There was a time in my life when baking buns was not noteworthy. I just did it, because that is how we survived. I’ve gotten lazy since then. It happened between the birth of my 5th and 6th babies. Life just overwhelmed me and baking bread was “too hard.” But today, I made hamburger buns and feel like shouting it from the rooftop. After it was done, the thinking about it was the hardest part. The doing didn’t take long. A Grocery Shrink Plus member did it last week and posted her beautiful pictures on our facebook group page. I said, those are awesome. Thinking, “I don’t have time for that anymore.” Famous last words :).
My daughter had a birthday party this month and I bought fancy foods from Aldi that used up my grocery budget quickly. Our budget has no room for fluff–or very little of it. It’s necessities only–or it won’t last. And last it didn’t.
I went to the store with my last $20 on Monday and we bought a gallon of milk, a few fresh veggies and some yogurt. I had to put food back before getting the checkout line after I estimated the total in my mind. Brandon (age 5) was a little traumatized. He’s never seen me make these hard decisions before, or was too young to understand. He tried to give me money so we could buy whatever we wanted. I explained to him that I have plenty of money, but we decided at the beginning of the month how much we would spend on food and I was determined to stick to that no matter what. It’s like a game :). He wasn’t sure it was a fun game…lol. We have a full pantry, so it isn’t as big a deal to run out of grocery money.
I started the buns with the recipe from King Arthur Flour. I have a different one in my Grocery Shrink Plus menus, but wanted to try something new. I adapted it quite a bit–switched from butter to oil so the rolls would be soft, even cold. And used 100% fresh ground whole wheat flour. Hard white wheat makes my bread so much better than when I used hard red wheat. And now I can buy 25 lb bags of wheat berries from Wal-mart!
I keep my wheat grinder on the counter all the time, cleaned, with the hopper full of berries and the lid on. Then all I have to do is flip a switch for fresh ground flour. It takes a lot of the dread out of baking for me.
Here’s my adapted recipe:
100% Whole Wheat Hamburger Buns
- 1 cup lukewarm water
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 1 large egg
- 3 cups whole wheat flour
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1/4 cup stevia in the raw
- 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
- 1 tablespoon yeast
- Combine water, and sugar until sugar is dissolved. Stir in yeast. Wait a few minutes for it to soften and activate.
- Stir in 1 cup of flour, oil, egg, stevia and salt.
- Add remaining flour a little at a time until a soft dough forms that pulls away from the sides of the mixer. Knead by hand 8 minutes or by mixer 3-4 minutes. Oil lightly and cover with a towel. Let rise until double.
- Roll dough out 1/2 inch thick and cut with a wide glass. Set on greased pans and allow to rise until double.
- Brush with beaten egg and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
- Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes or until golden brown.
Um………walmart has wheat BERRIES!?!??!?!!?! why do I NOT know this? tell me more….
Christy, The berries are on the bottom shelf at my Wal-mart and are $13 for a 25 lb sack of hard white wheat (Montana Gold brand–my personal favorite.) If your store doesn’t stock them, please request it. It will make a difference 🙂
Great idea to keep the hopper filled with grain! That would be a big deal for me. Thanks for that! I also didn’t realize that hard white would taste so much different from hard red spring wheat. When I use up my last sack of grain, I’m thinking of giving hard white a try!
Those buns look delicious! I can totally relate. I have 6 children, and in the past, when budget dictated or the inclination hit me, I would bake all our bread products from scratch – sandwich bread, buns, tortillas, French bread, you name it. But I was sporadic at it at best and after a couple of months I would slowly revert to buying store bought. Just recently I got back into baking my own, and I am HOOKED! It’s really not that much trouble, and the end result is a million times tastier and healthier than store bought! I am currently buying flour in 25 lb bags from Costco (CHEAP@), but as I get more into bread baking, am looking into grinding my own wheat. I would love to know what grinder (and mixer?) you use. Thank you!
These look great, Angela! Hmmm. Inspiring me to bake some bread today!
I’ve made my own bread for years. It started 14 years ago as a novelty but in the past five it has become a necessity 😉 Plus, my family wouldn’t let me go back to store bought if I tried! They’re hooked. What I haven’t done, however, is grind my own grains. I’d like to know a) what area in WalMart has the wheat berries and b) is it really cheaper than buying flour?
Leah, The wheat berries at my Wal-mart are on the bottom shelf right under the flour in a hug paper sack with a stitched top (similar to dog food or chicken feed.) It is $13 for a 25 lb bag. It’s about the same price as flour, but is more nutritious to grind your own since oxidation goes to work quickly on vitamins once the flour is ground. The cost of a quality wheat grinder adds cost there too. It was a gift to myself for reaching a wonderful milestone in my life and I’ve enjoyed the mill weekly since then–a good investment for our family. (I purchased from breadclass.com and highly recommend them.)
These look really good! Where did you get the pan you are baking them in? Does it have a special name? 🙂
Donna, It’s a bun pan from Bed Bath and Beyond, but I’ve found the pan really doesn’t help much. The buns that raised on a plain cookie sheet looked exactly the same. I used a wide mouth plastic cup to cut them which made the authenticity the best.
I think I may have to request the wheat berries. I know the flour aisle well enough to know I haven’t seen them there. However, our Wal-Mart does stock chicken feed 😉 Just not the kind we use.
Thanks for the recommendation of breadclass.com I’m having fun watching all her videos!
Hmmmm, was wondering if I could use honey instead of stevia. I’m new to this bread baking thing. 😉 Would have no clue how to modify. I just might have to go and get some stevia! I really want to try this recipe, my husband would be thrilled to have homemade buns. Can I ask how many buns this recipe produces? Thank you!
Nicole, You sure can use honey. I was just trying to keep the sugars low. The recipe made a dozen buns for me. They were slightly smaller than commercial buns, but we’d rather not have our hamburger swallowed by bun :).
Yeah, I want to make these bad-boys today. Can I ask you another question? How much honey would you use in place of the stevia? I’m excited, can you tell?! Again, I’m new to this whole bread thing and am clueless….thank you!
Nicole, I’m not sure because I’ve never done it that way. But you might pop over to the original recipe that I linked too. They didn’t use stevia–can’t remember exactly if it was sugar or honey, but it will get you closer. Honey is slightly sweeter so you can use 3/4 of the amount of sugar. You will need a touch more flour since honey has water in it.
Thank you, I certainly appreciate you help!
Hi Angelia,
I’m going to try to restart Grocery shrink again and am determined to do it right this time I have a l8imited budget and hope to be able to make freezer meals for my elderly mother as well. Do you have a cheat sheet of what items would be beneficial to have available in your pantry?
Hi Betty, I do have a list for you. I’ll send it to your email.