I’ve admitted it here before: I love me a good beef hot dog. Do I love them because they are so very good for us and so highly nutritious? I wish.  But, at least I’ve been able to find some from our local meat farmers that are better than regular dogs from the store. I also often buy Shelton Turkey Franks from Azure Standard.

I had perfected my whole wheat hamburger bun recipe, but never took the time to make the dough into hot dog buns. In the past when I’d tried to make hot dog buns (from other recipes), they turned out as big as a baseball bat and about that heavy. (We’ve already talked about how none of us want our buns to be heavy.)  This time, when I tried to make hot dog buns, I focused on making the buns small. The smaller the buns, the better…right? :)

Using this whole wheat hamburger bun recipe, I rolled out the dough to about 1/4 inch thickness and cut the dough into circles using a wide mouth jar. A wide mouth jar isn’t going to make a very big circle, and you might think that the bun isn’t going to be big enough…but keep in mind that these rolls will rise and we do not want a bready bun. No indeed.

Take each circle and roll it up gently…

Almost finished…

And…done. Look at the cute little unbaked hot dog bun. Kinda makes you wish you were a hot dog so you could lay down in there and take a nap, doesn’t it?

Put all the cute little rolled buns in a baking dish. Allow them to rise for about 20 minutes.

Bake the buns for about 25 minutes at 350°. If they aren’t golden brown, leave them in there just a little bit longer. I kinda think it would be fun to bake the hotdog right into the bun, but I haven’t tried it yet. And just for the record, I don’t really wish I was a hot dog, no matter how inviting these buns look.

Carefully slit the buns open at the top with a knife and pop in a cooked hotdog.

Add all your fixin’s and you’ve got a tasty hotdog on a bun that has just a little more substance than the airy ones we find at the store, but they aren’t so bready you feel like you’re eating all bun and no dog.

So what do ya think? Should I try baking the hot dog right into the bun to make a sort of “pig in a blanket”? I think my kids would enjoy that surprise. Although since these hot dogs are made from beef or turkey, can we still call it a “pig in a blanket”? Sometimes life just throws us these difficult questions, ya know?

So humor me will ya? Are you a hot dog lover or not? Am I the only weird one who really appreciates eating real, whole foods…but still likes the occasional hot dog?  :)