Hot dog buns are precut about 3/8 inch above the bottom leaving about inch above the cut. Why are they not cut higher up so the bottom isn’t too thin and the top too thick. The fixings pop or soak through the bottom. The top is so thick it’s inflexible to molding around the hot dog which adds to the bottom tearing open.
Why don’t they cut the buns near the middle?
It’s probably a stupid reason.
Baker: That’s how the machines are built. We can’t cut them in the middle.
Engineer: That’s where bakers cut their buns. We make them how the bakery’s prefer them.
I’m looking for an industry answer here, not WAGs. Start a new thread to discus what you put on them or how you like or don’t like to eat them please.
I’m thinking it’s because that’s the only way to get the hot dog in there, and still have room on top of the dog to put your “fixings” on. The channel of an open hot dog bun has a “V” shape, and since the hot dog is round, it can’t really nestle in their right to the bottom of the channel, so it sits on top of it. This leaves room underneath, but more importantly, on TOP of the dog for condiments and other items to go, taco-style. And don’t go jamming that hot dog deeper into the bun, you’re just going to split it and be left with a weiner sandwich, and no one wants that.
I guess someone could make larger buns and cut them in half instead of closer to the bottom, but then you mess up the whole hot dog to bun ratio, and then larger hot dogs are made and we’re back where we started.
Our hot dog buns are cut closer to centered than described in the OP.
This isn’t an “industry” answer, but my wife says she’s read that it should be about 2/3rds from the top for two reasons. The bottom is denser, and so is sturdier than the top, and the top is rounded, so the cut can be a little deeper.
ETA: I think Shark Sandwich is talking about the depth of the cut, not how far from the top or bottom it’s made.
Yeah, them Mainers got some weird-ass hot dog buns. I was up there on vacation learning to sail a schooner and the native Mainers had no idea why the hell I was taking pictures of the buns.
I’ve used hot dog buns that are cut halfway through, and I like them less because I just end up tearing it wider with my hands anyways. How much liquid are you putting on top that it moves all the way past the hot dog and saturates the bottom?
I am talking about the height the cut is from the bottom not the depth of the cut and this is starting to side track on how to eat them, which is for another thread.
Well, my answer to the original question (“Why are hot dog buns cut so close to the bottom?”) would be that typically the bun to hot dog ratio should be as low as possible, so a thin bottom to the hot dog bun helps accomplish that.
Hot dog buns can be pretty dry by the time you use them. Since that hinders flexibility, they have to make the area that flexes small so that it doesn’t pry itself apart.
Basically nobody here must work in a bakery that mass produces buns. I was really hoping somebody that made the buns would answer, or the equipment manufacturer. I’ll put that on my list of people that we don’t have on the board.
I think the ambiguity is in the terms “height” and “bottom”. Allow me to try a rephrase:
The typical hot dog bun has one flat side (the “bottom” or “base”) and one rounded side (the “top” or “lid”).
Harmonious Discord wishes to inquire why the bun is typically sliced so close to the flat side rather than more or less in the middle, as it produces a too-thick “lid” and a too-thin “base”, which he finds inconvenient.
Harmonious Discord is not interested in knowing how the depth of the cut is determined (i.e., how much “hinge” is left in the back of the bun after it’s sliced).
