Cooking Burgers

In this lecture you will learn about the ingredients and proportions used for basic hamburger buns dough. Water, yeast, sugar, oil, milk, eggs, flour and salt. Mixing the ingredients really well before kneading the dough helps them to combine and evenly distribute through the entire mass, so that the raising and development occur with consistency.

In this lecture you will learn about the correct methods and about the importance of nicely kneading the dough for hamburger buns. Stretching and folding of the dough will only last for about zix to eight minutes, otherwise you will have the chances to overwork the dough. Kneading, stretching and folding of the dough help the gluten activate and modify the texture of the dough, allowing the air to inflate the dough during the fermentation process. Proofing the dough for two hours with one more folding after one hour will assure a correct development of the dough.

In this lecture you will learn to divide, shape and proof the buns on the tray before final touches and baking. Weighing the quantities of dough will help you obtain equal buns, suitable for the type of burgers or sliders you decide to prepare. Shaping of the buns is made two times, so that they will be perfectly round and even before the final proofing. Final proofing is, probably, the most important stage of preparing the burger buns, as their shape and size will not modify any more before placing the trays in the oven, for baking.

Glazing the buns with water or other different mixtures of liquids helps with the final color and presentation, but also participates into sticking the final decor to the top of the buns. This operations needs a lot of care and attention, as any wrong move could damage the structure of the buns. I chose to finish my buns with water and sesame seeds, but there are many other options, depending on your own inspiration or on the final destinations of the buns.

In this lecture you will learn about the results of both good and wrong decisions the instructor has taken in the previous lectures. You can see the correct and incorrect final look and development of the hamburger buns., depending on the development of the dough ingredients and especially on the spacing of the shaped buns for the final proofing, on the trays.

This lecture contains the recipe and the whole cooking process of a low carb hamburger bun. It is made of unconventional flours, like almond, linseed, coconut or psyllium husk powder. The rising of the dough is influenced by the eggs and the baking powder used as ingredients. This hamburger bun is perfectly suitable in a ketogenic or low carb diet. For impressive results, I do encourage you to use some rings or at least a muffin tray.

In this lecture you will learn one of the multiple manners of making ketchup at home, with easy to find ingredients. It is always good to know the contents of such an ordinary sauce that you can find in every store around you and to choose your own formula of flavors, spices or more proeminent ingredients.

This barbecue sauce uses the homemade ketchup in the previous lesson as a base for a more intense, smoky, tangy and sweeter sauce. It is also more concentrated, simmered and reduced to the desired thickness and intensity. The brown sugar, the cloves, the smoked paprika and the apple cider vinagre contribute to the complexity of the flavors and qualify this sauce for both marinating and pairing your raw and cooked meats, poultry or vegetables.

Mayonese or mayonnaise is a very common and easy to make cold sauce. In this lesson, you will learn how to very easily transform a simple mayo in new formulas. Using a multitude of flavors with a simple classic mayonese, you will discover a whole universe of sauces that you can use depending on the type of the burgers you decide to make.

Yogurt, especially fat Greek yogurt is also a very suitable base to start from, in creating new and different sauces and dips. In this lesson, I mix yogurt with garlic, mint and goats cheese and obtain an onctuous dressing. Dried oregano adds a more Mediteranean touch and qualifies the dressing as one of the most suitable pairings for a lamb burger.

In this lesson, Greek yogurt becomes sweet and spicy, gaining in personality and versatility of uses. Using smoked paprika, chili pepper and sugar, this yogurt dressing literally takes seconds to make. It can be paired with different types of cheese, grilled vegetables, fish etc.

In this lesson you will learn to cook another type of ketchup, made of roast pepper and flavored with garlic. It is definitely the only recipe for roast pepper garlic, but it is for surte a simple and easy to make at home version. Garlic, paprika and balsamic vinegar contribute to the final result in a delicious way.

In this lesson you will learn to make a dressing/garnish mostly used for fish or seafood. Toasted hazelnuts cooked with capers, lemon and butter. It is a marvellous mixture of flavors and textures that can easily fit in a burger, but can be also used in different fish dishes.

In this lesson you will learn to make a super-easy cold sauce that follows the principles of the classic vinaigrette, but goes to completely different levels of flavor due to the ingredients that replace the classic ones. Wasabi instead of mustard, lime juice instead of vinegar and toasted sesame oil instead of usual vegetable oil. It works perfectly on sea-themed plates and, of course, on a shrip and mussels burger like the one we made in one of the future lessons.

In this lesson you will see how easy you can make a dressing desatinated mainly to poultry dishes and burgers. This sauce uses Dijon mustard as a base, honey as an emulsifier and fresh tarragon leaves as the main flavor ingredient. Tarragon is probably the best herbal pairing for chicken, while mustard and honey create a good constrast that inhances the flavorful result.