Recipe: Waffleburgers

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You're going to make your own buns, right? Because you could just waffle some hamburger meat, slap it between two buns from a bag and call it a day.

But then you might as well just cook your hamburger in a frying pan like a normal person. And that's not why we're here.

This bun recipe is adapted from Peter Reinhart's book "The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread." It's a beautiful book.

In Reinhart's version, the buns are not waffled.

I made the recipe with buttermilk, although you may substitute whole milk.

If you enjoy having buttermilk in the house for pancakes, waffles or waffled hamburger buns, but don't use it often enough to justify buying a quart, look into powdered buttermilk, which is available online and at many Whole Foods stores. It's what I used in this recipe and it works perfectly.

Waffleburger buns

Makes 12 buns, waffled or unwaffled

Ingredients:

• 4 1/4 cups (19 ounces) unbleached bread flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 1 egg, lightly beaten, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup butter, at room temperature, or vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk at room temperature 

Directions:

1. Mix the flour, salt, sugar and yeast in a large bowl (or in the bowl of a stand mixer.) Pour in the egg, butter or oil and the buttermilk. Mix with a large spoon (or with the paddle attachment of the mixer) until the flour is absorbed and the dough forms a ball. If the dough seems stiff, add a tiny bit of water.

2. Sprinkle the counter with flour, transfer the dough to the counter and begin kneading (or mix with the dough hook in the stand mixer). The dough should be tacky, but not sticky. If necessary, add more flour, a bit at a time. Continue kneading for about eight minutes. (If you're using a mixer, the dough should clear the sides of the bowl and stick slightly to the bottom.) Lightly oil a bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl. Cover. 

3. Let rise at room temperature for about two hours, or until the dough has doubled in size. 

4. Remove the dough from the bowl and divide it into 12 pieces. On a counter cleared of flour and wiped with a damp cloth, shape the pieces into tight rounds with the cupped palm of a single hand.

5. Assuming you will not want to waffle all 12 buns, line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Place the dough pieces on the paper and press down to form the bun. At this point, the dough can be frozen. Just bring the pieces back to room temperature in a sealed, oiled zip-top bag before proceeding with the next step.

6. Let rise for 60 to 90 minutes, loosely covered with plastic wrap or a towel. The buns should be nearly doubled in size.

They are now ready for waffling.

[For those buns that you do not wish to waffle, brush them with an egg wash (1 egg beaten with a teaspoon of water), top them with sesame or poppy seeds, and place them in a 400-degree oven for about 15 minutes, or until golden brown.]

Preheat your waffle iron and brush with butter. (A silicone pastry brush will avoid tears and burns.)

Place the dough on the iron and close the lid. Check after about five minutes. You want the waffled buns to turn out golden brown and crisp.

Set aside your waffled buns. (They can be frozen and reheated in a very low oven for about 10 minutes — handy for when company drops in unexpectedly and you don't have the time to waffle them fresh buns from scratch.)

 

* * *

Waffleburgers

Ingredients:

Grass-fed beef, ground

Salt 

Pepper

Directions:

Season the beef and form it into a very thin patty. Place in the waffle iron and cook about four minutes. 

When your patty has cooked, remove it from the waffle iron. If you would like a waffleburger with cheese, top the patty with cheese, place it in the waffle iron and allow to waffle very briefly — about five seconds.

Garnish with the condiments of your choice. Revel in the triumph of the ridiculous.

Comments

[stephanie]

boy, everything looks tasty about this: the photos, the blog and the burger!

[kim]

the waffled cheese made my day....I cannot wait for more waffling

[Christine]

Does the burger taste very different when it's waffled? Surely the ridged texture alters the familiar flavors of the beef and bun. For example, is the waffled bun just as pliable as a regular bun? I'll have to try this to see for myself, of course. I'm curious to see how waffling enhances and changes the flavors of things.

[Sandra]

I never imagined that a waffle burger could look so good.

[Matt]

Damn, I hate to be a pedant on the big day of your soft-opening but I'm confused to as to whether Peter Reinhart's book is extraordinarily well reviewed or extraordinary and well reviewed.

And we don't have waffles in either England or Chile so the cultural association doesn't work on me but I'll try to read as often as possible. If the blog is half as good as Fruitslinger, it'll be __________ (please fill in the blank).

Good to see you back on a blog that you can comment on.

[martha]

OK, this is lovely. But can you make waffle soup? There's your 2010 challenge.

[Daniel]

Now, Matt, be honest: You don't hate to be a pedant.

The typographical error has been scrubbed and I thank you for your attention to the matter.

If anyone ever sees a glitch like that on the blog, please do let me know.

[Daniel]

Christine, the waffled bun is not as pliable as a regular bun, no. But in many ways, it's surprisingly similar to a hamburger bun given that it was, you know, made in a waffle iron. The same holds true for the waffleburger meat vs. conventionally cooked meat.

As with many of the waffled things to come, biting into what looks like a waffle and getting — in this case — a cheeseburger, is a bit of a mind-bender.

