Sourdough Potato Buns

It's grilling season, which means we're all getting our assorted meats, veggies, and condiments prepared, including those plastic bags full of squishy, way-too-sweet, pasty burger and hot dog buns. What a shame! Don't we wish we had an alternative?

Look, I'm not bashing these plastic bag breads necessarily. They're nostalgic, really easy, and best of all cheap as hell! But if you have the proclivity to make your own bread (you are reading this, after all) then I have a couple points that will win you over: these are easy to make, its only 7 or 8 ingredients instead of 25 (and no preservatives), and they TASTE SO GOOD. Just ask Grandpa Jack:

These are exactly like hamburger buns, but they taste like actual bread! –Grandpa Jack

Plus, they're vegan! I don't think Grandpa Jack would care about that part, but we all have vegans in our life and the only plastic bag options they have are the cheapest, crappiest, most flavourless buns (and sometimes even those have milk powder in them). All those other higher-end buns made at bakeries are usually brioche, which - while delicious - are an amalgam of eggs, milk, butter, and sugar held together with a sprinkling of flour. It's basically a doughnut (yes, we will have a sourdough recipe for brioche and doughnuts in the future). These check off all the requirements for a backyard barbecue burger bun: light, stain-glass shattering crust, squishy soft crumb, tasty but not distracting. Every time I've shown up with a tray of these buns I swear, people write me into their will. I'm in 384 wills. It's mostly lawn ornaments, but still.

Shokupan - Japanese Milk Bread - is so delicious it's scary, and one of the methods that's used to make the bread so soft is this method called tangzhong. Essentially, a portion of the recipe flour is pre-cooked in milk until it becomes a gloopy sticky mass. Normally when flour hydrates at room temperature, gluten develops and strengthens. When you add flour to high heat liquid, the starches get first dibs at hydration, so when it's added to the whole dough, it makes the final cooked bread squishier than just a regular loaf of bread.

When 'Potato Bread' was made in 'olden times', it was likely used to stretch flour supplies, or turn yesterday's mashed potatoes into tonight's dinner rolls, but what makes it so special is the cooked starches from the potatoes. In manufactured potato buns, they use potato starch or flour. You can do that, but our way you use a readily available product - the potato - and once you use it, you can turn it into something else!

Sourdough Potato Buns

384 wills. I promise.

Ingredients

Yields roughly 8-10 buns

• 500g all-purpose flour

• 125g active starter

• 1 large russet potato

• 325g water

• 12g salt

• 12g sugar

• 12g vegetable oil, any kind

• Sesame seeds (sprinkling on top)

For topping (not vegan):

• Egg, beaten, for wash

• Butter, melted

For topping (vegan):

• 2 tbsp aquafaba (canned chickpea water)

• 1/2 tsp baking soda

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 2 tsp veg oil, plus 1 tbsp for brushing on after

Directions

You can do this all in one day or put it in the fridge overnight during bulk fermentation.

1. The potato. (You have a couple options: you can just grate it, or cut it into fries, or circles, or cubes. However. The smaller the shape, the more starch you'll get in the water. The cleaner the cut, the less cell walls you break, the less starches come out. The longer you cook it, the more starch you'll get in the water. It's all about what you want to do with the potato after. Here's the range: if you grate it, you just need to bring it up to boil and strain it. If you cut it into fries or cubes, boil it for 10 minutes then strain it.) Once you decide which shape you want, put the potato into just enough cold water and bring up to the boil for as long as is necessary. Strain and let it cool. Spread the potatoes out on a baking sheet and turn it into whatever potato snack you like (or a loaf of potato bread!). The potato water should be opaque, slimy, and goopy. Isn't describing food fun?

2. Mix the potato water, active starter, and flour together into a shaggy mass. Cover with a damp towel and let it rest for 30 minutes for the autolyse.

3. Add the sugar, salt, and oil. Mix and knead for 3-5 minutes until fully incorporated. Cover and let it rest for another 30 minutes.

4. Stretch and fold the dough every 30 minutes for 3 hours. If you want to put this in the fridge overnight, do it at the 2 hour mark. When you take it out of the fridge the next day, let it rise and come to room temp for an hour, then continue on.

5. Divide into equal pieces, around 90-110g depending on how big you want the buns. Fold the corners inward, flip the folded part down and roll under your palm with your fingers in a claw shape, allowing the tension from the counter top to tighten the ball.

6. Allow the balls to rest for 10 minutes to seal on the bottom, then move them to a parchment lined greased baking sheet. This part may seem weird, but smoosh them down into more of a disc shape than a ball shape. Cover with a damp towel and allow to rise for an hour at room temperature.

7. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Brush the tops of the buns with whichever toppings you choose. Egg wash or aquafava mixture. I enjoy - like my bagels - a ton of sesame seeds on it, but that's all personal preference.

8. Place in the oven and spritz the top with water. Bake for 30-35 minutes until it reaches the perfect level of golden brown.

9. Remove them from the oven and immediately brush the tops with butter (or veg oil). Place them on a rack to cool entirely before cutting into them.

Look how good these look. I'm not good at bragging, but I'm amazing and these buns are even better than me.

I highly encourage you to try this recipe out. Homemade is always better than store bought, if not just for the love and care you put into it, but also that these are a delicious way to have potato buns at your next barbecue.

Leave a comment, tag us if you make this, let us know how it goes! Want to know my recipe for vegan black bean burgers that go with this bun? Leave a comment! This recipe will be available in the SOURJOE app very soon, but there are also so many other recipes and way more information inside the app. If you haven't already, sign up for a free 14-day trial to try it out. If you've never made bread before, we got you covered.

And of course, if you have any questions ever about anything, email us at info@sourjoe.com and one of us will respond as quick as we can. HAPPY BAKING!