Sweet Dinner Rolls or Burger Buns

I wasn’t really sure what to call these. I’m just starting to try to make different kinds of bread, and the ones that Bo really wanted me to figure out are the kind you get at Logan’s Roadhouse in the US. These did not turn out like those buns. What I have stumbled upon though is a fantastic burger and sandwich bun! Like, really fantastic. I’ve made them a few times now too, just to make sure that my screw up wasn’t a one off (it wasn’t, these are definitely dense like a burger bun and not light as air like those sweet rolls, a problem for another day).

All was not lost though, I did figure out the topping for the sweet rolls, and it’s delicious. So, when I make a batch, I coat the top of some of them with the sweetness, just to eat as a nice roll with dinner, and the others I leave plain to use as a burger or sandwich bun.

A suggestion: make some pulled pork and use these to make a sandwich with them. SO much better than anything you can buy at the store.

Don’t be scared if you aren’t used to making bread either. Remember, I have no idea what I’m doing here, but these have turned out perfectly 3 times in a row. The hardest part is just shaping the dough into balls, and I’ve gone ahead and embarrassed myself in a video for you to make that easier. What I’m saying is try it, you’ll be surprised at how easy it is. And remember, nothing smells better (or impresses people more) than making your own bread. I’m all about the showmanship here

First off, dissolve some sugar in warm water (105ºF, I just turn the tap on and use my instant read meat thermometer to tell me what the temperature is. You need it warm enough to wake up the yeast, but not so hot that you kill it), then stir in the yeast. Leave it for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes you’ll have this. Pretty insane. Here’s another tip: keep your jar of yeast in the freezer, it will last a lot longer, and the yeast will stay a lot fresher!

Toss the yeast into the bowl of your mixer and add the warm milk (105ºF again, warm it up on the stove first and use your meat thermometer again to check the temp), some more sugar, butter, and salt. Give it a good mix.

Mix in the egg.

Then mix in the flour, ½ a cup at a time, using the dough hook. I do this with the mixer running, slowly adding the flour. Once all the flour is in, let it mix for about 10 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic. You can do this part by hand if you don’t have a stand mixer.

Here’s the dough straight out of the mixer. Just shape it into a rough ball.

Get a large bowl and butter the sides of it well.

Add the dough, and move it  around the bowl a bit to cover the dough with a thin layer of the butter (this will stop it from sticking)

Cover it with a kitchen towel, place it in a warm spot, and let it rise until doubled in size (about and hour). I always do this in the oven with just the light turned on. It heats the oven up just enough to speed up the rise a bit.

Beautiful! This is just the most puffy, gorgeous thing ever. And I can’t even begin to describe how proud of myself I was at this point, lol. Obviously, I have a hang up about making bread. I think I’m more scared of it than I am elevators (I know that is a ridiculous fear, and it doesn’t stop me from getting on them, I just hate doing it).

Ok, here comes some embarrassment. I couldn’t figure out how to take pictures of shaping the dough, so I recorded it. If you know how to shape buns already, please save me the horror and skip ahead. Also, ignore the comment about the naked child running around because of potty training. Thankfully I had zoomed in enough on my hands that you couldn’t see that. I’m also sorry about the tv background noise, remember, I’m new at this. Alright, here you go:

Alright, once your buns are all shaped, lay them out on cookie sheets (leave some space between them because they’ll rise again).

They’re just so pretty looking!

Cover them with a towel again, and leave on the counter for 30 minutes.

This is what you’ll find when you lift the towel. Look how pillowy they are!

Now, here’s my sweet topping: melted butter with honey stirred in. That’s it. It’s delicious. So melt some butter and stir in some honey.

Brush the tops of all the buns with the honey butter. It’s ok to do this here even if you’re using them for burgers and not just dinner rolls. If you want to add some sesame seeds on top, it’ll help them stick! Now just toss them in the oven for 10 minutes or so and you’re good to go!

Once they’re out of the oven, if you’re serving them as rolls, brush the tops with more of the sweet butter. Yes, I know how delicious these look, and they were left in the oven for a minute or so too long (I should have watched them better)

Look at that inside, nice and dense but still fluffy. Best sandwich buns ever!

Here’s your printable:

Sweet Dinner Rolls or Burger Buns

Yield: 15 rolls big enough for burgers.

Prep Time: 2 hours

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 2 hours 10 minutes

Print

Ingredients

Rolls

• ½ cup warm water (105ºF)
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 pkg active dry yeast
• ½ cup warm milk (105ºF)
• 1/3 cup butter, well softened
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 egg
• 3½ cups all-purpose flour

Honey Butter Topping

• 3 tbsp butter, melted
• 3 tbsp honey

Instructions

1. In a small bowl or glass measuring cup, dissolve 1 tsp of sugar in the warm water. Add the yeast, stir to combine, then let sit for 10 minutes until very foamy.
2. Put the yeast mixture in the bowl of a stand mixture and add the warm milk, 1/3 cup of sugar, softened butter and salt. Give it a quick mix to combine. Add the egg and mix. Switch from the paddle attachment to the dough hook, and gradually add the flour, ½ a cup at a time.
3. Once all the flour has been added, let it mix with the dough hook for 10 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic, no longer sticking to the sides of the bowl, and in a rough ball shape.
4. Get a large bowl out and grease generously with butter. Turn the dough out onto the counter, shape into a rough ball, and place into the greased bowl. Turn the dough over a few times to coat with butter so it won’t stick.
5. Cover with a kitchen towel and put in a warm spot to rise until doubled in size (about and hour). I like to do this in the oven with just the light on.
6. When the dough has risen give it a quick punch to deflate. Tear off palm sized pieces of dough and shape into rounds. With the dough in the fingers of both hands, pull the right and left sides of the dough down and under. Turn the dough 90º in your hands and do it again (so it’s like the north, east, south, and west sides of the roll have been pulled under). The top should now look taunt and smooth. Put the roll on your counter (no need to flour), and cup your hand over it. Gently move your hand in a quick circular motion. You’ll feel the dough take shape and slightly firm up under your hand (this only takes about 3 seconds to do).
7. Place the rolls on lined baking sheets, leaving a couple of inches between them, and cover with a clean kitchen towel. Let rise on the counter for 30 minutes. Preheat your oven to 400ºF while the buns rise.
8. Stir together the melted butter and honey.
9. Just before you put the buns in the oven, brush the tops with honey butter. Bake for 10 minutes, until the tops are golden brown. If using as dinner rolls, brush the tops with honey butter again straight out of the oven.

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