Herbed Turkey Burgers with Goat Cheese and Blueberry-Onion Compote on Homemade Dutch Crunch Rolls {Daring Baker’s March Challenge}

You’ll have to bear with me on this one, it’s going to be a long post.  Generally, when I have a cook-fest and tear apart our kitchen making multiple recipes at once (not an unusual occurrence), I break said fest into manageable blog posts.  Bite-sized, so to speak.  But this is four separate recipes that went into one beautiful burger, so it’s only proper that they are posted in tandem.  You’ve been warned, and now you’ll be teased:

To make a short story long, my grandparents were in town for the weekend  and wanted to see my apartment.  As many are aware, if you come to my apartment, I’ll probably feed you.  And if you’re my grandparents and aren’t in town often, I want to feed you something special.  So I was browsing for a good feast to cook up for the family, with the quickly approaching Daring Baker’s challenge deadline in the back of my mind.

Sara and Erica of Baking JDs were our March 2012 Daring Baker hostesses.  Sara & Erica challenged us to make Dutch Crunch bread, a delicious sandwich bread with a unique, crunchy topping.  Sara and Erica also challenged us to create a one of a kind sandwich with our bread.  I came across these turkey burgers, and was quickly wooed by the goat cheese and the blueberry gastrique.   The burgers themselves looked a bit bland, however, so I browsed on until I found these herbed turkey burgers.  And there you have it: Herbed Turkey Burgers with Goat Cheese and Blueberry-Onion Compote on Homemade Dutch Crunch Rolls were born.

Dutch Crunch Topping

From Rose Levy Beranbaum’s The Bread Bible

Ingredients (for 6 Soft rolls)

• 1 tablespoon (1 packets)
• 1 cup warm water
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1½ cups rice flour

*Wait to prepare until your rolls are rising*

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and beat with a whisk; beat hard to combine. The consistency should be like stiff royal icing – spreadable, but not too runny. If you pull some up with your whisk, as shown below, it should drip off slowly. Add more water or rice flour as necessary. Let stand 15 minutes.

2. Coat the top of each loaf or roll with a thick layer of topping. It works best to use fingers or a spoon and kind of spread it around. You should err on the side of applying too much topping, as a thin layer will not crack properly.

3. Let stand, uncovered, for any additional time your recipe recommends. With the Soft White Roll, you can place the rolls directly into the oven after applying the topping.

4. When baking, place pans on a rack in the center of the oven and bake your bread according to recipe. The Dutch Cruch topping should crack and turn a nice golden-brown color.

Soft White Rolls (Six)

From The Bread Bible 

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon (1 packet) active dry yeast
• ¼ cup warm water (No need to use a thermometer – it should feel between lukewarm and hot to the touch).
• 1 cup warm milk (I used non-fat)
• 1½ tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil (plus additional olive or vegetable oil for greasing bowl during rising)
• 1½ teaspoons salt
• Up to 4 cups all purpose flour

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer or large mixing bowl, combine yeast, water, milk and sugar. Stir to dissolve and let sit for about 5 minutes (The mixture should start to bubble or foam a bit and smell yeasty).
2. Add in vegetable oil, salt and 2 cups of flour. Using the dough hook attachment or a wooden spoon, mix at medium speed until the dough comes together. Add remaining flour a quarter cup at time until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl, as shown in the photo below (For me, this took 1½ of flour).
3. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about 4 minutes, until smooth and elastic.  Place in a lightly greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise for 1 hour, or until doubled (or more) in size.
4. Once the dough has risen, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and divide it into 6 equal portions (if you’d like to make rolls) or 2 equal portions (if you’d like to make a loaf).  Shape each into a ball or loaf and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet (try not to handle the dough too much at this point).  Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 15 minutes while you prepare the topping.
5. Coat the top of each roll or loaf with the topping as described above.  Once you’ve applied the topping, bake at 380ºF for 25-30 minutes, until well browned. Let cool completely on a wire rack before eating.

Herbed Turkey Burgers

From Hungry Girl Por Vida

Ingredients:

• 1/2 medium onion, diced fine
• 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon chopped, fresh sage
• 2 teaspoons minced, fresh rosemary
• 1 pound lean, ground turkey
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons greek yogurt
• 3 tablespoons quick oats
• salt and pepper to taste
• Arugula and goat cheese for topping

1. In a medium saucepan, over medium heat, sweat onions and garlic. Once onions become translucent, add sage and rosemary and saute another minute. Do not brown or the garlic may burn. Set aside to cool.
   
2. In a large mixing bowl combine ground turkey, egg, yogurt, breadcrumbs, and cooled onion/herb mixture. Mix gently to combine.  Again, use your damn hands, fingers work wonders and are by far the easiest thing to wash.
   
3. Heat a heavy skillet or grill pan over medium-high heat. Sprinkle patties to taste with salt and pepper, cook, flipping only once, for about 4 minutes on each side.

Blueberry-Onion Compote

From The Devil Wears Parsley

Ingredients:
For 4 Burgers 

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 cup sliced onion
• 3/4 cup blueberries
• 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a pan over medium-low heat. Add in onions, and cook about 30 – 40 minutes, stirring occasionally, until caramelized.
2.  Once the onions are caramelized, season with salt and pepper, turn up the heat to medium, and add in the blueberries. Closely monitor until the blueberries start bursting, about 3-5 minutes, then add in the balsamic vinegar.
   
3. Keep stirring until the mixture reduces to a thick paste, about 10 minutes more, mashing the berries that haven’t yet burst. Remove from heat, stir in the butter until melted.
   

To assemble: Carefully cut rolls in half.  Top with a few generous tablespoons of blueberry-onion compote, followed by a generous amount of goat cheese and a pinch of arugula.

Johanna