Easy Homemade Hamburger Buns

I am one who loves to make things from scratch. I have tried often to make bread by "hand" only to end up frustrated by it not coming out like it should. I always felt that if you used a "bread maker" YOU weren't really making it. But I quickly got over it and let my wonderful bread maker do "some" of the work for me. I've often read other people's how to make bread directions and would give up before I even tried. So I ventured out on my own and am doing my own thing and since I found this very simple I thought you would as well. I have always been intimidated by the thought of making my own buns but after reading the label on store bought buns I figured I could give it a try and not only was it fun but really cool to sit back and think," Huh I just made buns" LOL! And I say that out loud everytime I make them ha ha!. Yes I still surprise myself sometimes. Word of caution, homemade buns aren't going to look "perfect" like store bought but they sure are yummy and better for you. Okay I've babbled enough. Here we go.

These are the ingredients I used for my buns. I do sometimes grind my own wheat but when I'm in a hurry I just use store bought. I'll post the recipe I used at the end.
Here is what you need to have in order to make it easy. You can find these a dime a dozen these days. Woman get them as a wedding gift and then never use them and sell them cheap. I saw a brand new one for sale not to long ago for $15.00. Totally worth it in my book. Plus I only use mine on the dough setting.
Ok one of the things that makes this so easy is you don't have to "proof" your yeast or any of that. You don't have to worry about your water being the right temperature and that sort of thing. That always drove me crazy. You do need everything at room temperature though. I keep my flour in the fridge so I have to remember to take it out before I go to make this. That's the hardest part. Not to bad so far huh?
Here is a picture of the buns after I took the dough out of the bread maker and shaped them into bun shapes. Don't make them to big because remember they are going to rise again. And don't worry about perfection. As long as they resemble a circle of some sort you'll be fine.
I warm my oven just a few seconds then turn it off and place my buns in to rise about 15-20 mins. Check them after 15 if they are "bun" size you're good to go. When they are done rising leave them in the oven and turn the oven on 360 degrees. Set your timer for 20 mins. Check after 20 mins. and see if their tops are golden brown. If not give them another 5 mins. Take out of oven and let cook on a wire rack. Here they are fresh out of the oven.
I used them for sloppy joes and they were really really good. Here's a picture of the final product. Make sure you use a nice long serrated knife to cut them.Now here is the recipe and a bit more instruction. Do I still have you,lol?

12-13oz. of water
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 TBS. vegetable oil
2 TBS. molasses
1 1/2 c. flour
2 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
2 tsp. active dry yeast

Measure all the ingredients into bread pan in the order given. Make a well in the flour before adding yeast and place it in the well. Select the dough setting on the bread maker and hit start. Now I stand there for a couple minutes just to make sure all the flour is being incorporated in and if not I get a soft spatula and kind of scrape it off the sides and add a tinge more water if needed. Then walk away until it beeps that it's done. After it's done rising take out the dough and plop it into a bowl. You will need to slightly flour your hands as you handle the dough. Now pull off about a half cup size piece of dough and make it into round circles like the picture above. Place on greased cookie sheet. One batch of dough makes about 8 buns. Let rise in warm oven and well I have the rest of the directions up there already so scroll back up lol.
I hope you give this a shot and come back and tell me how you did.
Happy Baking!