Buns/Dinner Rolls

Buns!!!! I’m becoming very adamant these days!! Yes…adamant to try something new every other day. Sometimes they turn perfect and as expected, and sometimes pathetic and directly into the bin. Reminds of a kadi that I read yesterday… “Uppilla pandam kuppaiyil, upulla pandam thoppaiyil!! ” ha-ha…. People might not know how many unsuccessful attempts have gone past in baking a bread/bun at home. Sometimes they end up too dense. Sometimes under-baked. Sometimes pathetically tasting. Sometimes hard as a brick. Every time, my hub would say…”It’s ok there is always another time”. He is my source of inspiration at these moments. So I never wanted to give up. Breads…kneading, good yeast, right temperature, right amount of ingredients, perfect rising…every single step counts. Even if one goes wrong, the final product is pathetic in its own way. But as I said, I never wanted to give up. So today, with another attempt in making a Bun, here I’m!!

Before even starting to pen down…..I already gobbled down 2 of them…Warm out of the Oven, with dollops of butter!!! And they tasted heavenly!!! Success!

1-3/4th cup of whole wheat flour (I used our normal chapathi flour)
Less than 1 cup of All-purpose flour (Will say how much less than 1 cup)
1/4 cup sugar
1.5 tablespoon butter (I used Smart balance, buttery spread)
1-2 teaspoon oil (For greasing and brushing on top)
1 egg
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon salt
1 package active dry yeast (About 2-1/4 teaspoon)

Method:
Pre-heat oven to 350 deg F.
1. Take a big mixing bowl enough to hold about 3 cups of flour, and easy to mix. Add 1 and a 3/4th cup of wheat flour, yeast and just mix.
2. Heat butter, milk, sugar, salt until butter starts melting. Whisk and pour into the flour-yeast mixture and use a whisker to mix well.
3. Beat the egg just until the yellow and white blends. Once the temperature cools down enough to knead with your hands, pour the egg into the flour mixture.
4. Start adding all-purpose flour in parts of 1/4 cup and start kneading inside the bowl.
5. After adding 1/2 cup, flour the surface with flour, pour the dough on to the flour and start kneading. Keep adding flour until the dough is just soft enough and is not sticky. You will not need more than 3/4th cup of flour. Again it just depends on the temperature, flour consistency, yeast, humidity etc. So use your judgment.
6. Knead for about 3 minutes. Make a smooth ball. Take a bowl, grease with oil, place the dough inside, proof with a wet (not dripping, squeeze of the water!! ) towel, and keep in a draft free place for an hour to 30 minutes until it rises to a double. The texture should be of a soft dough. Typically, when you touch a baby’s skin….woowww that soft and wiggly, but not sticky.
7. Put the dough on a flat surface, punch it down to release air-bubbles. Make into a long strip, cut them into 6 balls, roll and keep in a greased baking dish to rise again for 1 hr. What I did to mine is, took each ball, roll them into long strip, curled them up into a muffin pan and let them rise.
8. Bake 25 minutes in a pre-heated oven. Once they are out, take them from the dish immediately and let them cool on a rack. Else, moisture will start forming at the bottom and will spoil the buns.