Merry Christmas dear friends, I hope you had a wonderful Christmas. JT and I spent Christmas Eve with my family in Toronto and then had a quiet Christmas Day on our own. We had planned on volunteering at a soup kitchen but left it too late and couldn’t find one that would take us! Who knew that would be a problem? We’ll try to get on it earlier next year. I baked a stuffed turkey breast with a baked potato and sautéed a little kale for dinner and then we enjoyed an avocado lime semifreddo. We ate by the fire and opened presents all night. The quiet was just what I needed as I worked a lot in December, still not complaining but man, I should have done my ‘standing job’ earlier and my ‘sitting jobs’ later in my career! Most studios I work at have cement floors, and they are cold and hard which is great for the camera but not so much for the feet and back.
I’ve also been doing some recipe videos:
And, last month I catered a party for sixteen at the new home of the marketing firm I work with. Catering is like cooking for a dinner party on steroids! Timing and organization is everything!
One of the dishes I made was pulled pork sliders; those small, moreish buns filled with slow cooked pork in a delicious BBQ sauce, topped with either a vinegar or creamy coleslaw! I’m licking my lips as I type! Getting the bun right is important as it is the delivery vehicle for the meat. I usually make pretzel buns but the finishing is a two step process and I was so tired, instead, I hacked a King Arthur burger bun recipe instead because it was much easier!
These buns will surprise you, they are light and fluffy but, they have a bite to them because of the egg, and they are not overly eggy. I chose to top the buns with a beaten egg and sesame seeds, you could go au naturel as they are quite tasty. Since I significantly reduced the sugar from the King Arthur recipe, I replaced the water with warm milk and I think it was the right choice. I would definitely make these again, they are delicious and not fussy to make.
Slider Buns
An adaptation of this recipe
Makes about 30 slider buns
Ingredients:
- 265 mL (1 cup plus 1 tbsp) lukewarm 2% milk
- 8 g (1 tbsp) instant yeast
- 5 g (1 tsp) sugar
- 500 g (3 1/2 cups) Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
- 15 g (1 tbsp) sugar
- 6 g (1 1/4) tsp salt
- 30 g (2 tbsp) butter, at room temperature in small bits
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten
- 1 egg yolk, lightly beaten
- Sesame seeds
Directions:
- Whisk the milk, yeast and 5 g (1 tsp) sugar together and allow to proof for a few minutes.
- Meanwhile sift the flour, 15 g (1 tbsp) sugar and salt together in the bowl of your stand mixer.
- Add the whole egg to the flour mix on low speed using the cookie dough attachment (I used the scraper attachment), then add the small bits of the butter to the egg-flour mixture until well combined (or rub in the butter with your fingers).
- Switch the attachment to the dough hook and while on slow speed, pour in the proofed yeast. Knead on medium speed for 5 minutes or until you achieve a silky, elastic and smooth dough.
- Form dough into a ball and put it into an oiled bowl covered with a clean tea towel and then set in a warm, draft-free location for 2 hours or until doubled in size.
- Punch down and knead the dough into a long roll. Divide the dough into 30 even pieces (about 35 g each) and knead each piece into a smooth ball. Set each ball into a greased pan (I did 5X6) and cover with a tea towel. Set in a warm, draft-free location for 15 minutes or until doubled in size.
- Whisk the egg yolk and brush the bun tops generously. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.
- Bake in a 176° C (350° F) oven for 20 minutes or until buns have golden tops.
- Cool slightly and serve.
Notes:
- I also made 25 g mini-slider buns, 34 buns. Bake for 20 minutes or until the internal temperature is 85°C- 88°C (185° F – 190° F).
Yummy… This looks amazing..
xx
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_zn7IqrAY1I44bRuN6dH-Q
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Mine was a very quiet Christmas, too, Eva. T’was still nice, though. I’ve baked several of the KA bread and bun recipes, all with good results. Never have tried their slider recipes but yours here look fantastic. Next time I prepare pulled pork, I’ll follow your recipe for the buns, especially your variations of less sugar and a bit of milk. They sound perfect to me!
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You’ve been one busy lady!!! These slider buns look picture perfect—and sound heavenly with pulled pork! Wishing you a happy and delicious new year!!! xo
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Happy New Year dear Eva I hope you have a wonderful 2017 full of delicious food and fun 😀
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I’m very impressed that you made homemade buns for the catering job…I would have taken the easy way out and bought them. 😀 Wishing you all the best in the New Year.
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Thank you, Karen, I’m quite flattered. I find baking bread quite therapeutic and I can never find smallish slider buns that are good. Wishing you all the best for the coming year too.
