New England Style Split Top Hot Dog Rolls

Chicago has several "gourmet" sausage spots, like Hot Doug's and Frank 'n Dawgs.  Frank 'n Dawgs in particular uses these awesome split top buns that are buttered and toasted on the sides giving a nice crunchy exterior, and while they are supposedly available on the east coast I've had little luck finding them around Chicago.  So after seeing an article in the King Arthur Flour mailer I set out to make some for myself.

The first thing was to source the proper pan to bake the rolls in, naturally I went to Amazon.com first and found what I was looking for.   This pan  was just what I was looking for.  Since I was about to go down to visit my parents, I just had it shipped to their address so I could try it out before I made the return trip home.

There are several recipes to find on the internet, the first one I tried was here.  The buns were tasty, but the first batch was a disaster.  I think it was just a case of bad yeast, the rolls didn't rise at all even after an overnight ferment.  I tried to dissolve some fresh yeast in a little water and knead it in which did get a little rise, but the final buns were small and dense.  I set the pan aside for a few months before trying again, this time I just went to the original source of inspiration for the recipe, King Arthur Flour.  The recipe can be displayed by volume, ounces or grams (which is my preference).  This is what I used for 10 rolls...

AP Flour          361 grams     100%
Water               222 grams       61%
Sugar                 25 grams       6.9%
Yeast (IDY)         6 grams       1.6%
Salt                       7 grams         2%
Dry Milk             28 grams       7.8%
Potato Flour        43 grams        12%
Large Egg            47 grams       13%
Butter (soft)          28 grams        8%

I put the sugar in the bowl of my Kitchenaid stand mixer and poured in 200 grams of water to dissolve it a little bit, then the yeast was added and allowed to hydrate a little.  Next I added the egg, dry milk powder, potato flour and topped it with the flour.  The salt was added on top along with the soft butter.  The bowl was placed in the mixer and the bread hook attached.  After a few minuted of kneading it was apparent that more water was needed, so it was added little by little until a smooth dough ball formed.  The kneading continued for about 4 minutes longer.  I weighed the dough ball after kneading and determined that 22 additional grams of water had been needed, good to know for the next time.  The dough ball was placed in an oiled bowl, covered with plastic wrap and allowed to ferment for about 2-3 hours.

The finished dough ball weighed 767 grams, so I scaled it in to 10 76 gram balls.  Each ball was flattened and rolled up as if it were a tiny baguette and placed in the bun pan that had been pre-sprayed with Pam.  I also sprayed Pam on a sheet pan and placed it over the buns with some stainless steel bowls on top as weight while they were rising.  The total rising time took about 65 minutes, toward the end of this time I preheated the oven to 375°.  The buns were placed in the oven with the weighted sheet pan still on top and allowed to bake for about 18 minutes, the the sheet pan was removed and the buns baked uncovered for another 6-7 minutes to brown.  They were allowed to cool in the pan for 5 minuted before turning them out on to a cooling rack.  Since I had to put the rack pretty far down in the oven, just above the Baking Steel, the bottoms weren't as brown as I would have liked, so I put them back in the oven (this time set for convection) to give them a little more color.

This is the final result, the rolls filled the pan up to the sheet pan cover, are full size and fluffy.  They also smell great!  Just before the sausages are ready I'll cut the rolls apart, butter the sides and griddle until crisp.  I think they will go great with the assorted sausages I picked up from Gepperth's Market yesterday.  I know it's a lot of trouble to go to to make something that play a supporting role for the sausage, but if you're going to spend the money on a premium sausage you might as well serve it on a premium (and home made) bun!  These are also the style of roll you would use for lobster rolls, but that will have to wait for another day!