I’ve successfully made burger buns, so I thought I’d give hot dog buns a try. These turned out pretty well. I haven’t found plastic-free hot dogs (except soy dogs and I don’t like those) so I ate the buns with sausages that I bought in my own container, mustard that came in a glass jar and sauerkraut. The only issue with the buns was that they were too short, so I had to cut a sausage in half so it would fit. So if you make these, I would suggest making 12 instead of 16 and shaping them so they are longer. Other than that, they’re pretty good and they don’t come in a plastic bag. Here’s how to make them. Oh, and sorry for the poor photo quality. My iPhone 3GS (I’m pretty sure I’m the only person who still has that model) was the only camera available for me to use at the moment and it doesn’t have great camera quality. But I’m pretty sure you can still figure out how to make hot dog buns from the pictures. So here goes.

• 2 tablespoons brown sugar (bulk)
• 1 1/2 tbsp yeast (I buy it in a glass jar)
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 2 cups warm milk (I buy milk in glass bottles)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil (I buy it in bulk and refill an old olive oil bottle)
• 2 teaspoons salt (bulk)
• 3 cups white flour (I buy it in bulk or in paper bags)
• 3 cups whole wheat flour (Bulk or paper bags)
• 1 cup oats (bulk and not pictured because I didn’t decide to put them in until after I started making the dough)
• 1 egg mixed with 1 tbsp water (egg wash)

Whisk together sugar, salt and yeast. Proof for 5 minutes.

Add milk, olive oil, salt and white flour. Beat with a wooden spoon for two minutes.

Add whole wheat flour and oats. Mix until you have a dough. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface.

Knead for 8 to 10 minutes, or until smooth and elastic. Tip for kneading: listen to rap. It’ll make the time pass faster. Two songs and you’re done! Place the kneaded dough in a greased bowl. Cover and let rise in a warm place for about an hour. I like to use the oven for this because it has a pilot light and is always a little warm.

Take the dough out and punch it down. But first, look how much that rose up in an hour! Putting dough in a warm place to rise makes all the difference.

Now punch. This is my favorite part.

Divide into pieces. I divided the dough into 16 pieces, but like I said above, my buns were too short. So I would go with 12 pieces. Roll each piece into a cylinder and put it on a baking sheet. Flatten each cylinder a little bit. I use Silpats, but using parchment paper or greasing your baking sheets will also work.

Let rise for 45 minutes to an hour.

Brush with egg wash. Bake for 20 minutes at 400 degrees, or until buns are nicely browned and sound hollow when tapped.

Now eat some hot dogs and enjoy!