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Health Buns



This is one of my favorite recipes for buns.
I've just discovered it in the last year.
I no longer make the white ones,
except on occasional request....
I found it in the Greendale Mennonite Cookbook. (pg. 24)


But I do have to admit.
I have never kneaded dough in my life.
My first time round was a disaster. (35 years ago)
I literally through the dough at my husband and said, "Catch"
He saw the frustration on my face.
I have no clue how my mom did it!
It didn't take long and that man knew how to get his wife to bake bread.
Before I knew it, I had a beautiful Bosch machine,
and also an electric wheat mill, to grind all my own wheat.
Once you have tasted freshly ground wheat,
you don't want to go back to the store bought flour.

I changed up a few thing things in the recipe.

1 Cup water
2 Tbsp. yeast
1 tsp. sugar

4 Cups whole wheat flour
( I use the freshly ground whole wheat)
4 Cups white flour
1 Cup freshly ground 7-whole grains
1/2 Cup Flaxseed
1 Cup milk powder
( I never have milk powder)
I substitute 1 Cup scalded milk instead.
1 Tbsp salt

3 Cups warm water
1/3 Cup molasses
1/2 Cup oil
3 Eggs

I always use Fermipan Yeast, 3 Tbsp
so there's no rising time, I just add an extra cup of water.
So if you are familiar with the conventional method, just continue on...

I add only half the flour mixture, from white and whole wheat,
and add all the wet ingredients into my Bosch machine.

Now I let this mix for about 5 minutes.

Once this is well mixed, I add the remaining flour until
it forms a soft dough, not sticky.
It continues to knead for about 10 minutes.


Cover with plastic wrap and a towel and let rise until double in bulk.

Yikes, it rose faster than I expected.

Form into buns and place on greased pans.
Let rise once more for maybe 45 minutes.
Bake at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes.
Cool on racks.

Serve with your favorite jam and cheese,
or even old fashioned peanut butter and honey.
It's always a staple in our home.

16 comments:

  1. Wow, it sounds so doable and easy. Thanks for the recipe!

    And Rachel, if you read this, I am just writing to say I hope you are well and cooking up great food for your honey and beautiful boys! More posts Rachel!! More posts!! But no pressure.. :)

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  2. Marg, I was at a point of throwing dough too, but it was in my Mom's kitchen still and she promised me that if I learned how to make buns/bread with her Braun machine I would get one as a wedding gift.
    Now I don't think that would be an encouragement to girls today, but I know I had a certain Mennonite boy to please and I actually probably wanted to bake. So yes, that machine has been more important than a microwave or dishwasher in our house...and I'm not living in the 1800's!=)
    I'd love to know where to get that freshly ground flour. Someone else just told me about it recently.

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  3. Very much like my recipe..except I don't grind my own wheat!
    I too bake white buns on request otherwise we've gone multigrain at our house.

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  4. Oh, I'm thinking that fresh ground whole wheat flour would taste so much better. I haven't ever ground my own wheat but it does make me want to run down to the bakery that sells fresh ground whole wheat flour. . I wonder how fresh it is? I guess I could ask. Your buns look wonderful .. a must try.
    Oh yes, and I have had a bosch .. it eventually broke and then bought a industrial kitchen aid .. not quite as good as the bosch but it makes fine dough. I so agree that every homemaker should have one.

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  5. I'll vouch for the buns...had a chance to sample them straight from Marg's test kitchen! And I too am a spoiled Bosch girl...I'm on my second machine and wouldn't know how to bake without it.

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  6. Anneliese,
    Trust me, I will bring you some freshly ground wheat.
    I will bring some for Lovella also.
    What a difference and who knows, maybe there will be more useful trips to our wonderful town.
    It won't take too much longer.
    The order is a done deal.

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  7. those buns are amazing, i love baking with yeast and enjoy trying all the healthier versions this is a must. i can only imagine how good the freshly ground wheat would be...i had bought a big bag of whole wheat and it was stale, yuck...all that work and the birds got it all...=}

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  8. Hmmm....I am thinking I might be able to use a very special gift ingredient when I try this out. Thanks...yes...It does look doable to me now too!

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  9. I too have been spoiled with a Bosch machine for many years already - wouldn't be baking bread/buns without it. My question on this recipe (which looks just great) is this: how much liquid in total? It's unclear to me how much water is used if you use the milk powder (which I always have on hand to make granola). I suppose I can wait for your answer (smile) as I've already got some whole wheat, honey, oatmeal bread on the go for today. Have a wonderful day and thank you for the home-baking encouragement.

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  10. First of all, let me say, thanks you so much for your site! I found it a couple days ago while I was google searching for something or other (I don't even remember it now), but this blog is by far the best I've found! I'm just getting into cooking and made these buns for dinner guests I had coming over tonight. When I finished making enough buns to fill two very large cooking sheets, i still had just enough left over dough to make about two more buns. My Mom suggested frying them stovetop. Well I did and they were fantastic! With a little drizzle of honey... superb! We both had one for lunch. Thanks so much for this recipe. SO versatile.

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  11. I made these on the weekend using some freshly ground wheat flour (thanks for inspiring me) and they didn't rise much after making them into balls. I know whole wheat requires a skill...should I possibly have put more yeast in?

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  12. Hi,
    It's always unfortunate when we make something and put all the effort into the product and it doesn't work.
    I would first of all check the yeast. I keep mine in the freezer and it should be fresh...according to the date on the can.
    Secondly trying going lighter on the whole wheat next time by reducing one cup and increase a bit more white flour...I hope you used 4 cups white flour.
    Sometimes it takes a bit to tweak these yeast doughs, but I have not had trouble in this particular dough rising...Good luck.

    Marg

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  13. I made these today for the first time, and they are definitely the best buns I have ever baked! Thank you. After trying for 20 years, its good to finally find a recipe that will work for me.

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  14. I came here after looking in my MGCC book and reading about Health Buns p122. I have a Q...I actually only want to make half this many ie 2 1/2 doz. Can I just halve everything or...? Thx, Beth

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  15. Hi Beth,
    Generally there is no problem with making half the amount of this recipe. It's important to keep the flour amounts and liquids in proportion.
    My Bosch machine does not handle small amounts of flour recipes, so I always double my recipes and freeze the extra buns immediately. Hope you can enjoy these buns. They are a family favorite. Marg

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