Fresh bread is delicious and these quick and easy buns are exactly that — quick and easy to make with only a handful of ingredients!
In the “old days,” bread was served with each meal. It helps fill hungry tummies and is cost effective to make regularly. Since we are cooking from ingredients we have on hand during our no grocery shopping challenge during January, it is nice to have fresh bread or bun with our meal. These buns make great sandwiches or mini pizzas too. You can also turn them into bacon cheese buns, ham rolls and so much more!
Let’s get started.
Add 1-1/2 cups warm water to bowl with 1 tsp sugar and 1-1/2 tbsp instant yeast. Stir and let sit 5 minutes.
To the yeast mixture, add oil, salt and 2 cups of the flour. Stir well.
Add egg. Beat well.
Add the last cup of flour. Stir until dough forms.
Knead for about 5 minutes. I add a bit of flour if needed and knead until dough is tacky but not sticky.
Drizzle bowl and dough with oil. Let sit 10 minutes. This will help relax the dough.
Shape into buns. Place in a greased 9×13 pan. Today I decided to place the buns in my cast iron pan that I slightly warmed in the oven with 1 tbsp butter before placing the buns in.
Let rise 20 minutes.
Brush with butter. We brushed these with garlic butter — just some melted butter with chives, parmesan cheese and garlic seasoning.
Bake at 350F for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
These buns are so good! They are light and fluffy and great as is or as a sandwich. Yum!
We also make fried dough with leftover bread dough. Since I used the cast iron pan, we had leftover dough and my girls love fried dough and always ask for it when I make bread dough. Let’s make fried dough!
Fried Dough:
The remaining dough I cut into 6 pieces and placed in the fridge to fry later. Many Canadians call fried dough “beaver tails” but I grew up all my life calling it “fried dough.” When we would visit my grandparents, my gramma would ask my brothers and I if we wanted her to fry up a bit of dough when she’d make bread. Then we’d eat the warm fried dough with icing sugar. So yummy!
Here’s the dough — I did not fry the dough right away since I baked the buns in my skillet, so I placed it in the fridge until I was ready. If you are leaving it overnight, be sure to lightly oil the dough and cover it.
To fry, just put a bit of oil in the skillet, stretch the dough and place it in the skillet once it’s hot. Adding the dough to a cold skillet will make the fried dough greasy and not taste good. Once browned, flip and cook until brown, about 2 to 3 minutes per side.
Once cooked, remove and place on paper towel or a tea towel to absorb any excess grease. Eat with cinnamon sugar, powdered sugar or caramel and chocolate sauce. It is one of my childhood favorites and still is!
I decided to make another batch of these yummy buns. In this batch, I used 1 cup organic whole wheat flour and 2 cups white flour. Once the dough is ready, then it’s time to turn into buns! I often bake this dough in a 9×13” pan that’s been lightly greased. Divide dough into 12 pieces, roll into buns and place in pan. Proof 20 minutes.
The dough can be brushed with garlic butter before setting to rise, or after — it really does not affect the proofing at all. Once proofed, it’s time to bake. I only brushed half with garlic butter and left the other half plain.
Bake at 350F for 20 to 30 minutes or until lightly golden.
Once baked, let cool slightly before removing from pan. Letting the buns cool in the pan can make the bread sweat and the bottoms to become soggy. I always remove buns when warm and place on a cooling rack.
Store in an airtight container. Buns are best if eaten within 3 days.
Quick and Easy Buns
1-1/2 cups warm water
1 tsp sugar
1-1/2 tbsp instant yeast
3 cups flour
1/3 cup oil
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
Combine water, sugar and yeast together. Stir. Let sit 5 minutes. Add oil, 2 cups flour and salt. Stir well. Add remaining flour slowly to form a dough. Oil hands, knead gently. Oil 9×13″ pan. Cut dough into 12 pieces, form into buns. Brush with butter. Let rise 20 minutes. Bake at 350F for 20 minutes or until golden. Let cool a bit before removing from pan and placing on cooling rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.
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