Need gluten-free Bun & Roll Tips

[organicmama]

I'd like to make gluten-free hamburger buns and dinner rolls soon. I have a great bread recipe, so I figure converting or finding a new one shouldn't be a big deal. Feel free to offer one up that you love. However, is there an easy way to shape buns and rolls? With the batter-like consistency, I'm thinking that roll making could be quite difficult without specialized pans (if they exist). What do you guys do?

[Bubba's Mom]

I haven't tried making breads myself, but I read on blog to take aluminun foil and make little forms for the buns. I can't remember which one off hand...

There's another one with a recipe and instructions.

Open Original Shared Link

[sa1937]

I'd like to make gluten-free hamburger buns and dinner rolls soon. I have a great bread recipe, so I figure converting or finding a new one shouldn't be a big deal. Feel free to offer one up that you love. However, is there an easy way to shape buns and rolls? With the batter-like consistency, I'm thinking that roll making could be quite difficult without specialized pans (if they exist). What do you guys do?

You may very well be able to use your favorite bread recipe to make buns/rolls. I've occasionally made a single roll just to test it to see if various bread recipes would work.

I've made hamburger buns using Open Original Shared Link and they actually turned out very good. I used ginger ale as I don't know where on earth I'd ever find gluten-free beer around here. I do have her flour but here's a recipe for her Open Original Shared Link, which I think is the same.

I used muffin top pans to bake them, which I think would be a lot easier than using English muffin rings. Plopped an ice cream scoop of dough/batter into each one and then sorta flattened and shaped them with wet fingertips. I think you'd probably also be able to do this on a baking sheet although be careful not to make them too big. I know hamburger and hot dog pans are available but they're pretty expensive. For dinner rolls, I'm sure you could use cupcake pans.

[RiceGuy]

I use a round, 2-cup pyrex dish, which makes a decent roll/bun of about 4" diameter.

[organicmama]

RiceGuy, do you cook in the pyrex or just shape with it?

[RiceGuy]

RiceGuy, do you cook in the pyrex or just shape with it?

I rise and bake it in the pyrex dish.

[organicmama]

Brilliant! I have a bunch of those

[bbuster]

I rise and bake it in the pyrex dish.

me too! I have a collection - some that are about 3.5 inches diameter and rounded on the bottom that I use for rolls, and some that are maybe 5 inches around with a flat bottom that I use for buns. Spray liberally with cooking spray, plop in the dough, and smooth with very wet fingers and a light touch.

[bbuster]

Brilliant! I have a bunch of those

you can also portion off some dough into your small dish(es) and cover with plastic wrap touching the dough and then the container lid and freeze, to bake fresh on some future date

[love2travel]

You can use metal rounds such as tuna cans (after removing both top and bottom). Pretty economical and easy!

[sa1937]

You can use metal rounds such as tuna cans (after removing both top and bottom). Pretty economical and easy!

The tuna cans I've seen here in the U.S. don't have the type of bottoms that can be removed (not knowing if they are available depending on brand). Do they in Canada?

The muffin top pan I bought makes 6 hamburger buns and costs around $15 on Amazon. Perfect size for a burger.

ETA: I do have English muffin rings but have not yet used them.

[love2travel]

The tuna cans I've seen here in the U.S. don't have the type of bottoms that can be removed (not knowing if they are available depending on brand). Do they in Canada?

The muffin top pan I bought makes 6 hamburger buns and costs around $15 on Amazon. Perfect size for a burger.

Good point. I've had mine for awhile and have noticed that some brands of tuna would have the tricky-to-remove bottom. And those tiny tuna tins? Wow - those would make some mighty tiny buns! Wish I had some of those...

[Takala]

I make quick gluten free "bun in a bowls" in the microwave, using various ramekins and cereal bowls and quick bread recipes. For a hot dog "bun," I make a large one then cut it in half into two half moon shapes, then stand it on its flat cut end and slice into the top lengthwise.

This thread has the recipe:

amended to add, I use baking soda mostly and don't know why I said baking powder - and you can use more vinegar and baking soda for the larger buns.

You can also use a gluten free flour premix, such as Pamela's. If you are measuring out for one, you can measure out for several, minus the liquids, and keep them in ziplock bags or a covered baking cup until you need it.

If you can't do egg, you can use the stickier types of flours (almond, buckwheat, amaranth) as part of the blend, and use either flax or chia seed dissolved in hot water to make a gel.

[organicmama]

Are they more biscuit-like being a quick bread instead of a standard yeast bun?

[Takala]

The microwave buns?

No, there is something about the combination of that heating process, the speed, and the vinegar water that makes them a bit softer, moist, and rubbery than a dried up type of rice based biscuit. I've also made them muffin flavored with sweetener and flavorings, such as lemon citrus peel, juice, and poppyseeds, and they come out surprisingly cake like, altho not shaped exactly the same way. The trick is to add enough fat (oil or butter) to the recipe, and not overcook.

The first few times, following a recipe I found on the web, I had hockey pucks, and the perpetrator was raving how soft and bun like this was.... I mean, you have GOT to be kidding me, they were awful. So I looked at it again and realized it was just not going to work, and kept playing with it. Plus I must have a fast microwave, because they sure didn't take that long to cook!

Baking it conventionally confirmed the original was a dud- it needed fat, badly, and some sort of sweetener, different flour other than rice, and I ditched the flax, which I don't like.

I think that if you desired an actual yeast flavor, you could add a bit of yeast to the liquid in a separate cup w/ a pinch of sugar or other yeast inciting sweetener, and pre soak that, also, while measuring out the other parts, although the yeast will be not wanting to work with the vinegar, so this would still entail using the baking soda and might change the assembly sequence slightly. But don't put the soda with the acidic liquid until you are ready to stir it together and bake it.

[organicmama]

I was refer to the buns using baking powder or soda minus yeast.