Homemade Hamburger Buns . . . WOW!

So does anyone remember from the movie "Father of the Bride" where Steve Martin sort of goes a little nuts at the supermarket and gets arrested after he freaks out about hot dog buns? Well I feel the same way about hamburger buns. I'm annoyed that they only come in packages of 8. And they don't keep well, even in the freezer. And I don't like the "cheap" kind of hamburger buns. So I feel like you spend a fortune to buy the good kind of buns for your burger, then you waste half the package. And even then, the buns are nothing to shout about.
So, Saveur Magazine's September issue title: "The Burger Bible". We love a good burger, so of course I've read it cover-to-cover. The best find: a recipe for fantastic homemade hamburger buns that I tried for the first time this week. The only question now is how I will ever buy store buns again. Given that I may not always have the time to make these when we want a burger, maybe I'll see if the homemade ones will freeze! Hope you enjoy them as much as I did:

HOMEMADE SESAME SEED BUNS (Makes 12)
1 1/4 oz package active dry yeast (about 2 1/2 tsp)
1 1/3 c milk, heated to 115 degrees
1 1/2 tsp plus 2 T sugar
t c flour
1 1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
4 T unsalted butter, cut into 1/2" cubes, softened
3 tsp sesame seeds

In the bowl of a stand mixer, stir together yeast, milk, and 1 1/2 tsp sugar, let foam. Stir in remaining sugar, flour, salt and egg with paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until dough forms. Replace paddle with dough hook, add butter. Knead on medium-high until dough pulls away from sides of bowl, about 8 min. Transfer dough to bowl sprayed with nostick spray, cover with plastic wrap. Let rest until doubled, 1-2 hours. Heat oven to 400. Divide dough into 12 portions, shape each into a tight ball. Place balls on baking sheet sprayed with nonstick spray. Lightly spray or brush balls with oil, cover loosely with plastic and let rise 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Uncover dough and, using a spray bottle filled with water, moisten dough; sprinkle each ball with 1/4 tsp sesame seeds. Bake, rotating tray once in oven, until golden brown, 18-20 minutes. Let cool.

Foodie Mags

I occasionally have a friend ask me about foodie mags, and since I have subscribed to several, here are my reviews (in no particular order, since I can't manage to get the blog photos in the order I would like!):

1) Saveur magazine is my current favorite. However, it's not the magazine to get if you're looking just for recipes. I like it because it has great articles about food and ingredients in all areas and cultures of the world. And, their Saveur 100 issue (pictured above) has great reviews on equipment, cookbooks, and other foodie stuff.

2) I subscribed to Cooks Illustrated magazine for a few years. I think hands-down, Cooks Illustrated is the BEST source for good quality recipes. They are the same company as Americas Test Kitchen (on PBS) and their philosophy is to test and retest recipes, ingredients, and equipment and tweak everything until it's just right. Their recipes almost always turn out fabulous and many become old favorites. However, I don't think the magazine is the best investment. I found that I wasn't interested in more than a couple of recipes per issue. It's not a cheap magazine, at over $30 a year, because they don't advertise (which is actually nice and allows them to offer unbiased reviews). But, I think a better choice for your $30/year is cooksillustrated.com, their website. For your subscription fee you get access to all of their years of recipes, reviews, and ratings. That way I can look up the recipes that I want to make. Very worthwhile!

3) Bon Appetit and Gourmet Magazine (until recently) were published by the same company. Bon Appetit is just not what I'm looking for in a foodie mag. I believe it's too trend-based, superficial, and even a little political. The articles are not well-written and the reviews on the whole are focused on really expensive, ritzy equipment and ingredients. I guess I'm just more of a back-to-basics kind of gal.

4) Cook's Country Magazine is published by the same company as Cook's Illustrated. I subscribed to it for a year or two. The caveat is that it was several years ago, so keep in mind my review may not be current if they've changed things. I was not thrilled with this additional offering from Americas Test Kitchen. The recipes were not as appealing to me, with things like cornflake-crusted chicken, and unlike the CI recipes, they just didn't turn out as well. That's a big thumbs-down for me when you spend a good amount on a recipe-only magazine. I wondered if maybe ATK had stretched themselves a little thin . . .

5) Alas for Gourmet magazine. I really enjoyed this magazine, with well-written articles, solid reviews on all ranges of equipment and ingredients, and some good recipes. However, they stopped publication November of 2009. I read that, in part, it was because they had to pay their writers more than Bon Appetit. It's amazing how price and quality almost always go hand in hand. But, if you like Gourmet or would like to check it out they actually have a ton of content online, including a lot of content from many years worth of issues.

If you have other foodie mags you like I'd love to hear about them! Happy Reading!