How is it that I’ve never made hamburger buns? I’m not sure, but I remedied that with these gorgeous, easy buns from the folks at King Arthur Flour.

The dough can be made by hand or in a machine – I used the dough hook on my Kitchen Aid. It was as simple as dumping the ingredients into the bowl and turning the motor on.

The result is a soft, silky, smooth dough that’s very easy to work with. After a quick initial rise, I divided the dough up into rounds. I decided to make mine on the smaller size – like large slider buns. Once shaped, the dough rises again and then the tops get a slathering of melted butter before and after baking. They’re delicious.

These would be great with any sort of burger – meat or vegetarian. I made a simple pork burger that uses dressed-up commercial barbecue sauce for flavor. It’s topped with a bit of coleslaw for crunch. I loved these and I think they’d be great for a party.

• Beautiful Burger Buns (King Arthur Flour)
• Barbecued Pork Burgers with Slaw (Gourmet, August 2007)