No Gluten, No Problem

Gluten? Fuggedaboutit.

Hamburger Potato Rolls

by

Are you as tired of dry, crumbly, gluten-free hamburger and hot dog buns as we are? You know the kind: about three bites into your meal, you’re left holding a patty or tube of meat in your hand, with a plate full of crumbs beneath. Blech.

Even in my younger days when I could still eat “regular” hamburger and hot dog buns, I was never a fan of the super-bland white bread varieties. For me, the creme de la creme of buns was the hallowed potato roll—super moist, richly flavorful.

It was time to bring the potato roll into our gluten-free kitchen. We experimented every which way, with all-purpose flour to potato flour ratios that ranged from 10:1 to 1:1. In the end, we landed on a recipe that yields a moist roll with great crumb, and that doesn’t fall apart as you eat it. And in our opinion it’s the perfect amount of bread to hold your burger—we hate when a bun is so big that you feel like you’re chewing on a bakery and can’t find the burger and fixin’s buried in there somewhere.

And with Fourth of July weekend just a week away, you can bet it’ll be making an appearance in association with our grill at some point!

Hamburger Potato Rolls
Makes 8 buns

Ingredients
350 g (~ 1 1/2 cups) warm water
25 g (~2 tbsp) sugar
1 tbsp yeast
50 g (~4 tbsp) melted butter
3 egg yolks
50 g (4.5 tbsp) potato flour
250 g (2 cups) Artisan Gluten-Free Flour Blend
25 g (1/3 cup) milk powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp xanthan gum

Steps
1. Add the warm water to the bowl of a stand mixer, mix in the sugar, then add the yeast and let sit for about five minutes, until the yeast is active.
2. Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, whisk together the potato flour, gluten-free flour blend, milk powder, salt, and xanthan gum.
3. Add the melted butter and egg yolks to the yeast mixture and mix to incorporate.
4. With the paddle attachment, add the dry ingredients—mixing on medium-low—a bit at a time until fully incorporated. Then mix for about one minute at medium. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
5. Grease a hamburger bun pan. (Ours looks like a tin for giant muffins/cupcakes, with “slots” that are 3.5–4 inches in diameter.)
6. Coat the palms of your hands liberally with olive oil, then pinch off about 100 g of dough (about halfway between the size of a golf and tennis ball) and roll it between your palms to make a perfectly smooth “meatball” of dough. Place the ball into one of the hamburger pan slots and pat down gently, until the dough is flat and fills the full area of the bottom of the pan. Repeat for the remainder dough.
7. Cover and let rise in a warm location 30 minutes, until the rolls double in size. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 deg F.
8. Bake for 20 minutes, until golden brown on top. Let cool on a wire rack.

Degrees of Free-dom
This recipe is: gluten/wheat-free, peanut-free, tree-nut-free, fish-free, shellfish-free, soy-free, vegetarian.

Enjoy!

–Pete and Kelli

Comments

  1. Any suggestions on replacing the powdered milk? If so would it change the end result much? Thankful for all your creativity and recipe development that you share.

  2. Hi KS – We would recommend using non-dairy milk powder to replace the traditional milk powder in the recipe. We have not tried it yet, but that is what we would try first!

    Thanks!
    Kelli

  4. Cutely,

    Egg replacer isn’t a good substitute in a case such as this. Most egg replacers are all carbs (made from tapioca and potato) and don’t provide the protein and fat you’d get from the eggs. You’re better off with a flax meal slurry or other such egg replacement than using a store-bought egg replacer.

    Pete

  6. Anonymous,

    You can use any pan you like, really. The diameter of the bun or muffin parts of the pan simply determine the diameter of your bun (and thus, how big a burger patty you can fit on it). Your call. You could even use English muffins rounds placed on a flat baking sheet. Happy baking!

    Pete

  8. oops! messed up 1st comment. Anyway, thank you SO much! I recently had the awful experience of a GF hotdog bun turning to a puddle of mushy sand by the third bite. You read my mind I guess!

  9. Sounds great, just wish more recipes omitted milk, a common allergy for Celiacs 🙂

  12. You can mix dough by hand as well. (Then you can count it as exercise!)Follow the steps as listed and use a very sturdy wooden or bamboo spoon. If the dough gets too stiff to stir, then get in there with your best kitchen tools of all: your clean hands!

    It’s very theraputic to mix doughs by and too!!

  13. smell and turned out great. now i just need to get a hamburger pan. where did you get yours? I omiited the milk powder and it was fine. Also can you freeze these? Thanks again!

  14. This is my 2nd batch of these, we really like them.. We use them for sandwiches.. I didn’t have a pan to cook them in so did some googling and found a post where a lady took wide mouth canning jar rings and lay them on a baking sheet with parchment paper spray with cooking spray and put the dough in the rings… they turn out perfect.
    Thank you for the great recipes

  15. This looks like a really yummy gluten-free comfort food alternative. Kudos – the kiddos will definitely enjoy this one… making and eating! Thanks for sharing!

  16. Laura – We are glad you enjoyed them! An alternative to the hamburger pan would be to use clean tunafish cans with both sides removed. The diameter would be a little smaller, but it would work!

    These buns can definitely freeze. If you are not going to eat them within 2 days of making them freeze them and pull them out to either defrost on the counter or in the microwave.

    4mrstar – Thanks for the tip with the canning jar rings. I am sure this will be helpful to other readers.

    Cheers,
    Kelli

  17. I made these the other day and was very impressed! You are spot on about them being the perfect amount of bread. I was a bit skeptical when I saw the picture–they seemed thin–but I was proved wrong. Love how they hold up with some messier sandwiches. Also, I liked how they defrosted and tasted after the first day. Another winner!

    I also used the canning ring hack. Worked perfectly.

  19. These are excellent. I am a huge fan of your cookbook and flour blend, and these rolls were just as good as your other recipes. I made them in a standard muffin tin, using a medium cookie scoop to size them, and they were the perfect size for sliders. I was worried they might be too, well, muffin shaped, but they actually turned out perfectly, just the right height so as not to overwhelm the burgers and toppings. Thanks again for another great recipe!

  21. These buns are fantastic – hold together very nicely. The flavor is great – many possibilities here. The canning jar lid trick worked great. Once you grease the parchment paper strips they are simple to maneuver. I’m in the market for a hamburger bun pan though. I can see making these on a regular basis. Any ideas where to find one in the Denver area?

  22. Another idea for the hamburger buns is to buy 4 inch springform pans at a kitchen store and they work wonderfully. They make a nice size bun.

  23. I got a ‘muffin top’ pan. It works so good I bought another one. I also use a popover pan (small but deep) to make wonderful rolls for soup with this recipe. Someday I want to try to make cabbage burgers with this recipe. My original recipe used Yukon gold potatoes and potato flour or starch along with regular flour. Feeling the dough, I imagine it might hold a hamburger/cabbage filling. Time to experiment! Thanks for the inspiration!

  25. Hi Peter! How to replace the flour mix you suggest at this recipe? Any combination of rice flour with smth else? Kind regards