To a small amount of starter (no more than ¼ cup), add about 1 cup of flour, and about ⅓ cup warm water.  This will give you a little extra starter, but that way you’ll have plenty of starter, and you can always put any leftover starter in the refrigerator and make pancakes, waffles or any other sourdough discard recipe.

Allow fed starter to become active while sitting out at room temperature.  When starter has risen all the way to the top and is happy and active, proceed to the next step.

Add all of the ingredients to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment and mix until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.  After mixing for a few minutes, if the dough still seems sticky, you can add a little more flour if needed, so that the dough doesn’t stick to the edge of the bowl.  It should pull away from the mixer bowl, and not be sticky.

I like to put the lid on my mixer bowl and let it rise at room temperature.  The bosch mixer has a nice lid that seals down, keeping the moisture in the bowl and helping the dough to rise quickly.  You can also put your dough in a separate bowl covered with a damp tea towel.  If you are mixing up your dough at night, I recommend that you put it in the refrigerator to do the first rise as you don’t want it to overferment before morning.

Divide dough into 8 or 10 equal pieces using a bench scraper, depending on how large you want your hot dog rolls.  Shape them into buns by tucking the outsides underneath and placing tension on each ball of dough.  Place them on a parchment lined baking sheet with some space in between.  I usually put them about three wide and four long on the baking sheet.  I don’t mind if they end up touching each other after they raise.

Cover the shaped buns with a tea towel, and allow the buns to sit out at room temperature and rise.  This usually takes 1-2 hours.  Shorter in the summer, and longer in the winter because of temperature of course.  You want the buns to rise about 50%, and look nice and puffy.  They will rise even more in the oven.

If your house is cool, you can also turn your oven on to warm and let it get just above 100 degrees before shutting off the oven.  Put the buns covered with a tea towel into the oven and they can raise in this warmer environment.

Beat an egg yolk with 1 Tablespoon of water and gently brush it on top of the buns.  Sprinkle with sesame seeds or poppy seeds if desired.  This step is optional, but will make a beautiful golden top to the buns.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and bake the buns for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown.  Remove from the oven.  Brush the tops with butter if desired.  I usually do this if I didn’t brush the tops of the buns with the egg wash.

Slice buns in half and serve with your favorite burger, condiments, cheese, pickles and oven fries baked in tallow.  So delicious!!

Store leftover buns in an airtight container for up to a week.