Putting It All Together

Arrange the oven racks into the middle and lower positions and preheat oven to 360ºF; line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

In the bowl of a standup mixer, or a deep mixing bowl if mixing by hand, combine the yeast with the water, sugar, oil, salt and eggs; whisk together until there are no traces of yeast. Using the dough hook attachment (or a sturdy wooden spoon if mixing by hand) start with about 4 cups of flour; gradually add up to 7 cups, or more as necessary, for the dough to come together and pull away from the edge of the bowl, about 3 - 4 minutes. The dough will be very sticky.

Whether you’re using a machine or not, finish kneading the dough by hand. Turn the dough out onto a lightly-floured surface, incorporating more flour as needed until the dough is smooth, about 5 - 7 minutes. The dough will be slightly sticky.

Shape the dough into a ball and place into a lightly-oiled bowl; rotate the dough to cover it with a light film of oil. Loosely cover with a damp towel and allow the dough to rise in a warm draft-free area.

After about 20 minutes, or after the dough has doubled in size, gently punch the dough down a few times to deflate it. Reshape the dough into a ball, cover and allow it to rise until it has doubled again, about 20 minutes. Gently punch the dough again then shape into balls about 1 - 1/2” diameter. If you’re a stickler for uniformity, and own a kitchen scale, divide the dough into 2 oz portions.

There are many methods to shaping buns and this is the one that works for me: make a circle with your index finger and thumb (like an okay sign) and push a portion of dough up and through the circle using the thumb of your free hand. Remove your thumb and squeeze the hand holding the dough to shape it into a ball. To prevent the dough from sticking, moisten your hands with water as necessary.

Arrange the buns on the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 1” between each bun. Brush the entire surface of each bun with melted butter.

Allow the dough to rise again just until the buns start to touch each other.

Place each baking sheet on separate oven racks and bake for about 20 - 25 minutes or until browned. At the halfway point, switch the positions of the baking sheets (lower baking sheet moves to middle rack) to promote even browning.

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Tip / Sidebar

To check yeast for freshness, mix together 1 tsp yeast with a pinch of sugar in a small cup of tepid water. Set-aside for five minutes. If foam appears on the surface of the water, your yeast is active, if not, start with a fresh package.