Feeling kneady

After a wonderful Mother's Day BBQ with family this past Sunday, Dave and I came home with a tray bursting with veggies and a plate full of freshly grilled burgers and sausages (even I had to admit the meat smelled GREAT!). I've already hit the veggie tray pretty hard, but I figured all those burgers and sausages would make hearty meals for Dave for the rest of the week (with a side of the steamed carrots, potatoes, and green beans that I made from the farmers market, of course). All that was needed were some nice fresh buns. What is that I hear? Say no more. We need buns, stat! 

Now, I've made a lot of bread in the last few months, but never buns.  So I wasn't sure how this was going to work out. I did, however, have a recipe tucked away for a rainy day, and, well we were needing buns, weren't we? Well, gee. More bread it is! (Ok. The truth of the matter is we can't eat the bread as fast as I want to make it and I'm forever looking for an excuse to make more bread. There. I've said it.)

I'm still getting used to kneading in my new super-cool, ultra-mega mixer so I had to stop several times during the kneading process to check the consistency of the dough with my  own hands. After a third check, I figured I had it just right.  Two rises and 25 minutes in the oven later and we had some absolutely beautiful buns!  Wow! Did I just do that?

They sliced nicely. The crumb was just gorgeous. Of course, we can't forget the taste test. Where's that homemade strawberry jam? Here we go... Mmmm... These are actually perfect - they look perfect; they taste perfect. Wow! We have a winner! And this is so much easier to keep around than the loaves since you don't have to deal with slices (too thick or thin for sammies). They are already perfectly proportioned out for a sandwich and if you want toast, just toast the halves!

Poor Dave. He rode his bike home today after a long day at work, and just steps in the door, tired and sweaty. Before he can kiss me a "hello," I'm up on my feet running around the house like I've had WAY too much sugar and hollering, "guess what, guess what, guess what!"  Within seconds, I come barreling out of the kitchen at a full run with a ziplock bag of buns. "Look, look, look! They're perfect. I did this, really!" Thankfully he's fully aware that I'm a bit of a nut (fine, more than a bit). He smiled as I regaled my bun adventures. You'd think I'd completed my first marathon, but no. I made some buns. But they were perfect buns and I'm happy. I'm also feeling kneady. Let's do it again!

For anyone who is interested, here's the recipe.