I only wish I knew that baking buns were so easy.  Although they take a few hours, most of the work is simply waiting – and you can easily make 30 of these at the same time and freeze the ones you don`t use.  They`re extremley economical and so fulfilling to make.

One of the goals of our site is to inspire people to try these things.  I`ve never made bread with anyone else or taken a course.  I`ve never baked bread (other than no-knead) before and I`ve never made buns.  I`m not a chef and am feeling my way through this with you.

My biggest advantages are a lack of fear and some other cooking experience – and I`m hoping that posts like these will share those with you.  I would love to hear that people try these things themselves and, further, help other people learn these arts.  I really couldn’t believe how easy this was – to the point that I found myself somewhat frustrated and angry that I didn`t know that before.

Ingredients (yields 12-16 buns, can easily be doubled)

• 1.5 cups warm water (I use tap water that is uncomfortable to touch because of the heat)
• 2 tablespoons of sugar
• 3 tablespoons of oil (you can use olive or any other cooking oil)
• 3/4 teaspoon of fine salt
• 1 tablespoon instant dry yeast
• 1 egg, just beaten until it is a single color and texture (i.e. lightly beaten) – you don’t need a froth or a foam.
• 3.5 cups while flour (if you want to use whole wheat, mix 2 cups whole wheat flour with 1.5 cups of white flour)

Directions

1. Mix the sugar, oil and warm water in a medium sized bowl.  Stir until dissolved.
2. Add the egg to the bowl of wet ingredients.
3. Place remaining dry ingredients (salt, yeast, flour) in a separate large bowl.  Mix (I use a whisk).
4. Add the liquid to the flour while constantly mixing.  I add a tablespoon or two at a time while mixing with a wooden spoon.
5. Once it`s all mixed together, you should have a dough (although you may need your hands to help it come together).  If your dough is a sticky mess, add a bit more flour at a time (i.e. a tablespoon or so).  Imagine that you are making wonderful bubble gum – it should neither stick to your hands nor fall apart and crumble (if it does this, which is unlikely, you can try to add a bit of warm water).  Adding a bit of flour to the outside of your ball of dough will make it less sticky.
6. Put flour on a cutting board and spread it.  Knead the bread by simply folding it in half, pushing together and repeating (I tend to fold it North-to-South, push, then fold East-to-West and push and repeat the cycle).  This is not hard work – the flour is delightfully soft and pliable.  I avoided kneading for so long because I though it was going to take a lot of muscle power.  This should be easy work – We repeat this for 5 minutes or so.
7. Place the dough ball back in the big bowl.  Pour a small amount of oil on the dough and rotate the ball until the entire thing is covered with oil.  Cover the bowl with a clean cloth (damp is optional) and leave to rise in a damp spot in your kitchen.
8. Set a timer for 15 minutes.  At the end of 15 minutes, `punch` your dough – i.e. just push down on it and flatten it out once and reshape into a ball.
9. Repeat step 8, 3 additional times (i.e. 1 hour and 4 punches in total)
10. Slightly oil a cutting board.  Place your dough on it (after the last punch).  Cut your dough in 4 quarters, and roll them into rectangles (the dough will be the size and shape of a small submarine sandwich bun).
11. Cut each roll in 3 pieces (4 if you want smaller rolls)
12. Form the dough pieces into bun-shaped pieces and place them on a well-oiled baking sheet.  Make sure they aren`t touching (I place 8 on a single sheet).
13. Cover your buns with a clean towel and let them rise until they double in size – this should take 45 minutes to an hour (if you are reading this one-step-at-a-time while cooking, make sure to read the next step now)
14.   Pre-heat the oven at 325 degrees for 20 minutes.
15. Bake for 15 minutes and take a peak.  Bake until they are browned to your liking (they cook for 25-30 minutes for me and I check about every 5 minutes after the first check).

These are great to make while you are doing other things – like cleaning your kitchen.  Once the initial work is done you need very little tools and can easily fit it between those cooking tasks.

Here`s some of the process (comments are BELOW any photos they may apply to):

The initial dough ball is smaller than you think.  I made a half batch here and the initial dough appeared to be about the size of a large bun before rising.

This bread was just punched – the beer cap is there to provide scale for the next photo which was taken 15 minutes later between punches.  It shows how the dough has risen.

I rotate the dough after cutting it – that`s the seams you see above.  They just look prettier when they bake.

This is the raw dough after it`s final rise – note the change of texture and slight change of shape.  They look like buns!

There are few things that feel as magical as making buns yourself.  Dana and I remarked how we`ve taken store-bought buns for granted for years – but when you make them yourself they transcend to something magical.

Check out the awesome crumb (`crust`on the outside of the bun and the pillowy softness on the inside).

Our final product – complete with home-dried chives.