Wheat Buns

A few weeks ago, our friend, Matt, gave us a big roast fresh from the recently slaughtered cow from his family's farm, and he suggested we try making BBQ out of it. I figured that if we had such fresh meat, we should definitely have fresh buns to put it on. Thus began my search for bun recipes. This one is adapted from one that I found on www.breadworld.com for Burger Buns. The main changes I made were to add wheat germ, whole wheat flour, and sesame seeds. I also made the dough a day in advance, let it go through the first rise cycle, formed 8 buns, and refrigerated them on parchment paper on top of a baking sheet covered with plastic wrap for about 24 hours. I let them sit out for 2 or 3 hours to warm up the night we wanted to eat them, reformed them into buns (they flattened out in the fridge), let them rise another 20ish minutes, and then baked. They turned out great! Here is the recipe if you want to try it too:

1/2 cup warm water (100-110*F)
2 packets active dry yeast (4 1/2 tsp, I used quick rise)
3/4 cup warm milk (100-110*F)
1/4 cup sugar
3 Tbsp butter, softened
2 tsp salt
3 eggs
1/4 cup wheat germ
1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
3 1/2 - 4 cup all purpose flour
Sesame Seeds
Olive Oil

1. In a large bowl, combine warm water, sugar, and yeast. Stir in warm milk, butter, salt, eggs, wheat germ, and the whole wheat flour.

2. Continue stirring in more flour until dough has formed enough of a ball that it can be dumped out on floured surface. Knead and add flour until smooth and elastic, 4-6 minutes.

3. Coat a large glass bowl with olive oil, put dough ball into bowl, and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 45 minutes.

4. Punch dough down. Pour out onto floured surface and form into a long loaf. Cut into 8 equal pieces. I think this was done most easily by dividing whole loaf in half, then the halves into fourths, then fourths into eighths. Form each piece into a smooth ball and place on large, greased baking sheet (you may need two as they expand quite a bit and mine ending up touching if they were all on one). Let rise in warm place until about doubled, 20-40 minutes.

5. Preheat oven to 400*F. Beat remaining egg and brush on rolls. Sprinkle with sesame seeds (or poppy seeds or minced onions...) Bake 10-15 minutes (recipe says 10-15 minutes "or until done..." which was more like 20-25 minutes, but that may have been due to my addition of wheat flour and wheat germ). Let cool on wire rack, cut in half, pile high with meat and toppings!