Peeta's cheese buns are a little salty :|

[slumber]

SO. As previously stated, tried to do Peeta's cheese buns yesterday. Actually I also tried my hand at dip-able bread rolls... only I haven't quite perfected the art of working with yeast and so it never activated, so the bread didn't rise, so instead of puffy bread rolls I have itty bitty dense ones. Which is a pity, because the recipe was SO GOOD and the bread tastes really good, but it's just a little tough and small and not at all dinner roll-y. This also makes me hesitant about trying to do the District 11 bread because, well, that'll need to rise twice too.



But anyway. I did the cheese buns yesterday, and it was SUPER EASY TO DO. I highly recommend it. I think the biggest problem I had was that the dough didn't really hold all that much, and then it got sticky as I was trying to set it up later, but I just floured up my hands and that made it easier to handle. I wish our broiler worked so I could have added the cheese on top too but I do think it's good as it is.

One thing I wish I'd changed was the glaze-- it was a LOT saltier than I would have liked, so I think next time I'll either cut back on the amounts of garlic powder, Old Bay, and salt that I added, or not glaze it four times which I thought I should do because it looked too pale otherwise. :| After letting the buns sit for a night, though, the saltiness seems to have gone.

It did also make for a lot of salty buns jokes last night, so that worked out. :|

Also, madlybewildered and acidpop25 told me fondant can be bought ready-made, so I'm kind of looking forward to playing with it sometime soon. I'm not sure how much I trust my fondant sculpting skills because these things always look a lot easier on video but hey, worth a try. :P

Comments

[rebel.livejournal.com]

LOL those actually look really good! I cook all the time but I've never tried to bake buns; it seems really intimidating! Maybe I'll give it a try too!

[slumber.livejournal.com]

Making any kind of bread for me seems intimidating, moreso now that I still haven't found a way to work with yeast, hah, but this one doesn't require that and it's really pretty simple compared to probably other recipes out there. :D I also used soy milk (would have gone with almond but the store I went to was out of it) and vegan cheese so it works pretty well with those. You should try it and post the results, I'd love to see them! :D

[rebel.livejournal.com]

I use yeast when I make pizza dough but I pretty much just mix it with water until it dissolves, let it sit 10 minutes and then mix the flour and such. It's definitely more complicated with actual bread/biscuits I assume since pizza crust doesn't need to rise that much XD

OMG THAT'S WITH VEGAN CHEESE AND SOY MILK!? BE STILL MY HEART! Now I definitely want to try to do this after I go to the store next!! Did you use a specific recipe or did you just wing it? =D

[slumber.livejournal.com]

Yeah there appears to be some sort of trick with the water temp or something because the bread recipes I considered making needed the dough to rise twice, both times to double the previous size, lol. And apparently some store-bought yeast is already dead or something because it's been in the store for so long, so... IDK. Maybe it's just my timing that's off? IDK.

YES!! I think almond milk might be better for baking but yeah, I haven't really done anything with dairy the last few years because my roommate is allergic to it, and I was a bit worried the cheese wouldn't melt as well, but it did pretty okay I thought. :D

I followed this recipe and substituted the dairy with vegan stuff, but it's very straightforward!

[rebel.livejournal.com]

Oh wow that actually makes sense and makes me kind of paranoid that I've been using dead yeast LOL.

I wonder how well coconut milk (it's comes in a carton just like soy/almond/rice/etc. milk) would work with it as it's a lot thicker and creamier. I might have to experiment. Thank you for the link; I'll bookmark it! =D

[slumber.livejournal.com]

Well you haven't seemed to have problems with your pizza dough so I wouldn't worry! It might just be me too, lol.

Couldn't hurt to try! OMG wouldn't it be awesome to like. Do batches with different kinds of milk to see which one works best? :DDDD

[rebel.livejournal.com]

We will have to see, I suppose =D I will try to remember to pick up both kinds of milk! XD

[madlybewildered.livejournal.com]

Looks yummy...I may have to make them.

[slumber.livejournal.com]

DO IT. :D

[leigh57.livejournal.com]

You made them! And they look super delicious -- seriously. I may have to give it a shot.

[slumber.livejournal.com]

I cannot recommend it enough, if you like cheese and bread, this is really pretty great! I'd probably make sure the mixture for the glaze is fine before putting on exorbitant amounts of it on the buns, but other than that I really liked how they came out. :D

[xsnarkasaurus.livejournal.com]

some tips! :D

the water you bloom the yeast in should feel just a tiny bit warm if you stick your finger in it. yeast dies at temperatures above 130F, so it needs to be much less than that. A way to test if your yeast is good is to take a portion of the yeast and sugar you'll put in your recipe, pop it into a bowl, and put your yeast in. If it's frothy and smells a bit like beer when 10 minutes is up, your yeast is good to go.

check the expiration date. it really is vital for yeast to be...well, not be expired. :D

[slumber.livejournal.com]

Smells like beer? Heh. SO! Okay. So I don't know if the water temp is what's tripping me up, but it's what I obsessed over... how do you know that it's a tiny bit warm? Like... do you microwave the water/boil it or do you just take tap water at room temp or something? *flails* Actually I'm tempted to try yeast with like five different water temps and test them out this weekend or something. IDK.

[xsnarkasaurus.livejournal.com]

stick your finger in it. :D ideal is about 100F, which is just a smidge warmer than body temp, so if it feels lukewarm to your finger, it's pretty much perfect. And tap water is fantastic. Boiled water is WAY too hot, as it's 212F.

[musicksempire.livejournal.com]

I actually really liked the cheese buns a lot. I think I ate 3 of them! Can you send me the recipe?

[slumber.livejournal.com]

\o/ :D If I don't figure out my yeast problem (HAH) by this weekend I'll probably make more of that again. I followed this recipe but I should really write it down somewhere so I don't have to keep rewinding a YouTube video to make sure I did it right. :P

[susako.livejournal.com]

I made them yesterday! Agreed about the stickiness. Didn't have old bay seasoning so just improvised on some stuff, also used fresh garlic instead of garlic powder which made everything amazing O_O But mine didn't cook properly on the bottom, so my buns were a little sticky. Hurhurhur

[slumber.livejournal.com]

Woot! :D Ooh, that's interesting. I'd try it but now I have whole things of garlic powder and Old Bay so might as well use them, lol.

My buns weren't as perfectly golden brown (lulz) but maybe it's a flour thing? I just patted more flour on the dough.