When was the last time you made breakfast for dinner? I’ve been trying to make it more often, just because it’s quick, simple, and budget friendly. I usually make eggs, bacon, biscuits, and potatoes. This week I decided to make doughnuts.

You heard me.

I made doughnuts for dinner. No eggs, no bacon. Just doughnuts. My children think I am the best mother ever. Or, at least they did, while they were eating, but then I shouted at them to clean their rooms not too long after dinner and I went back to being mean mommy. It was nice while it lasted, though.

Doughnuts definitely take a bit of time and effort, but that first delicious bite you take makes it all worth it. These aren’t difficult, by any means, just a bit more involved than I usually like. There was the rising, the flouring, the rolling, the cutting, the rising, the frying, the topping, and then, finally, happily, thankfully, the eating.

I know a lot of people are scared of yeast, but don’t be. If I can make yeasty treats, so can you. Besides, watching my flat little doughnuts magically puff up made me feel like some sort of superhero. A Superhero of Yeast.

The hardest part was getting the risen doughnuts into the hot oil without deflating them. Deflating. Is that the right word?

I found that it was best to stick my thumb through the hole and gently lift them up. It took me quite a few tries before I really got it.

I like variety, so I made glazed doughnuts, cinnamon and sugar doughnuts, and doughnuts with chocolate frosting. I’ll share the frosting recipe with you tomorrow. It’s the frosting my mama puts on brownies and I’ve been wanting to share it with you since the day I started this blog. It’s good. It’s real good.

Anyway, the glaze recipe that I used was bit chunky for some reason. They still tasted good, but they looked kinda funky.

I snapped this picture, shouted for my kids that their dinner was ready, and then, in just a matter of seconds, this is what my plate full of doughnuts looked like:

Crispy and Creamy Doughnuts
Recipe from allrecipes.com

• 2 (.25 ounce) envelopes dry active yeast
• 1/4 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees)
• 1 1/2 cups lukewarm milk
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup shortening
• 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 quart oil, for fying

Pour the warm water into the bowl of your mixer and sprinkle in the yeast. (I always add a pinch of sugar to feed the yeast at this point. Not sure if that actually does anything or not, but I like to think it helps.) Let the yeast mixture stand for 5 minutes or until foamy.

Pour in the warm milk, sugar, salt, eggs, shortening, and 2 cups of the flour. Mix on low for a few minutes. Beat in remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time until the dough no longer sticks to the sides of the bowl. Knead for 5 minutes or until smooth and elastic.

Put the dough into a greased bowl and allow to rise until doubled in a warm place (your turned off oven works great for this!).

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and gently roll out to about 1/2 inch thick. Cut with a floured doughnut cutter. Cover with a towel and let rise until double.

Heat oil in a deep fryer or large pan until it reaches 350 degrees. Carefully place doughnuts into the oil and fry on each side until they are golden. Drain on a wire rack.

Glaze

• 1/3 cup butter
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 4 tbsp hot water (as needed)

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir in powdered sugar and vanilla until smooth. Remove from heat and add water, as needed, to thin the icing out.

It’s kind of odd that I named my blog Buns In My Oven. I don’t often make buns or bread or any other delicious yeasty goods. Every time I do, though, I remember. I remember that oh, yes, it absolutely is worth the time and oh, it most certainly is worth the effort. And, who am I kidding here, effort? I put the ingredients in my kitchenaid, attach the dough hook, and flip the switch on. Baking bread is easy! Why don’t I do it more?

I don’t suppose I’ll be allowed to buy sliced sandwich bread that often anymore after letting my son get a taste of this Honey Wheat Bread. He’s addicted. Poor thing, only nine years old and already he needs an intervention.

(I’m in a hurry today and didn’t take pictures of the actual making of this bread. I promise you didn’t miss much.I’m also going to skip the step by step instructions and my general non-stop talking. I know. It’s inhumane! It’s rude! It’s, well, all I have time for today.)

