Wheat Buns

I store my whole wheat flour in the fridge, and didn’t think to take it out to warm up to room temperature before making these buns. The cold flour probably slowed rise time a bit. However, my kitchen was on the warm side, so that may have made up for it! (Although air conditioned, it is summertime in Arizona, and my little west-facing kitchen gets pretty toasty of a late afternoon…)

Wheat Buns

1 1/2 – 2 tsp yeast
1 cup milk
1 Tbsp butter
1 egg
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp honey
3/4 – 1 tsp salt
2 cups whole wheat flour
1+ cup unbleached flour (or use all whole wheat)

Heat milk in microwave or on stove to scalding or nearly so (begins to form bubbles). Melt butter in milk. When it cools to wrist-comfortable temperature, pour into bowl. Add yeast, egg, brown sugar, honey and salt. Stir together and beat in approximately 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour until smooth. Stir in remaining whole wheat flour and 1 cup of unbleached flour (or use all whole wheat). Sprinkle a generous amount of flour on the counter – about 1/4 cup – and dump out dough on top. Knead until smooth. Add additional flour if necessary – but add as little as possible – just enough to keep the dough workable and from sticking too badly. If you work the dough quickly, moving from one hand to the next across the counter, you can get by with a little stickier dough. The whole wheat will continue to absorb moisture as it sits to rise. Wash, dry and grease the bowl. Shape dough into a round. Put dough in upside down and turn over to grease all sides. Cover bowl with lid or tea towel and let rest about 20 minutes.

Divide dough into 8 pieces and shape buns. Put on greased cookie sheet. Cover with tea towel and set in warm place to rise. Let rise for about 45 minutes to an hour. Bake at 375*F for 10 – 12 minutes until tops are browned. Serve with soup, stew or chili. Or, use for sandwich buns.

If you have more time , you can allow a full first rise – until double – about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Then shape buns and continue with the second rise of 45 to an hour in length.