Beetroot Burgers and Burger Buns

Burgers. Meaty burgers, veggie burgers, big burgers, small burgers, spicy ones, homemade ones or store bought once. The options are endless. So are the toppings. Lettuce, hummus, ketchup, tomatoes, avocado, bacon... you name it, it will probably be a good option. But what is it that really can't be missed? Yes, you guessed it: burger buns. I believe that burger buns, can make or break already 50% of the burger experience. I decided today on making beetroot burgers with feta and of course the oh so important burger buns. Let's get cooking!

Let's start by making the burger buns. They take up the longest since they will have two times at least an hour of rest (rising).

For 8 buns you will need:

- 400 grams of flour

- 40 grams of sugar

- 1 sachet of yeast (almost a tablespoon)

- 1 egg

- 200ml lukewarm water

- big pinch of salt

Optional:

- 1 extra egg (which then makes it a total of 2 eggs) OR 1 tablespoon of melted butter

- sesame seeds (black or white)

Measure out the ingredients (amounts indicated in the previous step) and combine the flour, sugar, egg, yeast and salt. Make sure to not put the salt directly on the yeast, this will kill the yeast and your buns will fail to rise.

Mix the yeast with the flour by rubbing your fingers.

Now add the lukewarm water. Because you just mixed the flour with the yeast, the salt won't come in immediate contact with the yeast when you pour the water on the mixture.

Mix the ingredients together and knead the dough (by hand, with a kitchen robot or a mixer with dough hooks) until it's a smooth dough. Form it into a ball. It's important to give the kneading a little time (about 5 minutes or so), this will develop the gluten and the yeast will do it's work better.

Cover the dough with a tea towel or some plastic wrap and let it rest until it's noticeably about double the size. This always depends on the circumstances of the surrounding the dough is in. (Temperature, moisture) But it will take about 1 to 2 hours. In my case the dough was ready after 1 hour but I have had times where the dough needed a little more time.

When the dough is roughly doubled in size, divide the dough in 8 equal pieces. I didn't do the best job this time regarding the equality, but try your best to keep them roughly the same size ;).

Cover your baking tray with parchment paper.

Roll each piece into a ball. Cup your hand and roll the dough in a ball by making circles with your hand on your surface. (see pictures) Don't flower the surface (unless the dough is really sticking to it). Because the dough sticks a little bit to the surface it will be easier to create a ball and the ball will have a nice surface tension.

Transfer each ball onto your baking tray. Ideally you have some space in-between the buns. Don't worry though if you feel like your tray is kinda small. The buns will probably touch each other whilst rising and baking, but you can tear them apart easily once baked.

Press the balls a little bit flatter. This will make them a little wider, which is more suitable for the burgers. Don't press too hard though, just a little bit. Handeling dough carefully is the key when you're making bread.

Now again cover your buns and let them rest for about 1 hour. Until noticeably 'puffier'. The yeast works quicker when you put it in a warm place. I tend to turn the heater on and place it in that room.

By this time you can start preheating your oven on 190 degrees celsius.

Now it's time to start making the beetroot burgers.

First: gather the ingredients for about 8-10 burgers:

- +- 500 grams (in my case this was one package) of cooked beetroots

- 1 medium small yellow onion

- 1 clove of garlic

- 150 gr of feta cheese

- big handful of fresh basil

- 1 egg

- 150 gr of oats

- 1 tablespoon of olive oil

- pinch of salt and pepper

For the toppings you will need:

- hummus

- 1 avocado

- 1 mango

- arugula lettuce

- alfalfa or any other kind of sprouts

Start by preparing your onion:

- cut in half

- peel of the skin

- cut off the ends

Prepare the garlic by taking of the skin and cutting of the 'roots'. The easiest way to take of the skin is by first smashing it under you knife. The skin will come right of!

Now it's time to rasp the beetroots, onion and garlic. You can either do this in a foodprosessor with the rasp blade attached (like I did). Or you can rasp them by hand. I have done both options, either one works fine, the foodprosessor is a bit quicker though ;). Don't use the fine rasp, the bigger one works better for the beetroot and onion.

Transfer the rasped mixture to a sieve and press with a spoon as much moisture out or the mixture.

Transfer the squeezed out mixture to a mixing bowl and add the oats, egg, olive oil, pinch of salt and pepper and mix it together

Crumble the feta into the mixture.

Roughly chop the basil and also add in the mixture and mix it all together.

Form about 8 to 10 burgers and set aside (if you have space you can put them in the fridge). It always depends a little bit on the size of your beetroots how many burgers you are able to make and ofcourse how big or how small you make the burgers. This time I ended up with 9.

Let's get back to the buns. After about an hour your buns are almost ready to go in the over. At this point you have two options. You either melt some butter and spread it on your buns OR you mix one egg and spread it on your buns. Personally I prefer the egg, it will make the sesame seeds (see next step) stick better to your buns and it will make the buns nice and shiny and a bit darker once baked. However, if you don't have an egg left (like I did this time), or you like a little lighter buns the butter will work fine as well. It will give it a nice and buttery taste (yum!).

Sprinkle some sesame seeds on the brushed buns. (if you don't have any you can skip this step)

Bake the buns in the over for 13 to 18 minutes. (start with 13 and go from there, each oven is different!, mine took 16 minutes)

Whilst you are waiting for you buns it's time to bake the burgers. Heat up some oil (I prefer olive oil) in a pan and bake the burgers for about 4 minutes on each side on medium heat. I place a lid on the pan in between flipping. The will get a golden, crusty outside.

Once the buns are golden take them out of the oven and let them cool down a bit.

Whilst you're waiting for your buns to cool down and the burgers to cook prep the toppings: Start with the mango.

- Peel

- Cut into slices (see photos)

Next avocado:

- Slice in half (around the pit)

- Slice in wedges

- Scoop out with a spoon

Assemble the burgers. You can either do it yourself and present your guests/family/friends with assembled burgers or you can place the topping ingredients (mango, avocado, arugula, sprouts and hummus) in some nice bowls and put them out on the table. Same thing with the buns and burgers and let your guests assemble the burgers themselves.

To assemble:

- Cut the bun in half

- Spread some hummus on the bottom half

- Add a small handful of arugula

- Add a slice of mango

- Place a beetroot burger on top

- Add some wedges of avocado

- Add some sprouts

- And finish it of with the top half of the bun

And there you have it. Delicious burger buns, with delicious beetroot burgers and delicious toppings. If you try it out let me know what you think and most importantly: ENJOY!