Fresh Milled Hot Dog Buns
Prep
25 min
Bake
18 min
Total time
43 min
Hydration
68%
Fresh milled hot dog buns are soft enriched rolls shaped into 5–6 inch logs, proofed until pillowy, and baked side-by-side for tender pull-apart sides.
Key Takeaways
- Mill hard white wheat for the softest crumb; blend in spelt for tenderness.
- Enrich with milk, butter, egg, and a touch of honey for grocery-style softness.
- Shape tight logs and proof side-by-side so they support each other.
- Brush with butter right after baking for a glossy, soft crust.
About this recipe
Soft, pillowy hot dog buns made with 100% fresh milled flour. Yield 8 buns. Prep 25 min, proof 90 min, bake 18 min.
Ingredients
- Fresh milled hard white wheat flour480 g (about 4 cups, sifted)
- Warm whole milk (100°F)300 g (1¼ cups)
- Honey30 g (1½ Tbsp)
- Instant yeast7 g (2¼ tsp)
- Egg, room temp1 large (50 g)
- Unsalted butter, softened45 g (3 Tbsp)
- Fine sea salt9 g (1½ tsp)
- Melted butter for brushing15 g (1 Tbsp)
Instructions
- 1
Whisk milk, honey, and yeast; let sit 5 minutes until foamy.
- 2
Add flour, egg, butter, and salt. Mix until shaggy, then autolyse 20 minutes.
- 3
Knead 8–10 minutes by stand mixer (or 12 by hand) until a soft, tacky dough forms.
- 4
Bulk ferment 60 minutes in a covered bowl until nearly doubled.
- 5
Divide into 8 equal pieces (about 115 g each). Shape each into a tight 5½-inch log.
- 6
Place logs in two rows on a parchment-lined sheet, sides just touching.
- 7
Proof 30–45 minutes until puffy and the buns press into each other.
- 8
Bake at 375°F (190°C) for 16–18 minutes until golden.
- 9
Brush with melted butter and cool 15 minutes before pulling apart.
fresh flour baking guide for beginners — hydration, gluten development, and grain choice tips that make this recipe work.
Learn about this grain: Spelt guide — flavor, milling notes, baking tips, and four in-depth guides on hydration, storage, and common mistakes. Or browse more Spelt recipes.
Learn a technique
All guides →- How to Autolyse Fresh Milled FlourCombine flour and water and let it rest before adding yeast and salt. Bran softens, gluten develops passively, and the final dough is dramatically easier to handle.
- How to Stretch and Fold DoughEvery 30 minutes during bulk ferment, lift one side of the dough, stretch up, and fold over the top. Rotate 90° and repeat.
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Related Techniques
How to Autolyse Fresh Milled Flour
Combine flour and water and let it rest before adding yeast and salt. Bran softens, gluten develops passively, and the final dough is dramatically easier to handle.
How to Stretch and Fold Dough
Every 30 minutes during bulk ferment, lift one side of the dough, stretch up, and fold over the top. Rotate 90° and repeat.
Related Troubleshooting
How do I know if my dough is under-proofed?
Dough goes into the oven before fermentation has built enough gas and gluten extensibility, producing a dense, tight loaf.
Why is my crumb too tight and dense?
Bread with a uniformly tight, small-holed crumb rather than the open, airy structure you wanted.
Why is my fresh milled dough too sticky?
Fresh milled dough sticks to hands, bench, and bannetons and never feels manageable.
Related Conversions
Bread Flour to Fresh Milled Flour
Bread flour is refined, high-protein endosperm. To replace it you need a grain with comparable protein, which means hard red wheat at 13–14%. The swap is 1:1 by weight; add 7–10% more water and autolyse 30–60 minutes so the bran softens before you build strength. Fermentation runs 10–25% faster, not slower — check the dough early rather than extending bulk. Bread Flour to Hard Red Wheat carries the detailed figures. If you want a lighter loaf and can accept slightly less strength, Bread Flour to Hard White Wheat runs +5–8%.
All-Purpose Flour to Fresh Milled Flour
This is the general principle: all-purpose is refined endosperm, fresh milled flour is the whole kernel, so it drinks more water and ferments 10–20% faster. The swap is 1:1 by weight in every case; only the water changes. Which grain you mill decides how much. Hard white wheat is the closest analog to all-purpose and the numbers on this page follow it — for the detailed, per-bake breakdown use All-Purpose to Hard White Wheat. If you want more flavor and can accept a darker crumb, All-Purpose to Hard Red Wheat runs +7–10% instead.