parchment, a good dough scraper, and a few brushes for the egg wash. A KitchenAid mixer with a dough hook doesn’t hurt, either.
5.Seventy degrees is the optimum kitchen temperature for rising and baking. Too hot, and the buns can proof too quickly. Too cold, and they’ll take a lot longer.
6.Midway through the baking, rotate the baking sheets for more even browning.
7.Keep your yeast in the fridge in a big Mason jar. On the shelf, those little packets of yeast can get lost between the Jell-O and the mail. But a big ole Mason jar of yeast says “BAKE US! LET’S DO THIS!” every time you open the fridge.
8.PLAN AHEAD! These buns and breads are relatively easy to make: about 15 minutes to mix and kneed, another hour to bulk up, then a few minutes to roll into balls, 2 hours to rise again, and then 20 minutes or so to bake. Easy! But they require uninterrupted blocks of time. You suddenly remember you need to pick up the kids at school…that you need to swing by the bank…and now, mom just called! So try to plan ahead, and make sure that your other responsibilities don’t conflict.
9.Be patient. See number 8. Those kinds of things will happen at some point. Sometimes your buns will overproof and deflate. Or they’ll underproof, because you had to get them into the oven too soon, and they’ll split open funny. Don’t give up! Making buns is a skill that’s going to take a little practice to master.
10.Bake often! You’ll quickly learn what works and what doesn’t. You’ll soon be able to tell if your dough is too sticky (may need to add a bit more flour), or too firm (thank the yeast for trying and start over). Just don’t give up!
BONUS TIP: Get seed toppings like poppy seeds and sesame seeds at a store with a bulk food section. You’ll get a lot more for your bucks, so you can use more, and feel extra generous.
10 Tips for Cooking the Best Burgers (In No Particular Order)
1.Always toast your buns. A little butter and a hot pan or grill will wake up your buns, softening the middles and crispening the bottoms.
2.Don’t add stuff to your beef, except salt. (Exception: the James Beard Foundation’s Blended Burger Project, try that one.)
3.Always use 80/20 ground beef that you grind yourself, or get from a local butcher or grocery with great sustainability standards.
4.Buy fresh, local, in-season ingredients. I’m writing this book in the early spring, so you are not going to see a ton of tomatoes here, even though I’d love to tell you how great our tomatoes are in Sacramento.
5.Get your “mise” in place. Mise en place is a French cooking term for “everything in its place.” “Oh, merde” means “I can’t find the mayo, and now the burgers are getting cold, and the buns are on fire” (or something close to that). Lay out all your burger ingredients before you get started.
6.Big fat burgers are not my favorite. All these recipes use a quarter pound patty. If you want more beef, grill up two and do a double stack, but don’t make a giant half pound hockey puck of meat.
7.After cooking the burgers, let them rest on a clean plate for a few minutes to let the juices sink back into the patty, or you’re going to soak through your buns.
8.Proper burger construction: bottom bun, then mayo/mustard, then lettuce (which will help form a barrier between juicy beef and bready bun), then the beef, then the rest of the toppings. Lettuce, you have a job to do.
9.Flavor balance. I like to add weird stuff in my burgers, like kumquat jam. But to do this, you also need a salty element to balance it out, like manchego cheese. When mixing flavors, try to always think about sweet, salty, bitter, and sour (you know, how your tongue works!).
10.Have fun. They are just burgers. You can remove a topping if it’s not working (flicks olive off top of bun), or you can make the next one different.
There are a few different ways to properly cook a burger patty. You can pan fry it, grill it, or smash-grill it. But the USDA recommends cooking ground meats to an internal temperature of at least 160 degrees fahrenheit, which means “no pink.”
Pan Fry
Take a quarter pound of ground beef, and gently flatten it, being careful not to squish it too much. With your fingers, make a dimple in the center (this will help it cook more evenly). Turn the stovetop on medium, and heat your pan with a little butter or oil. Make sure it’s hot before adding the burger. Salt the burger, place in the pan, and listen for the sizzle! Cook for about 5 minutes, then flip. The cooked side should have a nice, dark brown sear. Add your cheese, and cook for another 3 to 5 minutes. Check inside the burger by making a little cut to test the doneness. A little pink is “medium.”
Grilling
If using a gas grill, turn the heat up to high and wait. If using a charcoal grill, heat the coals and wait until they have turned orange and have ashed-over. Brush the burgers with oil, and generously salt them. Grill the burgers until they are browned and starting to char up a bit, about 3 minutes, depending on how hot your coals are. Flip over the burgers, add cheese, and cook until the desired doneness.
Smash Burger-ing
I find this is best done outside, because you’ll get a bunch of splattered oil and smoke, but it’s worth it! Get a heavy bottomed pan, cast iron is ideal. If doing it outside, a baking steel or a cast iron plancha is great. Either way, heat it to piping hot. Take a quarter pound of beef, and lightly pack it into a ball. Season the ball with salt and pepper. Place the ball on the smoking hot surface, and then smash it down with a heavy spatula (my friend Rodney uses a metal tile trowel he got at a hardware store) and hold it down for about 2 minutes. Then, using the spatula or trowel, scrape up the burger (including all the good, crackly bits) and flip. Add cheese and cook about a minute longer.
Here is a step-by-step guide for making perfect buns. It uses the Easiest Buns recipe on page 61.
1.In the mixer bowl, add the flour, sugar, salt, yeast, egg, butter, and warm water. Stick your finger in it to make sure it’s not too hot, because you don’t want to kill the yeast.
2.Add the dough hook, and mix on medium for about 5 to 6 minutes.
3.After a few minutes, the dough should start coming together in one or more balls.
4.Remove the hook, and use your hands to combine the dough into one ball, and cover the bowl with a towel for an hour.
5.Look,
