Chia Hotdog Buns

The invasion of 711 is overwhelming. It is convenient for almost everyone; from busy workers who need a quick meal, moms who want an express take out, and especially school and college kids who love to hang out but don’t want to pay much for cold drinks. 711 is a much loved joint. But what if your daughter is a big hot dog fan and at least once in every two days, be it before school because she wants hotdog for lunch at school or after school because she wants hotdog for dinner, she just has to stop buy at 711 for their hotdogs?

Once I asked her the golden question, “What is so good about 711 hotdogs?” She replied that somehow sinister question with a golden answer, “Because you never make hotdogs.”

Hmm.. little girl is challenging mom, eh?

A dear friend of mine who is always seems like she's running on Energizer batteries, Depe Zahrial, gave me a bunch of chia seeds. I have to tell you that I have never made anything with chia before. I know it’s a super food but It just never crossed my mind to incorporate the itty bitty seeds into my cooking. So after a night of googling, I conclude that chia seeds that are turned into jelly by soaking it in some water CAN replace butter in a batter. I don’t want to try to replace butter with chia in cookies yet, but I’m ready to play around with a trusted bun recipe. In this case, I use my BEST Burger Buns EVER! recipe, which is adapted from Peter Reinhart's book Bread Bakers Apprentice: Mastering The Art of Extraordinary Bread. Please feel free to use all bread flour if you prefer.

Ingredients:

270 gr bread flour

240 gr Kraftkorn/Balastra Whole Wheat Flour

1 teaspoons salt

3 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons instant yeast

1 large egg, slightly beaten, at room temperature

1/2 tbs chia seeds, soaked in ¼ cup warm water for 20 minutes

1 1/8 cups buttermilk, made from lowfat milk and apple cider vinegar, at room temperature

Methods:

-Mix together the flour, salt, yeast, sugar. 

-Mix the buttermilk, chia gel, egg then pour into the dry ingredients. Stir until combined into somehow rather loose dough.

-Oil your counter. Transfer the dough to the counter, and begin kneading, adding more flour, if necessary, to create a dough that is soft, supple, and tacky but not sticky. Depending on how strong you are, it should be around 8-10 minutes by hand

-Lightly oil a large bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.

- Ferment at room temperature for 1 to 2 hours, or until the dough doubles in size (the length of time will depend on the room temperature).

- Remove the fermented dough from the bowl and divide it to twelve 3-ounce pieces hotdog buns. 

-Make an oval shape, is it oval? Mine is just rather fat ovals

- Transfer the buns to the sheet pans. 

- Mist the tops of the dough with spray oil and loosely cover with plastic wrap or a towel. 

-Proof the dough at room temperature for 60 to 90 minutes, or until it nearly doubles in size.

- Preheat the oven to 175°C 

- Bake the hotdog buns for 15 minutes.

*Dancing the jig*

Wow!

That is all I can say. I don’t miss the presence of butter and I obviously had no need to do any egg wash and sesame sprinkling because hotdog buns are meant to be just plain ol bun with nothin’ on top. Once the buns have cooled, you can freeze them and have more anytime you want.

A hot dog is just a piece of wiener or any preferred sausage lying on a bed of bun, smothered with relishes. It just so happens that my daughter rarely eats rice and always eats bread. Any form of bread. I was thinking that if a piece of hotdog costs $2, plus I always buy another piece for her dad and while waiting for the bun to be reheated we would always buy a $1 coffee or some Korean  ice creams, then I could save like $60-$100 a month by making my own hotdogs. I will also have the advantage of relief by knowing what is inside the bread and sausage.

If you make the buns slightly square, you can have a seriously great sandwich bread ala subway. I'm already thinking of soy chicken, sauteed mushrooms, pulled beef with juice soaked by the crumbs of the buns, melted cheese... How the list goes on!

Next, I will try substituting chia for butter in my cookies.

Wish me LUCK!

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