I am on the email list for American’s Test Kitchen and they out emails that have little videos in them. A month or so back I watched one that was about Potato Buns. I had never heard of them before that. But they looked fantastic. The video said that often hamburger buns will be potato buns because the starch in them gives them more stability for holding up to a burger and all the toppings. So I decided I needed to give them a try. I’ve tried them a few times now and found I like this recipe the best. It’s kind of a conglomerate of a few of them that I tried.

Sliders with Potato Buns

The Potato Bun recipe is slightly adapted from both the Food Network and I am Food. The Slider Recipe is from the amazing Ida Garten.
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Course Entrees

Ingredients
  

For the Potato Buns:

  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup mashed potatoes
  • 1/2 cup lard or shortening
  • 3 eggs, beaten
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 tbsp instant yeast
  • 1 cup warm potato water (the leftover water from cooking the potatoes)
  • 5 cups flour

For the Sliders

  • 2 lbs premium ground beef (80 percent lean and 20 percent fat)
  • 1 Tbsp good Dijon mustard
  • 3 Tbsps good olive oil, plus extra for brushing the grill
  • 1 tsp chopped thyme leaves
  • 3 teaspoons chopped garlic
  • 1 tsp kosher salt
  • 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Topping Ideas:

  • Blue Cheese & Sun dried Tomatoes
  • Gruyere, Aruglua & Tomato
  • Mushrooms and Onions
  • Sharp Cheddar Cheese and Crumbled Bacon

Instructions
 

For the Potato Buns

  • In the bowl of a mixer, combine 2 cups of flour with the yeast.
  • In a small bow, mix together the water, potatoes, butter, sugar, and salt.
  • Add the wet mix to the flour mix. Beat with the whisk for 30 seconds on low, then for 3 minutes on high.
  • Switch to the dough hook and add the remaining flour, adding as needed until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl and forms a ball. The dough should be sticky still.
  • Let rise until doubled.
  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  • Sprinkle flour into a clean counter. Take a section of dough and set it on the counter right into the flour. Pressing down on the dough, rotate your hand in a circle and the dough will gather up into a ball. For a slider you want the bun quite small so these sections of dough are really small. About 3-4 tbsp of dough.
  • When the bun is formed place it on the cookie sheet.
  • Let them rise until doubled.
  • Bake in preheated oven for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool slightly.

For the Sliders:

  • Place the ground beef in a large bowl and add the mustard, olive oil, thyme, garlic, salt, and pepper.
  • Mix gently with a fork to combine, taking care not to compress the ingredients.
  • Shape the meat into 12 (2-inch) patties of equal size and thickness.
  • Cook the sliders on your barbecue for about 4 minutes per side. Just don't overcook them!
  • Slide them into your fresh potato buns and add some toppings.

My favorite toppings were the sun dried tomatoes and blue cheese. But I’m kind of partial to the tanginess of blue cheese. Yum! My kids just put on regular toppings on these little babies and we were all happy.

Totally fancy and cute!