Chicken sandwich with mustard and cheese, healthier version of an old favourite
Yes, I have still been trying to time travel through food! I will move on to new and exciting adventures soon but today I want to reminisce about onion buns. When I was a kid my mom used to buy the softest, moistest onion buns in the world. When I would make my lunches for school I would slather the buns with mustard and heap on the pastrami. I could barely make it through morning classes, yearning for lunch. It was always the best sandwich in the world. I still yearn for those flavours.
Since then, I have yet to discover onion buns that deliver on flavour and texture. Most of the ones I have bought have been hard and so dry inside, no amount of mustard could make them moist and delicious. So recently I was determined to make them myself! I found this breadmaker recipe for Soft Onion Sandwich Rolls at Allrecipes.com and gave it a shot. The first time I made them it was a disaster! I did not add enough liquid and the dough was hard and did not rise. So please, make sure to check that the dough is coming together in the breadmaker and if it looks dry, add a little lukewarm water until it does.
Put all the ingredients in your breadmaker and select the dough cycle. Take the dough and divide it into eight equal portions and then roll each piece into a ball. Put the dough balls on a baking sheet covered in parchment paper and cover with a clean towel. Let them rise for 40 minutes.
I did a regular egg wash on top because I wanted that golden brown colour the yolk will give the dough. I sprinkled the top with dried minced onions but next time I will add my own caramelized onions to the top! Bake at 350F for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown. So easy!
These freeze fantastically well and I am very picky about that kind of thing! I could not possibly eat all eight buns before they got stale so I put them in a freezer bag and into the freezer and used them as needed.
Now they still are not as super moist as the ones my mom bought but they are very, very close. I like having hot sandwiches but the oven would dry them out so I tried steaming them! Yes, that kept them very moist. But my favourite method? The darned microwave. I try not to use it very often but it was perfect at heating up the chicken sandwiches and melting the low fat Havarti cheese. Yum!
There is something not quite right with the liquid measurements for this recipe so I can only give it four out of five wooden spoons which is a shame since I loved these so very much. Thank you claudygirl for this recipe!
How amazing that I can go and capture the flavours of my childhood with the ease of my breadmaker and a little time on my hands? Being able to cook and bake are powerful skills. Who else do you know who can time travel?
Suzie try replacing the lukewarm milk with buttermilk to moisten these up? I can’t believe the recipe calls for instant potatoes.. ha! ha! I’m afraid to open my bread machine when it’s going.. it scares me. I tried to make an apple pie bread in it yesterday & had to add apples at the first “beep”. Well it was a flop, literally, and now I have to figure what I did wrong 🙁
Sorry for the long comment. Thanks for bringing the breadmachine into the 2000’s!
These look fantastic. I could see you opening a bakery one day. You’re very creative with your breads and they always look so amazing. I used to love onion rolls as a kid as well, now I have a craving for them.
Do you have an alternative to the bread maker? These look great.
I have not made these outside of a breadmaker but if I did I would probably start with proofing the yeast, combining the dry indredients, combing the wet, add to the dry and then knead the dough and let it rise. I haven’t done it that way before but I bet it would work. They’re worth it, so yummy!