What is a chili dog bun?<\/strong> About a million years ago, when I was growing up in Los Angeles, my father used to take me and my brother out every once in a while to one of several little places in LA at that time that specialized in chili dogs. Some of these were like little diners; some were barely street food shacks. Names I remember include Cupid\u2019s, Flooky\u2019s, Wiener Factory, Carney\u2019s, Pink\u2019s, and Art\u2019s, but I\u2019m sure I\u2019m forgetting some others. If I remember right, Cupid\u2019s in the SFV was our regular go to. I have very old memories of watching the dogs being assembled; the long, thin, natural casing wiener taken off the rotating broiler and nestled in the soft, elastic bun \u2013 sticking out half an inch on either end, chili ladled on, then a healthy portion of shredded orange cheddar on top, the whole thing then wrapped in wax paper and popped briefly into a little stainless steel box for a couple quick blasts of steam that would soften the bun even more, melt the cheese a little, and bring the whole thing together. No lie: I\u2019m drooling sitting here writing this out.<\/p>\n In my mind, there are a couple musts involved in a proper chili dog. First and foremost, the wiener has to be great quality and have a natural casing. There should be a strong snap when you bite into it; that mouthfeel experience is crucial. Secondly, and the main event in our purpose on this page, the bun has to be very soft and squishy<\/strong>, very gluteny-elastic so that it doesn\u2019t split through the bottom when the goodies get piled into it and so it\u2019s not any kind of obstacle to squishing the assembled chili dog into your mouth. BTW, there are endless arguments about the proper chili for a chili dog. Mostly this comes down to beans or no beans. I have no strong opinion on this; there are endless great chilis out there and for me, any great chili works on a chili dog. Diced white or red onions on top of the cheese are optional.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve traveled some and sampled an amazing variety of fantastic street food on this globe of ours. In my experience a proper chili dog ranks up there with the best comfort food on the planet. On the street in NYC you have to get a slice of cheese pizza. In LA it could easily be tacos al carbon<\/em>, but I\u2019m going for a great chili dog nine times out of ten. Hungry yet?<\/p>\n When @homebreadbaker described these hot dog buns to me, I was excited for the challenge. The combination of squishiness and strength made me suspect I\u2019d be trying to recreate industrial bread, finding alternatives to dough conditioners<\/a> and production like the Chorleywood bread process<\/a>. My healthy home baking arsenal for this project included: strong bread flour, tender all purpose flour, tangzhong<\/a>, potato flakes, and instant yeast. Fluffy not-sour bread can be made with sourdough, but there is a signature flavor to yeast that we wanted to keep. Five\u2026or was it six? batches in, we determined the winning combination of ingredients and process was bread flour and potato flakes in a fairly wet dough with an overnight refrigeration. The tangzhong buns weren\u2019t quite as soft as potato flake buns. The all purpose buns a bit too fragile at the cut line. The final recipe below makes buns that are springy, pillowy soft, able to hold heavy and wet filling, and so delicious.<\/p>\n
Introduction by @homebreadbaker<\/em><\/p>\n
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