Anna Sultana's Easy Buns - with and without eggs

It looks like we’re in for another cold winter.

Usually Ma’s soup recipes had enough heft in them to make a satisfying meal in winter.

Well, that’s when we were in New York and thought that just hitting freezing temperatures was shockingly cold.

Here in Manitoba we can hit -40º, which, funnily enough is the same in celcius and fahrenheit.

Unbearably miserable, awful, too cold to be believed cold.

We burn more calories.

And calories mean carbs.

Ma made these buns when we had family get togethers.

Especially during the summer, when she wasn’t also serving a big platter of pasta.

She didn’t think the salad would be enough to take the edge off our appetites.

She wanted us to fill up on carbs so there’d be more of the main course to go around.

Ma figured loaves of homemade white bread would be a bother to cut up.

Also risky to have kids handling knives. 

So she had baskets of buns everywhere we looked.

The buns were good, so that was fine with us.

Ah, carbs, how would Ma’s budget have done without them?

Some folks call these Air Buns or Jiffy Rolls.

Whatever you call them, they’re easy to make.

If you’re in a rush, the buns with eggs take less time.

Hints:

Make the dough into buns by pinching off a piece of dough the size of an egg.  
Shape into a ball.  Place them, about an inch apart, on the baking sheet.

After you remove them from the oven, rub a block of margarine or butter over the top of the buns.

                        Easy Buns without Eggs

Start about 6 hours in advance

Grease a large cookie sheet

In a small bowl put

1/2 Cup warm water 

1 teaspoons sugar 

1 Tablespoon yeast 

Let sit 10 minutes.

In a large bowl combine

1/2 Cup sugar

1/2 Cup oil

1 teaspoon salt

1 Tablespoon vinegar or lemon juice

3 1/2 Cups warm water 

Add the water / yeast mixture.

Stir in

9 - 10 Cups flour, enough to make a workable dough.

Knead the dough for 20 minutes.

Place the dough in a large greased bowl, rotate to cover the surfaces, cover, and let rise until doubled, 2 hours.

Punch down the dough and let rise 1 hour.

Turn the dough out onto a large floured surface.

Shape into rolls and place on prepared cookie sheet.

Let rise 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F 

Bake the buns for about 15 minutes. 

                        Easy Buns with Eggs

Start about 4 hours in advance

Grease 2 cookie sheets

In a large bowl combine

2 Cups boiling water 

1/2 Cup sugar

1/4 Cup margarine

3/4 Tablespoon salt

Let the water cool.

In a small bowl put

1/2 Cup warm water 

1 teaspoons sugar 

2 Tablespoons yeast 

Let sit 10 minutes.

Add the yeast mixture to the sugar / margarine mixture.

Add

2 beaten eggs

about 7 Cups flour, enough to make a workable dough.

Turn the dough out onto a large floured surface.

Knead the dough for 20 minutes. 

Place the dough in a large greased bowl, rotate to cover the surfaces, cover, and let rise 30 minutes.

Shape into rolls and place on prepared cookie sheet.

Let rise 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F 

Bake the buns for about 15 minutes.