Lovely Little Creations: Hiding out in the land of Homemade Buns

17 May 2011

Hiding out in the land of Homemade Buns

Wow, I can't believe it's been over a month since I posted here... my bad. I've been busy creating new beads, pendants, focal beads and just basic faffing around... is that a word? ANYHOO! Lately I've been baking like a mad woman. I'm not sure what it was that made me feel like I just HAD to do it... I just really wanted to make something with my hands and I guess I was a bit fed up with feeling like I was getting nothing accomplished.

The other day I had a wicked craving for homemade buns. I didn't have to look far and I found a really good recipe from a most unexpected website. I found it at Expecting Mom... and no I'm not expecting a baby.. just some awesome buns!

Yummy Homemade Buns!

The recipe from the lovely Mom Mom on the Go:

Ingredients
1 1/2 cup of LUKEWARM water
4 TBS sugar
1/4 cup oil
1 egg
1 TBS yeast
1 TSP salt
4 cups (or so) flour

Now lets get mixing.....

Take the lukewarm water and place it in a nice size bowl. My Mom always said that the bowl should be a special one because the bowl that the dough is mixed in helps make the bread good. I agree with this and so I always mix my bread in my Royal Worcester large mixing bowl. Superstition I guess! Also, make sure the water is lukewarm.....too hot or too cold will make the yeast not work as well.

With the lukewarm water in your gorgeous bowl, put in the 4 TBS of sugar, the 1/4 cup of oil (vegetable is what I use) and 1 egg. Mix all that together. I use my whisk and get it all good and mixed up.

Now go get that TBS of yeast and sprinkle it over your mixture. Let it sit for a few seconds and then just gently mix it all together with the whisk. Don't get all excited and kill the yeast mixing it too hard though! Now put the 1 TSP of salt in the misture and gently mix it in again with your whisk.

Now we are ready for the messy part to start.....so far so good and easy though right?!

Take a cup of flour and pur it in the mixture. Get a plastic or wooden spoon and stir it in. Once it is mixed well add another cup of flour and mix it too. Sounding repetative, but grab that third cup of flour and pour it in there and mix it in as best you can. Ok now you have to ditch that spoon cause it just will not be able to mix well enough anymore.

Get two more cups of flour ready in a measuring cup on the counter beside your bowl. I know I said it only takes cups of flour, but it usually takes a wee bit more than that to make the mixture perfect.

Add a fourth cup of flour and mix with your hands. You should have a cup of flour still in the measuring cup sitting beside our bowl. Now we are having fun and we are also at the important part. You have to mix that dough with love. Get it all nice and mixed evening and together. You probably have dough stuck to you hands and that is a sure sign that you need to reach over and grab that cup of flour in the measuring cup on the counter and put a BIT in. Do not put the entire thing in. Mix in a bit at a time until the dough is smooth and you can handle it without it sticking all over our hands.You will now when the dough is perfect because it will be smooth as a baby's bum.

Now put the dough in the special bowl. Put some oil or melted butter, whatever you prefer, into your hand and rub the top of the dough you have placed in the bowl. Cover it with a clean dish towel and let it rise for 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes go punch that dough down. Pick it up and knead it a bit and it should feel smooth and you might even hear some air pop out of it. Perfect! Now get your non-stick pan out and grab chunks of dough and roll it into smooth balls. Make the top look good, because any cracks will be seen on the top of the bun when cooked. I like my buns smooth! Make the buns whatever size you want. I like to make 12 buns with this recipe because I like a good sized bun. As you have each one ready, place it in your non-stick pan. once all of your buns are in their pan, then get your oil or melted butter again and rub the tops of the buns.

Now cover the buns with a clean dish towel and let rise for one hour. When you return in an hour, your buns should have grown and look awesome.

Preheat the oven to 350 degress F and when ready put them in the oven for 18 to 20 minutes. You will know that the buns are ready when the tops are a nice golden brown. Take them out when ready and get them out of the pan and cooling on a cooling rack.

There you have it.....amazing buns.

.... She's totally not kidding. They were substantial - to the point that I only needed one for my lunch. They weren't heavy but just enough to make me feel like homemade was the way to go and seriously where have the been all my life! If you give the recipe a try I'd love to hear about it - and I'm sure if you popped by Mom Mom on the Go, she'd love to hear about it too.