ASP.NET MVC 5 page hangs on db call

I am trying to get my MVC 5 project up and running using ASP.NET Identity 2.0. The starting point is this tutorial's sample application . My first page is Home / Index. When I try to do a search (expecting a zero return value) the application just hangs and I can't figure out why. The instant action of the db context makes a call to the Seed () method, which seems to be fine, but then it hangs on the call to roleManager.FindByName (roleName) (I commented it out in the code below). The debugger pause showed where it got stuck, but I don't know where to go from there. The relevant classes are as follows.

Controller:

public class HomeController : ApplicationController
{         
    public ActionResult Index()
    {
        var user = db.Users.Find("dummyVal");

        return View();
    }

    [Authorize]
    public ActionResult About()
    {
        ViewBag.Message = "Your app description page.";

        return View();
    }

    public ActionResult Contact()
    {
        ViewBag.Message = "Your contact page.";

        return View();
    }
}

      

        
        
        
      

    

Basic controller:

public abstract class ApplicationController : Controller
{
    protected ApplicationDbContext db;

    public ApplicationController()
    {
        db = new ApplicationDbContext();
    }
}

      

        
        
        
      

    

DB initializer:

public class ApplicationDbInitializer : DropCreateDatabaseAlways<ApplicationDbContext> 
{
    protected override void Seed(ApplicationDbContext context) {
        InitializeIdentityForEF(context);
        base.Seed(context);
    }

    //Create User=Admin@Admin.com with password=Admin@123456 in the Admin role        
    public static void InitializeIdentityForEF(ApplicationDbContext db) {
        var userManager = HttpContext.Current.GetOwinContext().GetUserManager<ApplicationUserManager>();
        var roleManager = HttpContext.Current.GetOwinContext().Get<ApplicationRoleManager>();
        const string name = "admin@example.com";
        const string password = "Admin@123456";
        const string roleName = "Admin";

        //Create Role Admin if it does not exist
        // EXECUTION HANGS ON THIS CALL...
        var role = roleManager.FindByName(roleName);
        if (role == null) {
            role = new IdentityRole(roleName);
            var roleresult = roleManager.Create(role);
        }

        var user = userManager.FindByName(name);
        if (user == null) {
            user = new ApplicationUser { UserName = name, Email = name };
            var result = userManager.Create(user, password);
            result = userManager.SetLockoutEnabled(user.Id, false);
        }

        // Add user admin to Role Admin if not already added
        var rolesForUser = userManager.GetRoles(user.Id);
        if (!rolesForUser.Contains(role.Name)) {
            var result = userManager.AddToRole(user.Id, role.Name);
        }

        // Create dummy user
        const string dummyUserName = "PeterVenkman";
        const string dummyUserPwd = "gf%^^ftf83X";

        var dummyUser = userManager.FindByName(dummyUserName);
        if (dummyUser == null) { 
            dummyUser = new ApplicationUser { UserName = dummyUserName, Email = dummyUserName };
            var result = userManager.Create(dummyUser, dummyUserPwd);
            result = userManager.SetLockoutEnabled(dummyUser.Id, false);
        }
    }
}