Baking rolls and pizza dough, like bread, is not difficult, but it takes time. To help make it easier I use the shortcut of the bread maker. Rolls have to be shaped, so it’s not put it in and forget it, but close…
This is the recipe I use for homemade hamburger/hotdog buns. I think once you try making them you’ll never go back to store-bought buns again!
Wheat Hamburger Buns (Bread maker)
1 cup warm water or zucchini milk*
1 egg
1/3 cup oil
1/4 cup sugar
2 cups whole wheat or white whole wheat flour
2 cups white flour
1/2 cup wheat gluten
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon yeast
*To make zucchini milk, take your excess homegrown zucchinis (the bigger, the better!) and liquefy them in your blender, using a small amount of water. This “milk” can be frozen in small containers for future use. We froze nearly 40 containers last summer. It adds a very subtle coloring if you use only white flour, when you use wheat you won’t notice it. No flavor change, but it ups the vitamins in your rolls!
Add all ingredients, in order or in the order suggested by your bread maker manufacturer. Set bread maker on dough cycle. Once the dough finishes, allow it to rise in the bread maker undisturbed for about 1 hour. Grease two 9-inch-by-13-inch baking pans. Remove dough from bread maker and cut off pieces, shaping each into the kind of rolls you desire – hotdog or hamburger style. Place in greased pans, cover, and let rise another hour.
Preheat oven to 350 F. Bake for about 15 minutes (keep an eye on them), removing when tops appear browned. Depending on what shape you use and how big you like your buns, this recipe makes 12 to 18 buns.
We keep them in the freezer and warm up what we need. Since I discovered this recipe, store-bought buns just don’t cut it in our house anymore!
