Square Ground Beef Burger Patties

Thursday, August 17, 2017

Square Ground Beef Burger Patties

Dare To Be Square ...

So, who said a burger patty needs to be round? For that matter, why does the bun have to be circular as well? Because it’s traditional? Because that’s how it’s done? Bah ... And for good measure: Bah... again.

Maybe a small confession is in order at this point? Burgers, particularly round ones, generally don’t excite me. Yet smothering these poor things in a deluge of some strong tasting sauce, or sweet grill basting, seems to be par for the course for the run of the mill burger. “Man Size” patties – half the size of a dead dinosaur – are equally popular. Shame...

Possibly the true purpose and soul of a seriously good burger lie in it’s honest simplicity: the quality of the ground beef, it’s treatment and the character of the not too exotic cast that supports our leading actor at the table. It should be made with excellent ground beef cooked to just doneness, use very fresh components in well balanced ratio’s and the bread should possess just-out-of-the-oven lightness and have good humidity and ‘purity’ – made from simple ingredients sans all the additives.

However, I’m not prepared to fork over 17.23% of my monthly income for a gourmet burger bar specimen (excellent as it may be) when I can prepare very similar at home. We can quite easily make our own patties and bake our own buns to achieve total control short of how & where the heifer was raised and how much rain the wheat received. Anyway, I don’t like all the ‘strange’ things in commercial burger patty premixes: binders, extenders, artificial flavourants, etc., etc. Maybe it’s my mild OCD, possibly my viciously independent streak or more probable: my forebears’ difficult Scottish blood, but I like control over all the relevant issues. C’est la vie.

This post provides a simple ground beef burger recipe and discusses the technique. Make your own square patty press and expand, experiment, modify and adapt the recipe to heart’s content!

And do bake your own rolls, please? Use the Supreme Sandwich Bread or High Fibre Brown Bread (for a healthier alternative) recipes posted earlier on this blog. Both recipes will yield one dozen 120mm x 120mm buns. Use any left over bread from these recipes for the fresh bread crumbs required in the patty recipe below.

Follow both recipes to the point where the risen dough is knocked down and prepared for the bread pans. Change the method as follows:

Instead of pressing the knocked down dough into a rectangle roughly the size of the bread pan, roll it with a rolling pin into a sheet the thickness of your index finger. Allow the dough to rest 3 – 5 minutes for the gluten to relax.
Use a pizza cutter to cut the dough sheet into squares slightly smaller than your home made burger patty press (the dough squares will expand to proper size in the next proofing step).
Transfer the dough squares carefully to sheet or Swiss roll pans well dusted with flour. Be careful to keep the dough squares, well..., square. Collect the trimmings, knead into a ball, roll out and repeat until everything is used. Cover with well oiled plastic sheets and allow to proof 15 minutes.
Bake 15 – 18 minutes in a preheated convection oven at 165°C (330° Fahrenheit).

SQUARE GROUND BEEF BURGER PATTIES

– PRINT RECIPE –

Recipe yields:

6 x 150g Patties

(110mm x 110mm)

Preparation time:

± 25 minutes

Difficulty level:

Easy peasy!

Note: The recipe doubles or triples directly without adjustment of ingredient proportions.

Special Equipment Required:

1 x Home made burger patty press

Baking or waxed rice paper

Ingredients:

Lean topside ground beef, very cold	500g
Fresh white bread crumbs	75g
Medium onion, roughly grated	1
Extra large egg	1
Egg white from an extra large egg	1
Good quality tomato sauce or ketchup	30ml
Worcester sauce	30ml
Barbeque spice	20ml
Dried crushed garlic powder	7.5ml
Salt	5ml
Fine black pepper	1.2ml

Method:

1. Purchase two medium small, square, plastic storage containers ± 110mm x 110mm in size. Make five holes in the bottom of one storage container as indicated in the photo above. This will break the vacuum between the newly formed patty and the base of the home made patty press. This perforated container will act as the patty mold. Use the other container as a ‘ram’ to press down and form the ground beef mixture into a square patty inside the mold.

2. Cut the paper into squares 2cm larger that the size of the patty thrown by the home made patty press. The paper squares will cover the patties and separate them when stacked in the freezer for storage. The oversized papers will be easier to remove from the frozen patties just before use.

3. Combine and thoroughly mix all the patty ingredients. Weigh into 150g portions.

4. Lightly oil one surface of each paper square. Keep them separated.

5. Place one square paper sheet (oiled side up) in the bottom of the perforated storage container that will act as the patty mold. Place a portion of ground beef mixture on top. Use the other storage container to press down and form the patty inside the mold. Remove the container used as a ram and place a pre-oiled paper sheet – oiled side down – on top of the mold followed by a small cutting board or plate. Quickly invert the mold and cutting board assembly. The patty inside should fall out quite easily.

6. Neaten the paper edges, stack the patties three high on a cutting board and freeze until hard.

7. Transfer the semi frozen patties to suitable Ziploc bags, squeeze the air out, seal and freeze until needed.

8. Fry the patties still frozen in a well oiled, hot frying pan to prevent shrinkage during cooking