When Life Gives You Canned Chicken, You Proof Some Bread!
Buffalo Chicken Dip Stuffed Buns > Anything
My favorite brother’s birthday was on the 19th (happy birthday Christopher! I love you!) and typically since getting into baking, I pull out all the stops and he gets anything he wants on his birthday.
Since I’ve lived in a home that got the ole landlord special in the kitchen with cheap white (non-food safe) paint sprayed on every counter surface it’s been hard to make breads. Thankfully my mother in law had the breakthrough of the century around Christmas time when she said just use the kitchen table, so I’ve been dying to kick off the rust when it comes to bread making. Christopher was also in the mood for bread so he got a smoked Gouda cheese loaf for his birthday.
I also wanted to keep up with my weekly bakes for the office, so I doubled the bread recipe and use the rest for buffalo chicken stuffed buns. I figured experimenting with buffalo chicken dip-adjacent foods near Super Bowl time would be perfect and these turned out great.
I’ve written about bread a few times on this newsletter, but I’ll provide the recipe again below so you can make these buffalo chicken stuffed buns.
This was a big hit and very easy to make especially if you are comfortable handling bread dough. The Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade hack in this recipe is using canned chicken for the filling.
I know some people stick up their nose at canned foods, and as the world’s biggest Spam fan I can’t tell you how much you are missing out on if you never try canned foods. You could just as easily use a grocery store rotisserie chicken, but I just got this canned chicken from Costco and figured no time like the present.
Depending on what my in-laws are doing for the Super Bowl, I might have to bring this along. Side note: if you just want a good easy and delicious buffalo chicken dip recipe, you can just use the filling on its own and reheat in a 350 degree oven for like 10-15 minutes.
Buffalo Chicken Stuffed Buns
Yields: 15 Stuffed Buns
Ingredients:
For the Dough:
265 grams of 2% Milk
8 grams of Instant Yeast
10 grams of Kosher Salt
380 grams of Bread Flour
20 grams of Honey
45 grams of Unsalted Butter
For the Filling:
1 can of chicken, drained
1 cup (or more depending on taste) of buffalo sauce
8 oz cream cheese softened
8 oz cheddar cheese, shredded
4 oz smoked Gouda cheese, shredded
1 tablespoon garlic powder
Salt and pepper to taste
Make the dough and proof it until doubled in size (for how to make the dough, see this past post for details). Once doubled, divide into ~55 gram balls and let proof again until doubled in size.
Make the filling by dumping all ingredients into a bowl and mixing well until full incorporated. (Note: you can set aside a tiny bit of cheese to garnish the top of the buns to make them look really professional).
Once filling made and dough balls proofed, take the dough balls and flatten one at a time. Once flattened gently, use two tablespoons to spoon in about a tablespoon-ish of buffalo chicken dip and seal bun. Set completed buns on a cookie sheet that’s been greased. Continue shaping all buns and space about an inch apart. Let proof one final time for about an hour.
Once the final proof is done, beat an egg and use it as egg wash for the outside of the buns and sprinkle remaining cheese on top. Bake in a 410 degree preheated oven for 30-40 minutes until fully golden brown on top. Let cool 10-15 minutes before serving. Can be stored in the fridge ahead of game day for two days.