Half-Pound Burgers On Homemade Buns

We served the burgers open faced with the condiments on the side so that guest could assemble them as they desired. We also served a side of chips or roasted potatoes.

I don't think I've seen bigger or better burgers than the ones we served today at the Wednesday Community Meal - a half-pound burger on a homemade bun and topped with cheese, pickles, onion and tomato.

It was so much fun treating our guests today and boy were we busy. We served 354 meals.

Pat, one of our servers said there were lots of happy guests in the dining room. "They just see the burger on the plate and they smile," she said.

When one of the guests was leaving I said "I hope you enjoyed it and I hope you come back."

"Oh man," he said,  "That was a great burger and the bun took it to the next level."

Besides enhancing the meal, the homemade buns helped us utilize the flour that we get from The Oregon Food Bank. Making the buns instead of buying them saved us lots of money.

I began making the buns just after 8 a.m. this morning using my favorite French bread recipe and multiplying it by 24. By 10:30 a.m. we were pulling trays of just-baked buns out of the oven.

Rising dough.

Fresh out of the oven hamburger buns.

There were so many volunteers who were needed to help pull the meal together in the kitchen. Thank you Cheryl, Cindy, Bill, Jay, Steve, Dave, Mary, Leah, Martha, Anne, Kate, Linda, Jeff, Gwen, Ann and Linda B. - you are wonderful!

Super volunteer Anne even smiled as she plated the burgers.

The kitchen was hopping today - we served 354 meals.

Jeff (left) cooked and assembled all the burgers, Gwen managed the ovens added cheese to the burgers and Linda (in back) sliced all the buns.

Here is  the French Bread recipe that I love:

French Bread
(makes 4 loaves)
2 packages yeast
2/3 cup tepid water
1/2 teaspoon sugar
7 cups bread flour (additional may be needed)
2 tablespoons rye or whole wheat flour
4 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 cups cold water
(cornmeal for sprinkling on sheet pan or parchment paper)

Combine yeast, sugar and tepid water. Let set for 5 minutes.
Combine the remaining ingredients then add yeast mixture. Knead.

Let rise 40 to 60 minutes in a clean, dry bowl. Then deflate and punch into a 14-inch rectangle and fold into thirds.

Return dough to bowl and let rise 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Make loaves and let rise another  1 1/2 hours.

Place loaves on baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal or lined with parchment paper, slash and place in a preheated 450 degree oven tossed with 1/4 cup of water. Bake 20 minutes and then bake an additional 10 minutes at 400 degrees.