Tomato Burger Buns

This was a fairly stiff dough to work with - I should have smoothed the outsides a little more during shaping before baking - but the insides come out fluffy and soft and perfectly delicious! These have just a bit of tomato flavor and beautiful orange / red color from the paste. For me this was a great way to use up the rest of a can I'd opened for a recipe!

These buns work so well for burgers, BLTs, pretty much any sandwich! Shape them large or small, make burger slider buns, or make 8 full sized buns with this recipe. Because this is a stiffer dough, mine took quite a bit of time between rises - I listed more traditional times below, but I let mine rise a LOT longer to get doubling of the dough between rises.

Tomato Burger Buns from Chocolate and Zucchini

Ingredients
2 teaspoons instant yeast
1/2 cup minus 2 teaspoons teaspoon warm water
15 ounces bread flour
2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 egg
1 1/4 ounces unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup unsalted tomato purée

For brushing:
3 tablespoons milk or 1 egg, beaten with a little water

Directions

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the yeast, warm water, and sugar. Stir to combine then let stand 10-15 minutes until frothy.
2. Add the dough hook to your stand mixer, and on medium speed add in the salt, egg, softened butter, tomato puree and the flour a little at a time (turn speed down if needed so flour doesn't fly out).
3. Once flour is mostly incorporated, turn speed up to again to medium / medium-high and until a dough ball forms. Allow to knead for about 3-5 minutes. Dough will be soft.
4. Remove dough from bowl and add some oil. Return dough ball to bowl, and flip so both sides are lightly coated in oil. Cover with a tea towel and allow to rise in a warm place for about 1  to 1 1/2 hours until doubled in size.
5. Punch dough down. Scrape dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 8 equal pieces. Shape into rolls / buns. Place on 2 parchment lined baking sheets and cover again with tea towels until risen (another 1 to 1 1/2 hours).
6. Preheat oven to 360 degrees when ready to bake.
7. Gently brush tops of buns with beaten egg or a little bit of milk, do not deflate.
8. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, until golden brown and baked through. Transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool completely before eating or storing.