Brimstone Bread

For our Halloween dinner this year Sue found this Brimstone Bread recipe over at Alison's Wonderland Recipes (click HERE) and we just had to give it a try. It is decidedly spooky!

I am actually pretty excited to make a volcano burger a little later on using this bread as the bun. (I will post a link when I give it a try.)

You want to make sure you use a lot of red coloring in the dough so you get a deep red color instead of just pink. Pink isn't as scary as red. Just sayin'. 

Anyways, this has a regular bread taste to it and the only difference in texture comes from the black rice flour bread on top. We cut some of it up to dip in spinach dip and it worked perfectly fine!

You can easily double this recipe if you have a big crew to feed. As written it makes 1 dozen hamburger sized buns. 

Brimstone Bread

(Slightly adapted from Alison's Wonderland Recipes)

Ingredients

Red Buns

1/4 cup hot water

1/2 cup warm buttermilk

2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast

1/4 cup butter, melted

1 egg

3/4 tsp salt

3 Tbsp sugar

1 tsp red food gel coloring

2 - 3 cups flour

Black Topping

1 1/2 cups rice flour

2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast

2 Tbsp sugar

2 Tbsp oil

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup hot water

1/2 tsp black food gel coloring

Directions

Prepare Red Buns - Place hot water and buttermilk in a large bowl. Sprinkle the yeast on top and let sit 5 minutes to activate. 

Add in the butter, egg, salt, sugar, and red food gel, stirring well. Gradually stir in flour until stiff dough forms. Turn dough onto floured surface and knead for 2 - 3 minutes. Add a bit more flour if dough gets sticky. Place dough in an oiled bowl, cover, and let rise somewhere warm for one hour (until doubled). 

Punch down dough after an hour and place on floured work surface. 

Cover a large cookie sheet with parchment paper, set aside.

Separate the dough into 12 roughly equal sized amounts. (In photo below recipe has been doubled.)

Roll into balls and place an equal distance apart on the prepared cookie sheet.

Cover with a tea towel and let rise in a warm place for approx another 45 minutes.

WHILE YOU WAIT - Prepare the black topping - In a large mixing bowl, stir together the rice flour, yeast, sugar, oil, and salt. Stir the black food gel into the hot water and then beat into the flour mixture. 

Cover and allow to rest in a warm place for 30 minutes. By the time it is done your red buns should also be ready to go. 

    

Preheat oven to 350. 

Scoop a generous spoonful of the black dough on top of each red bun. Use your hands to spread it over the bun. You want it to be quite thick so you get the cracking effect when it cooks.

Bake for 12 - 18 minutes, turning pan halfway through cooking time. 

Remove from heat and let cool on pans for 5 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely. 

Use immediately or store in an airtight container at room temp until ready to use. 

These buns also freeze very well.  

Perfect for a Halloween dinner! I'm thinking these would also work well for a Hawaiian themed party or volcano party. When I make our Volcano Burger I will post a link to it - I'm pretty sure these buns will work superbly.