Hot dog bun dough calculator
New England split-tops with potato flour and dry milk, baked side by side and cut from above.
Total hydration counts the water inside the eggs, milk and butter.
New England hot dog buns — the flat-sided, split-top kind, baked pressed together in a pan and torn apart at service. King Arthur’s formula leans on two professional softeners: potato flour and dry milk.
How it works
The formula
A 63% hydration dough with 12% potato flour, 7.8% each of dry milk and butter, 7% sugar, 14% egg, 2.5% salt and 1.7% instant yeast. Potato flour binds moisture like mashed potato does, without the wet mash — the crumb stays cottony for days.
The pan makes the shape
King Arthur does not shape individual buns: the dough is stretched into one 15 × 6 inch slab, pressed into the New England pan (or a straight-walled tray), proofed, baked under a second weighted sheet, and only then sliced into ten — about 78 g each. Rising as one slab is what produces the flat, crustless sides.
Baking under weight
The signature move: bake at ~190 °C under an inverted, weighted baking sheet, which keeps the tops flat and the texture even. Cool, split from the top, and toast the flat sides in butter.
Sources & methodology
Every percentage in this calculator traces to the published sources below — nothing is invented. Where respected sources disagree, the default sits inside the documented range.
- King Arthur — New England Hot Dog Buns — The New England split-top formula (single-publisher source, flagged as such in our audit): potato flour, dry milk, one egg, pan-pressed rolls.
FAQ
Why split from the top?
The New England lobster-roll tradition: a top split with flat toasted sides holds fillings upright and griddles on both faces. Side-split round-top buns are the other American school.
No potato flour — what now?
Substitute the same weight of instant mashed-potato flakes, ground fine. Plain flour works at a push, but you lose the moisture-holding that keeps these soft past day one.
Can I make burger buns from this dough?
Yes — it is a general soft-roll formula. Shape rounds at ~100 g and skip the weighted sheet; you will get an excellent soft burger bun with the same long shelf life.
More from Buns & enriched breads
Dinner roll dough calculator
Soft milk-and-butter rolls, baked in one pan and pulled apart at the table.
Hydration 66% · 15 × 52 g
Hokkaido milk bread calculator
Shokupan with tangzhong: the cooked flour paste keeps the crumb soft for days.
Hydration 59% · 700 g
Challah dough calculator
Braided challah on water, oil, honey and eggs, with the strand weights for the braid.
Hydration 53% · 950 g
Brioche dough calculator
Hamelman's brioche: 50% butter and 50% eggs against the flour, chilled overnight.
Hydration 56% · 500 g
Bun and enriched dough calculators12 calculators