Whole Wheat Buns

A few years back my Dad called me and told me he had found the best whole wheat recipe there was. I jotted down the recipe and thought I would give it a try, but I was expecting it to turn out the way most 100% whole wheat recipes do, and that is dense and flat. This recipe though is different and not at all dense and flat. 

This recipe makes for the most fluffy moist insides, and for a beautiful crisp outside. You can make two loaves of bread or you can make 24 buns/rolls, you could even make one loaf of bread and a dozen buns. 

I am from Canada as most of you know, and up here we call them buns... not rolls. Rolls to us and me mean cinnamon rolls, even those we call cinnamon buns! One funny story many years ago I had people sign up to bring different elements for a dinner. Not thinking I wrote "buns" down. Well this one sweet family who had just moved from the states brought "buns" but they were hamburger buns, I realized of course they didn't realize it meant "rolls". 

So if you you are American and bring rolls to a dinner and someone complements your nice buns... they are referring to your rolls... well hopefully they are!

Whole Wheat Buns

Ingredients:

1/2 teaspoon of honey
1/4 cup of warm water
1 Tablespoons of dry active yeast
1 3/4 cups of warm water
1/8 cup of honey
1 Tablespoon of fancy molasses
1/4 cup of vegetable or olive oil
1 egg beaten
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
5 1/2 to 6 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons of salt

Directions:

In the bowl of your stand mixer with the dough hook attached add the first amount of honey and water. Stir together to dissolve the honey. Sprinkle the yeast on top and let sit for 10 minutes. You want the yeast to start eating the sugars in the honey and to "wake up". Stir the yeast after 10 minutes into the water.

Add all the wet ingredients into the bowl with the yeast, stir all together with a whisk. 

With your stand mixer on a low speed slowly add 2 1/2 cups of flour. Then turn the speed up a few notches to beat the flour in and ensure there are no dry spots. Let it sit for 20 minutes.

Add the salt and 3 more cups of flour on a low speed. If the dough seems too sticky add 1/4 cup of more flour at a time until you get a soft dough that is easy to work with and not overly sticky. Once the dough seems the right consistency, knead it in the mixer for 5 to 10 minutes or until elastic and smooth.

Remove the dough from the bowl and lightly grease the bowl. Put the dough back in and turn once coating with oil. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and a clean dish towel. Place in a warm area or in the sun and let rise for 50 minutes or an hour until doubled in size.

Punch the dough down and shape into 24 buns or 2 loaves of bread. Place the buns on a parchment lined baking sheet, or the bread in greased loaf pans. Cover again and let rise for another 60  minutes.

Preheat oven to 375F. Bake for 20 minutes for the buns, or until tops are a deep golden brown and feel crispy on top. The bread you want to bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until it sounds hollow when tapped and has dark golden brown crust. 

Remove from the oven and remove buns and bread from the pans onto a wire rack and cool. While still hot brush the tops with melted butter. Enjoy with butter, jam or anything you want.

Whole Wheat Buns​

These are just so amazing fresh out of the oven with some butter and honey. I have a huge supply of home preserved jams that I did in the summer, so the raspberry jam in the picture is from my mothers bush outside my childhood home. There is nothing better then cracking open one of those jars and digging into the taste of summer.

Happy Weekend!
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