Slider Buns -Mini Burger Buns

I've been quite unwell the last 6 months, so I have refrained from doing any new projects. If you've noticed my lull, I appologise-new babies and health problems don't mix well with food blogging. With Christmas on the radar, I am back into cooking! So much of the mirth around Christmas time revolves about food, dinner tables shared with family and friends and an added emphasis on gourmet foods and drinks.
Recently we had a fundraising beer tasting session which I volunteered to cater for to raise money for St Philomena's School in Park Ridge. It's a blossoming little Catholic school where my eldest son is starting prep next year. (Yes, I'm feeling sad already!)
I made lots of scrumptious finger food and thought how well the same food might go at a Christmas party or gathering with friends on Boxing Day.
I did a quick poll on facebook about what foods people would like at the beer tasting, and slider buns came out on top. You know those adorable miniature hamburger buns you sometimes see in magazines and on blogs? Well I couldn't for the life of me find where to get hold of them  (apparently Coles sells them but I'm thinking that might be a grand old myth.)
Well they're the perfect entertaining bread roll. And I needed them.
So I made them from scratch and they were fabulous. Cute even.
Hubby cooked up a pork roast and we shredded it, and threw on a bit of lettuce with mayo for the centres too. Scrum-diddly-umptious!
They were a hit! The favourite of the night by quite a few accounts.
And just on a side note, the beer presenter and connoisseur Matt Kirkgard was nothing short of fabulous. If you ever get the chance to go to one of his tastings, run to it! I don't even like beer and completely enjoyed myself listening to him from the kitchen. It was fascinating and funny and everyone had a wonderful time.
So try out these gorgeous home made mini burger buns. They're perfect for entertaining and will be a big hit on your Christmas table for friends and family big and small. Merry Christmas!

SLIDER BUNS-MINI BURGER BUNS (adapted from Cook Republic)

7g dried yeast
250ml (1 cup) lukewarm water
400g bread flour, extra for dusting
1/2 tsp salt
2-3 tbsp. sesame seeds
1 egg, beaten

Preheat the oven to 250C and line and grease two cookie trays with non stick paper.
In a large bowl, combine yeast and water, and set aside until foamy, approximately 5-10 minutes.
Add the flour and salt. Lightly flour a clean surface. Gently mix the contents of the bowl, and dump this loose dough onto the prepared surface. Kneed for 10 minutes until soft and elastic and well incorporated. Roll the dough into a smooth ball.
Lightly grease a glass bowl and place the dough inside. cover with cling wrap and let it sit to rise for 30 minutes.
It should double in size.
Knock back dough and divide into 24 golf ball sized rounds. Roll them a little bit in your palms to get a nice shape.
Place them on the prepared trays with a generous gap between them to allow for spreading. Cover the trays with clean tea towels and allow them to double in size, about 10-15 minutes.
Beat the egg and blush this egg on the tops of each uncooked roll. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Place in the preheated oven. Spay the bottom of the oven with water and cook for 10-12 minutes.
Serve warm with your choice of filling. You can also freeze these for 2 months.

Makes 24

Mediterranean Bread Knots

One of my readers once asked me "who eats all this stuff you bake? I mean look at you!" Okay first of all, I WAS slim, now I'm fat by choice. Baby belly that is. I still feel fat, even though I know its all baby and the fact my guts have been pushed up into my ribcage. Secondly, the reason I can eat rubbish incredibly delicious food all the time is because I am what they call a thyroid build, so my metabolism is great--for the moment. Then I will look like that old woman who swallowed the dog to catch the cat to catch the bird to catch the fly that wriggled and jiggled and tickled inside her. It will catch up with me in the next ten years, I predict, when my thyroid has had enough of my junk addiction and is all tired out from over-working. Thirdly, most of the time when I bake its due to having guests over or for a special occasion, which is practically always. So now that you understand I don't own a cake shop, and I don't just sit at home gorging myself--I just want to put it out there that, if any locals don't like cooking themselves, but want a box of goodies for a party or do, I'm free and willing to cater. Cooking to me is one of life's greatest pleasures. I do it because I love it and I am totally addicted to it. People ask me where I find the time and I have no answer for that one--I just find it. Its like when you HAVE to get something done on a certain day, you just move your work around and re-prioritise. I guess its a bit like that!
Now, on to talking of food! Bread has long been one of those things I put into the unknown basket...but recently its become a fascination of mine. Occasionally I find an amazing recipe and make it, and love it and drool over the idea of making it again and again for weeks. Well, I found a real winner, and its perfect for beginners too, because I am just that. I found it on another blog, Swapna's Cuisine. I dont think it was her recipe but I want to recognise it all the same. She inspired me. She called them "Soft Garlic Knots" but I've adapted the recipe and well...hers looked much nicer, because I was changing a nappy when I was meant to be retrieving them from the oven. So the tops were a little browner than I expected, but they were super delicious! So soft and buttery inside, not at all what I expected! They stayed soft and fresh for the next day too, and certainly didn't last long in the house...they were rapidly devoured. Apologies about the poor quality photos...they were snapped hastily with a dying camera battery.

MEDITERRANEAN BREAD KNOTS (adapted from http://swapnascuisine.blogspot.com/)

DOUGH:

3 cups bread flour
1 tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. dry yeast
1 1/4 salt
2 tbsp. seasoned oil*
1/4 cup milk
1 cup lukewarm water

GLAZE:

3 tbsp. Mediterranean seasoning
1 tsp. crushed garlic
2 tbsp. seasoned olive oil


Place flour, sugar, yeast and salt in a large bowl. Stir to combine, and then add the oil, milk and water. Mix the ingredients with your hand until a dough forms. Kneed the dough for 8-10 minutes with your hands in the bowl until the dough is soft and pliable, and forms a ball. Brush a little oil over the surface of the dough and place in bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and sit for 1 hour until it has doubled in mass.
Take the dough and make into ten even portions. Roll each piece into a ten inch long rope and tie a knot in the middle. Take the end laying above the knot and fold it underneath and back into the centre. Take the end underneath the knot and fold it over the top and into the knot centre. Place on lined baking trays and cover with a clean tea towel for a further 45 minutes until puffy.

Preheat the oven to 175C. Combine the ingredients for the glaze. Brush over the tops of each roll with a pastry brush. Bake until lightly browned, approximately 15-18 minutes. Served warm with butter.

NOTES: you can use any mix of herbs for the glaze seasoning. Self raising flour seemed to work just as well as a bread flour. Seasoned oil is something I keep in my fridge. I don't know if you can buy it, but mine is the herbed oil remaining in a jar of sun-dried tomatoes when they have been used up. This oil has a beautiful flavour and is flecked with different herbs, but olive oil is an okay substitute.