The best bun recipe ever! | MennoNeechie Kitchen (2024)

Every Saturday morning my foster mother would wake up earlier than any farmerI knowand bake either bread or buns. When I smell fresh buns I can still hear AM 1250 playing on the radio and her mixer in the kitchen mixing dough and it was alwaysvery calming. She would wake up, get the dough ready and wash the dishes all before the rest of us would wake up. And when she finished that, she would pull the vacuum out of the closet, and turn it on, and that’s when chores would begin. In winter, there was really no yard work to do so we would usually finish chores by noon and get to eat fresh buns for lunch.

My foster mother used to make her buns with milk instead of water which made them really good when eaten fresh, but not so good by the second day. Growing up we had never had store bought bread. We would get a homemade bun with jam for lunch and very seldom would we get lunch meat, (she would can so much jam in autumn that she thought why buy lunch meat when we can just eat the jam), but when you eat old buns and jam every single day,soon uneaten bun sandwichesstart showing up in random places, our roof, our shrubs, neighbors shrubs, the bush on the way to school, my school desk, even the school roof.Wheneveryone had to clean out their desks due to a mysterious smell in the classroom, it was usually my desk. At the time Iwas so envious of the kids that were blessed withwhite Wonder Bread and bologna sandwiches. So when I got my first paycheck from working a full-time summer job when I was 13, Iwalked straight from the bank to the grocery store, bought a loaf of white Wonder Bread,and a pack of bologna, and finished the entire thing before Iwalked back home.

So while I was going through my foster mothers recipe books, I found the infamous bun recipe scribbled on a loose piece of paper taped to a recipe book. At first, my plan was to post that recipefor you all, but I can’t decipher it. I’m not sure if I need to send it to a university to someone that deals with ancient cave drawings or a low german pharmacist. So while I work on figuring out that recipe, I’ve decided to post my ownrecipe. This is a recipe that I have tweaked and have been making for 8 years. It is made with water instead of milk so the buns have a longer shelf life, although my family enjoys them so much that they normally don’t last more than 3 days.The thing that makes this basic recipe a great recipe is my foster mothers technique of kneading in oilto finish the bun dough. She claims that it is her secret technique, and whethershe did in fact invent it ornot, it really does make the difference. I tend to make my buns rather large so I normally get about 18 buns, but have gotten 2 dozen medium sized buns out of this recipe.

First, you need 3 cups of warmwater, 1/2 cup of sugar, 1/3 cup of oil, 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt, 2 tablespoons of instant yeast, 2 eggs and7+ cups of flour.

Mix 1/2 cup of sugar and 2 tablespoons of instant yeast with 3 cups of warm water and let it sit until the top starts to look frothy.

While you are waiting for the yeast to froth, mix 7 cups of flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt,1/3 cup of oil and 2 eggs (beaten in a separate bowl first) on low speed.

Once the yeast mixture is frothy add into the flour mixture and continue to mix on low speed. When the flour is all mixed in, slowly add more flour while still mixinguntil the dough (about 1 cup more) untilflour is completely incorporated and just untilthe dough is no longer sticky.

When the dough is done mixing, continue mixing the dough while slowly pouring oil into the bowl, just until the dough doesn’t stick to the sides of the bowl.

Then take the bowl off of the mixer and slowly add more oil while kneading the dough by hand until you start to hear farting sounds. Really. There’s no other way to describe the noise.

Cover the bowl with a light cloth (old pillowcases cut up work really well. Wash them first of course). And let it sit for 1 hour, punching the dough down every 15 minutes.

After an hour, oil a cookie sheet and make round balls, a bit bigger than a golf ball, and place on oiled cookie sheet.

Cover with a light cloth again and let rise for 1 hour.

Place in pre-heated oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit and bake for 15-20 minutes until the tops aregolden brown. Remove buns from the cookie sheet immediately after you take them out of the oven and cool on a wirecooling rack. Enjoy!

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