Vegan Hamburger buns!

When it comes to mothers-in-law, I hit the jackpot. Not only is mine a wonderful woman who accepted me from the get go (which was a good thing since I married my husband before meeting his family!) but she has also rolled with the punches when it comes to feeding me. She jumped in both feet first, actively looking for replacements for things like breads and milks, and picking up random things she just thought I might like. She's got me pegged, too. She's already sent me not one but two cookbooks, both of which look amazing and made me happy on multiple levels. I'll do a proper review of them once I've had a chance to try out more recipes (I've only tried the one from one book and haven't touched the other at all yet) but so far, so good.

Both books are written by Laurie Sadowski, The Allergy-Free Cook; her books are both written for vegans, though she doesn't push it which is nice. One of the biggest issues, for me at least, when it comes to gluten free has got to be the baking, particularly in regards to yeast breads. They just do NOT work the same! Not even close! I'll be honest here: I know part of my problem is that I simply haven't done enough experimentation with different recipes, but my ego can only handle chucking so many batches of botched baking (pardon the alliteration) in the garbage. Hello, cinnamon buns. Still, I've had a number of successes in the last few weeks, so I decided to put my ego on the line and figured that as the weather has been so nice the last little while that it was time for hamburgers. Bring on the buns!

 

 

I actually had all the flours/starches she called for in the recipe (sorghum, arrowroot, quinoa, tapioca and almond) which was nice, as most of her recipes call for at least 3 or 4 different flours and she varies them quite a bit (for future recipes, I've already picked up teff, though I will still need to get millet, amaranth and coconut flours). What I didn't have were the English muffin rings she suggested, but she gave an alternative. Since GF yeast breads won't hold up to a second rise, you generally do whatever you are going to do and then let your bread rise in the container or shape desired. Since this was for buns, you want them to rise round and contained, hence using rings. What she suggested was to make rings out of tinfoil; worked surprisingly well, too! Looks ridiculous, sorta, but works on the same principle as a soufflé ring.



 

 

So once the dough had been made up (another thing I have had to get used to is how sticky bread doughs are) and dropped into the rounds, off they go to rise. She has very obviously done this as her rise times are way longer than I'm used to seeing, because it takes GF breads way longer to rise. I will usually warm my oven for about 5 minutes at 100F, turn the oven off and then allow the bread to rise in there. That certainly counts as draft free! After about an hour, you then bake them for 15-20 minutes at 350F and then let them cool. She suggests you allow them to cool for about 20 minutes before cutting, and she is absolutely right! The buns are so spongy and soft when they come out of the oven that cutting them still warm would ruin them.

 

 

 

Since we actually had these with hamburgers, I appreciate the irony of them being vegan buns. That did not keep me from enjoying them in any way, however. We ended up with monster burgers! I kept coming up with other toppings that just had to go on, so I think that, after condiments, we had Daiya cheese, grilled onions, pickles, spinach, tomatoes and avocadoes in there. Could probably have left the burger out, and we might not have even noticed! A five napkin burger, for sure, and I am still so full I am standing to write this. I'd say that's a success, wouldn't you?