If you do stuff, stuff gets done.......

If you do stuff, stuff gets done.......

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Frugal February- homemade sandwich buns

Linking to Friday Finances at Renaissance
I like to make bread and am trying to make 100% of our bread in 2014 at home.  Except for a tiny free loaf of Sicilian bread we got last week from a new food truck business,  we have had only homebaked bread.

We like loaves of bread but they do get dry really fast so for sandwiches, we prefer homemade buns.  They seem to stay soft and less crumbley for a lot longer than sliced bread.

This is how I make them......
I mix and knead the dough in a bread machine.  It can also be mixed in a heavy mixer or by hand.
Then I take it out after the kneading is done and let it rise in a big oiled bowl.   In this picture, that is 2 batches of dough.  As soon as the first batch is ready, I put the dough in a big bowl and start a second batch. 

Let the dough rise until it is doubled or more in size. 

Then roll out the dough on a floured surface- maybe 1/2 -3/4 inches thick.  This just depends on how thick you like your sandwich buns.
I have 2 round cutters,  I think the bigger one is 4 inches and the other one  is a bit less than 3 inches. 

Cut out the buns and put them on baking sheets. 
I use well-seasoned stone ware. 
if you bake them on a plain metal cookie sheet,  you will need to grease the sheet or those buns will stick while baking. 
Let the buns rise for about 1/2 an hour and then bake.  No matter the recipe,  I bake mine at 375 degrees and check after 15 minutes.  Sometimes they take just a few more minutes to get golden brown.
Let the buns cool- you can put them on a cooling rack if your prefer.  I don't usually but sometimes I do. 
When cool, each bun gets sliced with a bread knife.  I slice almost all the way but leave about 1/2 inch unsliced.  That way,  you can still open them up but the tops and bottoms don't get separated.
 Bag up the buns and freeze the ones that won't be eaten in a day or two.
When you need bread,  just take out however many you need.  They thaw quickly. 
This works for small households like we are now.  When we have company and when our children were younger,  fresh homebaked bread was eaten way too fast to even think about freezing it.


I think most any  bread recipe that is good as a loaf can also be rolled out and baked as good sandwich buns.

My Grandparents Bread recipe when I first blogged about it
they used this recipe to make loaves of bread as well as lots of buns for sandwiches
Grandpa's Bread2 cups warm water
1 package yeast
1 t salt
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup oil - they used Wesson or Crisco oil - I used melted butter
about 6 cups of flour - they used all-purpose flour, I used 2 cups of whole wheat and 4 cups of unbleached
dissolve the yeast and sugar in the warm water. Then stir in the salt, oil and most of the flour. Mix well, then knead until you have a smooth dough. They kneaded it all by hand, I let my Kitchenaid mixer do most of the work or I would make a 1/2 recipe at a time let the bread machine do the kneading.
Let dough rise in an oiled bowl, covered with a clean kitchen towel, until at least double in size.
Punch down. Divide in 2. Shape into loaves and place in greased bread pans.
Let rise again, until at least double.
Bake at 375 for 35-45 minutes. 
Our current favorite bun recipe
1 C water
1 egg well beaten
2 T butter
2 T sugar
3 T dry milk
1 t salt
3 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 t yeast
add all to the breadmaker bowl in this order and set on knead cycle- check midway through mixing as you may need  to add 2-3 T more flour. 

This Honey Oatmeal Bread at AllRecipes.com also makes delicious buns but I have not been baking it for a few months as our youngest grandchild really likes homemade bread but he can't have honey until after his first birthday. 

Where we live,  flour is cheapest at Aldi.  Yeast is cheapest at Sams.  It comes in a twin pack of vacuum packed 1 pound bags.  I keep the yeast in the freezer, the opened one gets pour in a jar with a tight lid.  It keeps in freezer for a long time too and will still be active way past that date they put on the packages. 

So,  go bake some buns when you have time.  They are delicious and easy and your family will be so happy.  And you will spend much less on homemade buns than what store buns would cost. 

15 comments:

  1. Your rising dough is just beautiful in that bowl! I'm sure it's really delicious, too!

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  2. You know we like Grandpas Bread---going to have to try the buns. TFS!

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  3. That bread looks yummy! My nana has a bread recipe that everyone loves in our family. I need to remember to get it soon!

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  4. "Smooth and elastic" is one of my favorite bread phrases. Looks fabulous!

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  5. Thanks so much for sharing this. I was just about to experiment with making my own hamburger buns! Now I know I can use the bread recipe I have and love. Since September I've been making all our bread; done really well except for the week of Thanksgiving I bought a few loaves, and again in January. Making my own bread is such a money saver! And it tastes so good too. Love your yellow bowl!

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    1. You are welcome! And you are so right that home baked bread is cheaper and tastes better, no weird chemicals either.

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  6. mmmm love homemade bread. Thanks for the bun recipe.

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  7. For some reason, making my own hamburger buns has been intimidating to me. I am definitely going to try it your way!

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    1. Hi Maranda, I hope you try baking buns and like them. We sure do!

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  8. I can smell it baking now. Thanks for sharing.

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  9. I have used a cleaned out tuna can to cut out buns. It works best if you cut a few airholes in the bottom.

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  10. I have used a cleaned out tuna can to cut out buns. It works best if you cut a few airholes in the bottom.

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  11. Those look so good! I'm not baking our bread right now, but I'm going to favorite this post so I'll have it if I start again.

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  12. I have been doing more and more of our bread. I do all of the loaf bread and have just perfected bagels that we like so I am moving on to buns really soon. Thanks for the tutorial. I am glad to know about rolling them out so that they are not too tall. I have that same yellow bowl. My Mother always put her bread dough to rise in the same bowl. I found one at a thrift store after I was married so that I could do the same. There are so many memories of bread dough rising in the yellow bowl in my Mother's kitchen.

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  13. They look AMAZING. I am totally going to try them this week!

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