Honey Wheat Bread

1 cup warm water (around 110 degrees farenheit)
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
3 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups all purpose flour

Dissolve yeast in warm water and add honey. Using the dough hook on your stand mixer (or do this the old fashioned way) stir in the whole wheat flour, vegetable oil and salt. Slowly add in half of the all purpose flour. Knead the dough for a few minutes adding more flour as needed until it all comes together. You may not need to use the entire two cups of all purpose flour (or you may need to use more, depending on The Bread Baking Gods, also known as The Weather.) The dough should form a ball and be slightly sticky to the touch. Place in a greased bowl and allow to rise until doubled, about 60 minutes. Punch down dough and shape into a loaf. Place in well greased 9×5 loaf pan and allow to rise until the dough is about 1 inch above the pan, about 60 minutes.  Bake at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes.

A few notes: I used too large of a pan and mine didn’t rise above the edges. It still tasted fine, but didn’t look as pretty. I also baked this on a rainy day, which is, apparently, a big no-no in bread baking. Something about the humidity, blah blah science blah. My bread still turned out. Also, when dough needs to rise, I turn my oven on low for a minute or two and then turn it off and stick the dough in the oven to rise. It seems to rise a bit better that way. One last thing: Carbs are yummy. You should eat them as often as possible. Preferably covered with butter.

Who doesn’t love a good hamburger? Or, better yet, a good juicy cheeseburger? Nobody! That’s who! Unless you’re a vegetarian and if that’s the case, well, I’m real sorry. Real sorry you’re gonna miss out on this most delicious experience.

I usually buy the pack of eight hamburger buns that are on sale for a dollar. I know. I’m cheap and I’m stingy and I really need to change my ways.  Turns out that I can make my own hamburger buns that taste better and cost less than those (cheap, sad, pathetic) store bought ones. You should try it too.

You probably have all the ingredients in your kitchen right this minute. So what are you waiting for?

Sugar, all-purpose OR bread flour (I used a mixture of all purpose and wheat, but didn’t get a picture of the wheat. I forgot, okay? And bread flour would be better, but I was out.), milk, butter, eggs, salt, and active dry yeast. You’ve got all that, right? And if you’ve got some garlic powder get that out too. Halfway through making these I thought to myself “You know, I’ll bet these would be fantastic with some garlic powder tossed in!” I do that a lot. It’s a sickness.

Now that you’ve got all your ingredients out and lined up, let’s get baking. Grab the bowl for your KitchenAid, or if you’re one of those sad little people that don’t yet own a KitchenAid, just grab a regular bowl. And I’m not hatin’. I was one of those sad little people up until a few months ago.

The first thing we need to do is warm up our milk. You’ll need 1 and 1/4 cups of milk heated until its warm, but not hot. If it’s too hot you’ll kill the yeast and that would be mean. If it’s too cold your yeast will just sit there and wonder what the heck your problem is and never get around to doing whatever it is that yeast is supposed to do. Stick your finger in there and test it. Just don’t forget to wash that finger first, okay?

Now dump the warm milk in your bowl along with 1 and 1/4 teaspoons of active dry yeast. If you have a packet of yeast like I did, do NOT dump in the whole thing. Measure it, man. Measure it.

Now we’re going to let our yeast “bloom.” Don’t ask me why they call it that. There will be no flowers sprouting from this bowl.

Leave it be for about ten minutes and you’ll be ready to add the rest of your ingredients. The yeast will cover the top of the milk and turn it a nice yeasty brown shade. Or something. I really don’t know what color “yeasty brown” is, but it sounds good, so let’s just go with it.

Crack your egg into a small dish and beat it.

I’m just showing off my ability to crack eggs with one hand here. Pretty cool, right? Beat your egg with a fork and then add it to your bowl of milk and yeast.

You’ll also add in 1/4 cup of sugar (this will make the buns a bit sweet, if you prefer you can use less sugar), 2 tablespoons of softened butter and a couple pinches of kosher salt. You could also use regular table salt, but I’m out. In fact, I’ve been out for about three weeks now. My husband keeps begging me to buy him some “regular damn salt,” but I’m forgetful. Besides, kosher salt makes me feel fancy.

