WHOLE WHEAT AND OAT BURGER BUNS

It's hard to find 100% whole flour anything with n(o)il.  I've been testing a couple ideas for buns that can be used for different burgers and sandwiches.  These are easy, contain n(o)il, do not use sourdough starter...oh,  and they're delicious.

Ingredients:

3 cups Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
1/2 cup oat flour
1 1/2 cups water
1 packets of active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
4 tablespoons vital wheat gluten (optional)
1 teaspoons fine sea salt
1 tablespoons organic honey or agave syrup


When I'm making bread, especially when it's still cold outside, I like to turn my oven into a warming oven.  I turn the oven on for about 3-5 minutes and let it heat to around 75-85 degrees.  I don't actually measure this, I just put my hand in and if it's comfortably warm, it's ready.  Turn off the heat

Heat the water to between 110º and 115º Farenheit(about 1 minute 15 seconds in the microwave).  If it's too hot you'll kill the yeast.  Now, in a large bowl pour the water and agave or honey in and sprinkle the yeast on the top.  It should be fully active in about 10-15 minutes.  The water will get cloudy and form a foam on top.

Add 2 cups of the flour to the yeast and water and stir until well mixed.  Cover the mixture with plastic kitchen wrap and put it in the oven for 1 hour 15 minutes. When it's ready you'll see lots of gas bubbles.

If you're using a mixer with a dough hook, put all of the remaining dry ingredients (except the oat flour) in the bowl of the mixer. Blend them with a whisk.   Add the yeast/water/sweetener  mixture to the dry and begin the kneading process.  After about 5 minutes of kneading, add the remaining 1/2 cup of oat flour and continue kneading for another 10 minutes.  The dough should not be sticking to the sides of the bowl at this point.  The dough will be sticky and firm at the same time.  Wet your hands and remove the dough to a bowl that has a scant mist of cooking spray to keep it from sticking, or if you're using a silicon bowl, not necessary.  Cover the dough in plastic kitchen wrap and return it to the oven for an hour and a half.

If you're doing this by hand, use the extra 1/2 cup of flour to dust your kneading surface and knead for about 10 minutes.

8 of the twelve I ultimately put on the pan

Once the dough has doubled in size, remove the plastic and deflate the dough with your fist to the middle.  This dough will yield about 12 buns.  If you're a stickler with measurements, weigh the dough and divide by 12 and you'll come up with the weight for each bun.  If not, eye it.  I pull off about a lemon size amount of dough and roll it in my hand.  I then place it on a Silpat (silicon lining) lined baking sheet and flatten it to look like the picture below.  Once you have all of the buns ready, cover with a towel and put it back in the oven for the second rise.  This rise will be about 45 minutes to an hour.  Wholewheat bread doesn't have a big oven rise like white flour, but it does have a slight one.  After about 45 minutes of the rise, remove the rising buns from the oven and preheat the oven to 375º.  Bake the buns for approximately 20 minutes or until they are golden brown and sound hollow when you tap the bottom.  Always let fresh bread rest for about an hour after baking as it continues to cook when it's out of the oven.