What's for Dinner? Chicago Style Hot Dogs with Homemade Poppy Seed Buns

Matt has been asking me for months to buy Hebrew National all beef hot dogs; he said they were excellent. (They had better be for almost $4 for just four of them). I am a die hard Koegel hot dog fan, and it was hard for me to make the change. Honestly, I still prefer the crunchy skin of a Koegel, but the Hebrew would be my second choice.













4 all beef hot dogs
4 homemade poppy seed buns (recipe follows)
regular yellow mustard
onion, chopped
Roma tomatoes, cut into wedges
pickled jalapeno pepper slices
dill pickle spears
celery seed

 Steam dogs for about 5 minutes. Load up your dog with your favorite toppings.

Poppy Seed Buns
1 1/4 cups warm milk
1/3 cup olive oil
1/8 cup sugar
1 1/2 t salt
3-4 cups bread flour    
2 1/4 t yeast
oil or melted butter
couple pinches poppy seeds

Place ingredients (except oil and poppy seeds) in bread machine in order recommended by the manufacturer.

Select dough cycle and start. Remove from bread machine and turn out onto lightly floured surface.

Roll dough into a long cylinder and cut into about 6 pieces. Shape each into a smaller cyclinder.

Brush tops with oil or butter and sprinkle with poppy seeds. Press lightly.










Cover with a towel and let rise in a warm place for an hour or til doubled.

Preheat oven to 400°F. Place buns on a baking pan or pizza stone and place in oven and immediately reduce temperature to 375°.






Bake 10-12 minutes or til golden.

Cool completely; slice lengthwise, but not all they way through.

I have seen numerous variations on these: some recipes call for relish (yuck!) and some for "sport" peppers which I have never seen around here. We like jalapenos better anyway.