This is the part where I decided that these would be fabulous with some garlic powder thrown in. I added about 2 tablespoons. You can add more or less (or none!) depending on how much you like garlic. You could also add in dried minced onion and turn these into onion rolls. Unfortunately I married a man who doesn’t like onion. I know. It was a mistake, but I don’t believe in divorce so I’m trying to tough it out.

Now we’re going to start mixing this together. Using your dough hook on your KitchenAid (or just use your hands), start mixing it on slow. Slowly add in 3 and 3/4 cups of flour. I used 2 cups white flour and 1 and 3/4 cup wheat. You do what you want. Make ‘em your own, man. I don’t mind.

After your dough is kneaded into submission you’ll transfer it to an oiled bowl to rise until doubled. Your dough should be sticky when you touch it, but not glopping off on your fingers. You want to feel some resistance when you pull your fingers away, but the dough shouldn’t come too, ya know?

Put your ball of dough into an oiled bowl and roll it all around to coat the dough. Cover the bowl with a clean towel and leave it to rise until doubled, about an hour. If you’re like me you’ll put the bowl in your oven. I think it rises faster in there. This may or may not be true, but that’s what I choose to believe, okay?

See that? That’s doubled. I think. I’m real bad with math. Either way, I’m tired of waiting and it’s nearly time for lunch. Let’s make some dang hamburger buns. Ready for the fun to start?

Punch your dough. Punch it hard. Just once. Now that your dough knows who is in charge, we’ll make us some hamburger buns.

Normal people would probably flour their counter top a bit and roll this dough out before they let it rise. They would roll it out, cut it, and let it rise. I’m not normal, but if you are, you go ahead and do just that. Roll it to about 3/4 of an inch thick, grab a biscuit cutter and cut your buns out. Put ‘em on a greased pan, let them rise for about an hour and then pop ‘em in a 350 degree oven.

If you are NOT normal then you’ll understand what I mean when I say that I avoid flouring my counter tops at all costs. It’s messy and it puts me in a bad mood. I just broke chunks of dough off, shaped them into a ball and flattened them out a bit with the palm of my hand. It’s not perfect, but it works.

Pop your buns into your pre-heated 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes. They should get nice and brown and crusty. Crusty. That just doesn’t sound good, does it? But, when it comes to buns, crusty is good. Trust me.

And would ya quit inspecting my oven? It’s not clean, okay? I know it’s not clean, you know it’s not clean, everyone knows that my oven is not clean. Let’s just move on.

Ooh, look! The buns are done! And it’s about time, too.

Now you’re ready to eat! Hope you’ve got a cheeseburger nearby. I loaded mine up with ketchup, mustard, lettuce and tomato. My husband? He put peanut butter on his. And while he was doing that I was reminding myself that I don’t believe in divorce, I don’t believe in divorce, I don’t…

I’m sorry. What was I saying? Something about cheeseburgers and divorce. I’m afraid I got distracted by that big beautiful burger up there.

My buns came out pretty dense, but I liked them that way. If you prefer a lighter, airier bun then you should definitely stick with bread flour. If you like your bun to be pretty darn substantial then go right ahead and be like me. I’m a pretty cool girl in case you didn’t know.

Now get outta here and make yourself a cheeseburger. You deserve it after listening to me ramble on for so long.

Homemade Hamburger Buns

• 1 1/4 cups milk (around 80 degrees F)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 3 pinches of salt
• 3 3/4 cups bread flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
• garlic powder, to taste
• oil for oiling the bowl

Heat the milk to around 80 degrees, add yeast. Let mixture rest about 10 minutes. Add sugar, salt, butter, beaten egg and garlic powder (optional). Knead with hands or using a dough hook on a stand mixer until dough is soft and smooth. Oil a bowl and roll the dough to coat all sides with oil. Let rise until doubled, about an hour. Punch dough down, break off pieces into whatever size bun you would prefer. A bit larger than an egg will give you a standard size bun. Shape your dough pieces into balls and flatten into discs. Let rise another 30 minutes and bake in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes or until done. Slice and enjoy!