No More Plain Burgers. How to Make Your Burgers Special

That's a Black Russian Hamburger and a Salsa Bread Hamburger

It's burgers all summer. Plain burgers. What can you do to make them special?

They've never had burgers like these before. They've never seen burgers like these. And they taste even better than they look.

These burgers will blow them away.

If you have a bread mix in your pantry, you can easily convert that into homemade hamburger buns.

Follow the instructions on the package but use the dough setting on your bread machine, setting no. 8 on most machines.

After the machine has done its thing, put a little shortening on your hands to keep things from sticking, and remove the dough.

With a sharp knife, divide the dough into eight equal pieces. I'm a little OC so I use a kitchen scale to get them all the same size but that's not necessary.  Form each into round buns as if you were making dinner rolls and space them on a prepped 11x17-inch baking sheet.

Now, here's the first key: With the back of your hand, press each bun down, squash them, as in the picture above, and cover them loosely to let them rise. I use a proofing bag but you can use plastic wrap. Press the plastic under the edges of the pan to trap the air but make it loose so that the dough can rise.

Let it be for a half hour or so. Peel the plastic back and press the buns with the back of your hand again just like you did before and cover them again.  Put the baking sheet in a warm place in the kitchen (like the top of the refrigerator or in front of a sunlit window) and let it be.

Now you want the dough to rise and rise. How long depends on how warm your kitchen spot is. You want it to rise until it's all puffed up. That will take at least a another half hour and maybe an hour.  Let it rise until it's puffy and then some more.

After it starts to rise, set your oven to 350 degrees and start it heating.

Now, what to watch for and this is important: Let it rise more than you think. Watch for little blisters starting to form under the skin of the buns. That's the sign.(If blisters actually form, that's okay. Pop them with the point of a knife.) Take the plastic off, and stick the pan in the oven. Set the timer for 20 minutes. Bake them until they turn  light brown.  Every oven is different; it's okay to peek at them five minutes early to see how they're doing.

The urge is to take them out early. The best solution is to take one out when they look done, take the probe of your kitchen thermometer, stick it through the bottom the bun and see if the temp is 190 degrees. If it is, take the pan out, and with a spatula, remove buns to a cooling rack.

They're done. Enjoy the best burgers of your life.

Fun breads for burger buns:

• Sour Cream Onion Bread Mix
• Black Russian Bread Mix
• Cheesy Salsa Bread Mix
• Cheddar Cheese Bread 
• Tuscany Tomato Bread
• Diego's Jalapeno Cheese Bread