs so be prepared to tweak the hydration if needed.
The equipment you’ll need
You’ll need an accurate set of digital scales and in a addition I’d strongly suggest a set micro scales for weighing small quantities of yeast accurately. I’ve been using the weigh gram micro scales for the past 3 years.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases
The Baking Timeline
The timeline is based on a kitchen temperature of 25C/77F. Your timeline will be affected by cooler or warmer temperatures.
Day 1:
21:00 Mix the sourdough levain and poolish (yeasted pre-ferment)
Day 2:
06:30 Mix the dough
07:00 Quick knead on the bench
10:30 Shape the buns
12:00 Bake
Total time: 15h 15m
Hands-on time: 50m
The Recipe
Sourdough Levain & Poolish (yeasted pre-fermentation).
We are going to make a little more sourdough levain and poolish than we need for the recipe. This will account for a little weight loss that occurs during fermentation and for any residue that sticks to the jars.
Poolish
40g Strong white bread flour
40g Water
0.4g Instant dried yeast
1. Mix all of the ingredients in a jar that's large enough to accommodate the mixture quadrupling in size. Cover with a lid and leave to ferment overnight.
Sourdough levain
35g Strong white bread flour
35g Water
5g Sourdough starter
1. Mix all of the ingredients in a jar that's large enough to accommodate the mixture quadrupling in size. Cover with a lid and leave to ferment overnight.
Hot dog buns
213g Strong white bread flour
141g Milk (3.5% fat)
5g Salt
1g Instant dried yeast
14g White sugar
22g Unsalted butter
69g Poolish
55g Sourdough levain
Method
1. Add 41g of the milk to a small pan. Follow up by adding 5g of salt, 14g of white sugar and 22g of unsalted butter. Heat the mixture on low until the butter has melted and the sugar and salt have dissolved.
2. Add the warm milk mixture to a mixing bowl with the remaining 100g of cold milk and scatter 1g of dried yeast over the top. Now add 213g of strong white bread flour, 69g of poolish and 55g of sourdough levain.
Baker's tip: Dividing the milk and adding the warm mixture to the cold will help keep the dough temperature under control. Heating all of the milk would result in a very warm dough that may not be beneficial for our levain our yeast.
3. Use a spoon to bring the mixture together into a rough dough. If it becomes too stiff you can use your hand to finish the process. The dough doesn't need to be smooth but make sure that there are no dry spots of flour. Cover the dough and leave at room temperature to rest for 30 minutes.
4. After the dough has rested tip it out onto your countertop. Use your hands to give the dough a quick knead for about 30 seconds to a minute to make sure the ingredients are well mixed. You don't need to use any flour to dust the surface. The tension between the dough and the worktop will help with the process. Shape the dough into a ball and place it back into the bowl and cover. leave at room temperature.
5. Once the dough has doubled in volume it's time to shape the buns. Weigh the dough and then divide it into four equal-sized pieces. Now they can be pre-shaped into individual balls. I like to roll the dough between the palm of my hand and the work surface to create the shape. But feel free to use any method that suits you best.
Once all four pieces of dough have been shaped you can leave them to rest for five minutes on the worktop.
Baker's tip: My dough took four hours to double in volume at 25C/77F. If your kitchen is cooler the process may go slower and if your kitchen is warmer things may go quicker.
6. Now use your fingers to press the dough ball into a flattish circle. Fold the top of the dough into the centre and press it down. Fold the bottom of the dough into the centre and press it down. Now roll the top over the bottom to create a sausage shape.
Once all four pieces of dough have been shaped you can leave them to rest again for five minutes on the worktop.
7. Now it's time to create the final shape. Fold the top of the dough into the centre again and press it down. Fold the bottom of the dough into the centre and press it down. Now roll the top over the bottom to create a longer sausage shape. Give the dough a roll on the worktop to lengthen and then place on a baking tray. Cover the tray and leave the dough to proof at room temperature.
I like to place my dough close together on the tray so that the rolls fuse together when baked. If you prefer individual rolls then you can leave a larger gap between them.
Baker's tip: You can see the shaping technique I use in the video tutorial below. It doesn't matter what technique you use as long as you mange to create a tight sausage, don't stress!
8. Once the dough has increased in volume by approximately 75% it's time to bake. Bake in the centre of an oven that's been pre-heated to 200C/392F for approximately 15 minutes. Make sure to keep an eye on the crust colour and adjust the baking time as necessary.
Because the dough is enriched with butter and sugar I prefer not to bake these on a baking stone because the base of the rolls tend to over bake.
9. As soon as you remove the rolls from the oven pop them on a wire cooling rack and rub the crust with a knob of butter. Don't skip this stage! It softens the crust and gives them a lovely shine.
Leave to cool and enjoy!