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Hi Eva, I hope you have spent wonderful Christmas in spite of all the tiring working hours…. If you need an advise on fashionable but super comfortable shoes… I have discovered this year “city” sneakers brand which allowed me to run kilometres in Tokyo every day for two weeks without a single foot problem. It was the first time in 5 years! (Moreover people often ask me about the brand because they are so cute…).
Your buns look fabulous! and no fuss, you say? I’m sure you are a much more experienced and skilled bread/roll baker than me… I’m impressed you have made them on your own!
Happy New Year, my friend!
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Thank you for the footwear advice Sissi and your always flattering words. I appreciate the emails back and forth and I will check the brand you recommended.
I wish you all the best for the coming year.
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I’ve never seen such perfect burger buns, Eva. Not home made anyway. Not sure I should declare this, but I love these fluffy buns with just pickled onions in them. I’m not even pregnant, how bizarre. Not sure where this tradition started but love it. I think it’s the sweet fluffy bread with the sourness and bite of the pickles.
Can’t believe the soup kitchen wouldn’t have you. Outrageous.
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Hi Dave, thank you for your kind words. Believe it or not, I adore those English pickled onions, perfectly sour and sweet at the same time. If North Americans can love their PB&Js then I can’t see why you can’t love a pickled onion sandwich! They even live PB & bacon (bleh😝!) so you’re combo is not that weird! I’m baking the buns again today for New Year’s Eve celebrations! What time zone will you be ringing in the new year in?
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I’m going to make these next time I do sliders. Slider buns are hard to find. Either they’re too big and “briochy” or they’re too soft. Don’t get me wrong I like soft, just not too soft, and that’s why the milk in this recipe appeals. GREG
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Thank you so much Greg, these have just enough bite without being too eggy. I’m baking them again for New Years but I’m going to make them a bit smaller and update the post. I’ll also do a pic of the insides. They were so good!
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Sounds like the perfect way to celebrate Christmas! You’ve been very busy!!! I love those videos and your slider buns look fantastic!!
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Thank you for your kind words Liz. Making the videos is fun but it takes a lot of time. I generally video 30-45 minutes for a 30 second spot! I hope you had a lovely Christmas and I wish you all the best for 2016.
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I made uur lovely tasty easy recipe today & I had fun in my kitchen! They came out perfectly,….. So tasty too! Merry Christmas! I just made my first E-Book, called Healthy Vegan Christmas. You can get it if you subscribe to my blog! Enjoy!
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Thank you for your kind words Sophie. Merry Christmas to you too, I hope it was wonderful. I went to visit your blog and there isn’t a way to close the subscription window which makes it impossible to read your lovely blog on my phone. Congratulations on your e-Book.
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If you subscribe again. I canted it. Then you write you email adresse in it. Then you will receive a confirmation email: subscribe me to the list. Then a final welcome email where you can choose which one to download! I changed it in the beginning! You can close it, on the top right hand. It said close! I checked!
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Hi Sophie, I mainly read blogs on my iPhone 6 and I still cannot get the window to close without subscribing.
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Then, I will deleat it!
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I just deleted the pop-up!
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I was able to comment, thank you so much!
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Merry Xmas and I hope your New Year’s celebration is a wonderful one as well.
I like pretzel buns too but they’re a bit fussy so I agree with your decision to go with the buns you chose. I’ve been doing a LOT of bread baking lately and still have more than half a loaf of honey sweet challah to go through before I do any more but I’ll keep slider buns in mind.
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Hi Maria, thank you for your kind wishes. These little buns are just slightly sweet, I think I’m going to modify the recipe into sticky buns for New Years morning!
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Just reading about your pulled pork slider buns (even if they are second best) made my mouth water too. You have certainly been burning the candle at both ends. Your relaxing Christmas sounds wonderful. Happy New Year!
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I am so happy to see you here Maureen, knowing the struggles you’ve had with your health, I really appreciate your kind words. I wish you all the best for 2017! XOXO
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We spent the X’mas eve with the family and had a really quiet X’mas day on our own too. These sliders look absolutely wonderful, Eva.
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They look beautiful! I’m glad you found some time to relax and unwind after your hectic December. Your Christmas by the fire sounds perfect! Enjoy the rest of your holidays and happy new year to you both!
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Hi Michela, thank you for your kind words. I hope you and your family had a wonderful Christmas and I wish you the best for the coming year. I can’t wait to see what adventure you have up your sleeve! XOXO
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Thank you for your kind words Angie. I wish you all the best for 2017.
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Hi there! Im gonna try these lovely buns! Can i use whole milk? Thanks in advance!
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Whole milk is fine, thanks for commenting on my blog.
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