[grace]

methinks i'll never again look at my waffle maker the same way. no longer is it just a means for my maple syrup ingestion--the possibilities are endless!

[Joy]

Wow, I've been obsessed with my waffle iron recently but I would've never thought to make a burger with it! Now I'm thinking of making something like a McGriddle with it using a sweet "bun". Your photos are gorgeous, and I can't wait to see what the other 29 answers are!

[Carolyn Jung]

I love the "waffled'' cheese. So creative. OK, I must ask, though: When you did that, was it a pain in the you-know-what to clean up the waffle iron afterward? That's my only fear. ;)

[Daniel]

Oh, god, yes. It was an enormous pain in the ass. I mean, the buns were fine. But the hamburger left the waffle iron a greasy mess.

You'd think that's the sort of thing I'd mention in the post. Oops.

[Honeycoop]

Regarding the buttermilk - you can also add a spoonful of vinegar to milk to make a quick buttermilk. I was astonished when when it worked after a friend told me about it.

[Kathy]

Fantastic! Can't wait to find out myself what will waffle! Just a thought - to clean up the burger grease, what if you waffled a hamburger bun after? Perhaps the dough would soak up some of the grease? (and probably be rather tasty too .... ummmmm ... burger grease soaked buns) Or regular old waffle batter for that matter. Oh the wonderful possibilities.

[Daniel]

You're probably on to something. I ended up making a waffle just to soak up the grease a bit. But I was looking at the grease as a bug, not a feature.

I'm glad you're on my side, Kathy.

[Lorena]

That looks so delicious! I almost am tempted to go buy a waffle iron. Almost, i'm not convinced I'd use it enough. Maybe this Blog will change my mind!

[deardeedle]

First off - that looks awesome and tasty. Even at 10 in the morning.

Second - I had no idea powdered Buttermilk exists, and now I must find some.

Third - I'm glad you're back blogging Dan. I missed you. And I'm glad it's something funky and intriguing like you, food, chefs and a waffle iron.

[Kacey]

This is so wonderful! Great job!!! I love forward to making this.

[Rob]

"meatwaffles" became a topic of discussion about a year ago on identi.ca so I decided to try and make some. Turned out very nice. I need to do so again.

[Sarah Jio]

Fun idea! I plan on linking to this on my Glamour magazine health and fitness blog tomorrow (hope that's OK). I'll credit the photo to this blog, of course, with a link back. Thank you! --Sarah

[AddiesDad]

We made waffled grilled cheese over the weekend (before I even knew about this blog!), and they were fun and tasty!

[STL Mom]

These look fantastic.
Just wanted to let everyone know that if you are going to use it for cooking, you can freeze buttermilk. When it thaws out it will separate a little, but just stir it up and it's fine in waffles or pancakes. Use what you need for this recipe, and freeze the rest for later use.

[dee]

I tried to talk my boyfriend into making these. He told me not to touch the waffle maker. :(

They look delicious! :)

[Mrs. Mordecai]

This blog makes me smile. And want to get out my waffle iron.

[Giggles]

I will definitely be trying these.

[Sarah]

Oh.My.God. Look at that cheese! and those buns!
Wow. I'm thinking 30 waffleized recipes isn't going to be enough. No sir.

[Camille]

Just made homemade hamburger buns for the first time on Friday for a pot luck. Too bad I didn't see this until today -- can you imagine showing up to a party and getting waffled burgers and buns! LOL

[Daniel]

I can't imagine not.

[Michael F.]

Dan, your's is perhaps the greatest blog I will stumble upon today.

I applaud your culinary inventiveness, sense of humor, and expert waffleization skills.

You make me wish I owned a waffle maker.

Waffle on, man!

[Stacy]

Hi There,
I was inspired by your waffleizing adventures and tried to make a waffle burger at home, I blogged about it on my site! www.pileofsticks.com/blog (my first post)

ps - they were delicious!

[sana]

looks brilliant!! I have never eaten a waffle till now but I just know that I will love this.. great site!!

[nizmo]

I would think you could combine some ground beef (slightly cooked) directly onto the raw dough and waffle both - a kind of hamburger helper, and then sprinkle on cheese afterward while it is warm. It saves a lot of steps!

[John Peters]

Hey, Has anyone heard of a waffle wrap it is similar to a filled crepe but with a crispy waffle crust? I want a recipe that would compete with the crepe at the local Farmers Market. It needs to be easy to carry around and eat like a crepe.

[Bob C.]

I think I'd want a waffle bun but the meat should have the inverse pattern so they fit together. I had the same thought as Nizmo - a 1 step operation with a layer of dough, a layer of meat and another layer of dough.

[Burgerman]

www.waffleburger.com

This guy says he inventied the Waffleburger. He is coming up with a over the grill waffle iron to make a waffled meat burger. I will be his first customer. The damn things taste great especially if you like condiments!

[Billy Burger]

Just purchased his waffleburger.com unit. Had a bunch of friends over to have a Waffleburger Party!! Everyone called this guyt to order their own. Wish I invented the thing.