Fire Grilled Cheeseburger Sliders

I make some fire grilled cheeseburgers with the soft pretzel bread buns I made earlier.  The beef is from a close friend who bought from a local farm.  All of that makes the burgers so tasty! O(∩_∩)O~ 

Are you drooling yet?  O(∩_∩)O~ 

Ingredients for the patties：

1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1 egg
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 tablespoon soy sauce
1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes or ground cayenne pepper
1 to 2 tablespoon grill seasoning
6 oz three pepper jack cheese
salt to taste
freshly ground black pepper
2 to 4 oz Cheddar cheese

*grill seasoning contains a bunch of spices so I don’t add too many other seasonings to my burger patties

 

Directions：

Add ground beef, egg, onion, soy sauce, bread crumbs, garlic powder, chili peppers, grill seasoning, salt and black pepper to a large bowl. 

Mix with hand or a wooden spoon

Add finely diced pepper jack chees

Mix them together again.

 

Divide and shape the meat mixture into 6 beef patties. 

Preheat the grill to 450F/232C

Add patties, and grill for about 3 to 4 minutes. 

Flip them ove

Add a large piece of cheddar cheese to the top.  Cover with lid.  Grill for another 2 to 4 minutes.

The cheese perfectly melts on top of the patties. 

I don’t toast the buns here because they freshly out of the oven. 

 

Spread them with butter or mayonnaise, top with grilled patties, sautéed onion, bacons, tomato and of course, pan fried eggs! 

Bamboo skewers will make sure everything stay together

Finally, it is time to eat!

Don’t they look cute and tasty?

I also like to add lentil sprouts to my burgers.  They add crunchy texture and fresh taste to the burger.  I would highly recommend it.

 

And I posted how to grow lentil sprouts with mason jars before. 

Soft Pretzel Bread Buns

中文菜谱：PRETZEL小面包

We love soft pretzel bread, and I also loving making them from scratch in my own kitchen.  I love seeing those little cute buns turning out dark golden brown in the oven, smelling the freshly baked bread aroma and tearing apart the soft and a bit chewy bread buns and they taste so good and satisfying! 

Ingredients：

2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup whole milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 tablespoon melted butter
1 teaspoon dry yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
egg wash (for brushing the bread)
white sesame seeds

 

For boiling water：

2 quarts water
1/4 cup baking soda

 

Directions：

Microwave the milk on high for 20 to 30 seconds until the milk is lukewarm but not too hot to touch.

Add the milk to bread machine.  Sprinkle with dry yeast. 

Add flour, salt, butter and sugar 

Start dough proces

I like to restart the dough process right after the machine finishes the kneading and about to proof the bread.   Twice knead bread will have slight better and finer texture which I like. 

The dough doubles in siz

Transfer the dough to a well-floured board.

Equally divide it into 8 pieces and knead each piece into a small round dough ball.

 

Place them onto a half sheet baking pan lined with baking mat, 2 to 3 inches apart. 

Cover with greased plastic wrap and proof under room temperature for about another 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 425F/218

Bring the water to boil.   Add baking soda.

Add bread dough.  Cook each for 20 to 30 seconds. 

Drain well and put them back onto the baking mat.

With a sharp knife, make some cuts on top.  Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with white sesame seeds.  The cuts I make here are a bit too shallow.  I should have cut a little bit deeper. 

Bake in the oven for 16 to 20 minutes or until they are dark golden brown

Aren’t they beautiful? 

They are soft and a little bit chewy.  Smell great too.  I love everything about these tiny cute pretzel buns. 

You can eat them plain, or with jam, cream cheese, peanut butter; or you can do what I do: I make fire grilled cheese burger sliders with them.  Please stay tune for the next new recipe! O(∩_∩)O~ 

Fire-grilled Burgers

Ok, we were kind of disappointed last time when we went to the burger shop in Ann Arbor, which was supposed to be great according to FoodNetwork and Travel Channel.  (see here ) So we decided to make burgers at home the way we like it. 

I made the sesame buns and beef patties from scratch.  It might be easier to just buy them from store, but it would take the fun and pride when you make your own burger, wouldn’t it?

I posted the bread recipe before.  Here it is again.

 

Ingredients for bread:

300 g bread flour
165 to 180 g whole milk
1 large egg
20 g butter, softened at room temperature and diced
30 g sugar
1 teaspoon yeast
1/8 teaspoon salt
egg wash
white sesame seeds

 

Directions：

Microwave the milk on high for 30 to 45 second.  Stir in yeast and let it sit for 5 to 8 minutes.

In the bread machine’s mixing bowl, add milk with yeast, flour, sugar, salt and egg.  Start “dough” cycle.  My machine will knead for 20 minutes and proof the dough automatically for 60 minutes.  When it finishes kneading, stop it completely.  Add diced butter, and start “dough” cycle all over again.

This time, let the machine do the kneading and proof for you.  All you need to do is to check if the dough is double in size at the end of “dough” cycle.  Sometimes the dough is ready before it ends.

 

Transfer the dough to a well-dusted wood board.  Punch it down and knead gently just until you eliminate all the big bubbles.  Cover and let it rest for 10 minutes.

Divide the dough into 12 equal parts.  Roll each of them into a round shape ball.  Place them on a baking pan lined up with parchment paper or baking mat, about 1 or two inches apart from each other.

Cover and let them sit at room temperature for another 25 to 35 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400F/204°C.

Brush the dough balls with egg wash and sprinkle white sesame seeds on top.

Bake for 14 to 16 minutes.  You might need to cover them with foil for the last 4 to 6 minutes if the bread brown quickly.

Hot and fresh out the oven!  Aren’t they beautiful?

Now we are ready to make beef patties.

Ingredients:

(The ingredients listed here are enough to make 6 to 8 burgers.  I can freeze the extra patties so that I can simple thaw them next time I make burgers at home.)

2 pounds ground beef (80/20)
2 eggs
1 onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup bread crumbs
freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon McCormick grilling seasoning
1 to 2 teaspoons worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh rosemary
salt to taste

 

For 3 burgers：

1 to 2 onions, grilled
6 slices of bacon, grilled
cheddar cheese
3 eggs. fried
lettuce or other leafy greens
mayonnaise / ketchup

 

Directions:

In a large bowl, add beef, eggs, onion, bread crumbs, black pepper, sugar, paprika, garlic powder, grilling seasoning, werstershire sauce, rosemary and salt. 

Mix with hands just until everything is well combined.  Do not over mix.  

Divide into 6 to 8 parts. Round each of them into a big meatball and press them down with your palm.  And with your thumb, make a dent in the center.  It helps to cook the patties evenly. 

Preheat the grill to 450F/232°C.  Brush the grill with oil.  Place the beef patties in the center and grill for 2 minutes. 

2 minutes later

Grill another 2 minutes.  Top them with cheddar cheese.  I prefer thick cut. O(∩_∩)O~

1 or 2 minutes later, the cheese melts beautifully.  Transfer them to a cooler zone on the grill.

Turn the heat to minimum and toast the sesame buns for a couple minutes. 

Ok, finally it is time a grab a plate.  Pick your bread and top it with grilled beef patty with cheese.

Top it with grilled bacon, grilled onion, fried eggs, leafy greens, mayonnaise or ketchup.  

Time to enjoy the burger you work so hard for.  Yum!