Never Fail Buns

A couple of notes to start with: You'll want a large metal bowl for this that can be put on the stove.  This recipe makes a very large batch of dough.  A lot of times I cut it in half depending on what I have planned.  Lately I've been making the whole batch and freezing some baked goodies for later when I haven't felt like baking.

4 cups milk
2/3 cups shortening
1 1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon salt

4 eggs
4 tablespoons yeast dissolved in 2/3 cup warm water
Flour- sifted; generally all-purpose but I like to mix in a bit of whole wheat too

Melt the first 4 ingredients together in a large metal bowl.  Once the shortening has melted pull off the heat and let cool until you can put a pinkie in the mixture without getting burnt.  If you can do this then you shouldn't kill the yeast when it gets added.  The only way this won't work is if you have super calloused fingers and can't feel the heat.  For those who want exact temps it is probably in the range of 90 - 100 degrees F.  About body temp.

Add dissolved yeast, water, and eggs.  I break up the eggs in a separate bowl before adding.  It just seems to work for me but if you didn't want to dirty another bowl you could just add the eggs to your big bowl.

Flour:  This usually ends up being about 3-5 pounds.  I never measure.  I just scoop into the sifter and add until it is the right texture.  Stir with a spoon until that doesn't really work anymore then start kneading with your hands.  I do this until most of the flour is incorporated into the dough.  I then pull the dough ball out of the bowl and continue to knead on a well floured surface.  I also wash my bowl at this point and then when it is dry grease it with shortening.  This is where I raise my dough. 

Knead the dough until it is nice and elastic.  If you poke it with a finger it should bounce back at you almost immediately.

Put it in your greased bowl and let rise until it is about double in size.  Punch down and knead two or three times to form back into a ball.  Let rise again.  Form your rolls, loaves, and what-not. 

Use greased pans and bake at 350 degrees F.  Loaves about 20 min. Dinner rolls about 10 min.  Cinnamon rolls about 20-30 min.  Meat rolls about 15 min.

This dough can be used for all sorts of things.  I've been stuffing dinner roll sized portions full of leftover meat and veggies to use as a pre-made sandwich for my husband's lunches.  Or if you have leftover fruit dip (cream cheese and marshmallow cream) that can be stuffed in for dessert/breakfast rolls.

Cinnamon rolls:  Roll out this dough into about an 18 inch circle.  Spread the dough with butter pats, brown sugar, cinnamon, and I usually add chopped pecans.  Roll up and slice into about 1 inch wide circles.  Put into a 9x13 inch pan that you've melted butter and brown sugar into the bottom.  I put a layer of whole pecan halves in the butter and sugar mix.  Once these are baked take a cookie sheet over the top of the pan and flip the cinnamon rolls over so the bottom becomes the top and the pecans, butter, and sugar all end up being the top.  Do this while it is all hot or else you'll never get it out of your pan.

This does take a good portion of your day to make but is wonderful and I think worth it.  Plus it is easy to do other things while this rises and bakes.