I had excellent results the very first time trying this recipe, thanks to the comments below it. They helped me troubleshoot the recipe. The directions are a little vague, and if they are followed as written, you will not end up with tasty buns, haha.
What I did was mix the first five ingredients together in a pyrex measuring cup, then microwave them until the liquid temperature hit about 115-120 degrees (yeast needs warmth in order to become active). Then I added the yeast, and stirred well. It took about 8 minutes for the yeast to get bubbly, and then I mixed in the salt.
After that I poured it all into a big mixing bowl and added the flour. Then I beat it well with a wooden spoon for about two minutes until the dough started to become stretchy and less sticky. Flouring my counter well, I turned the whole mass out of the bowl and just very lightly kneaded it three or four times, then rolled the dough into a big rope. I cut it into equal pieces, rolled those into balls, and set them on a greased baking sheet to rise in my warm kitchen.
They DO INDEED RISE IN 20MINS! It was amazing, really. Next time I will actually make them a bit smaller because holy cow do they poof up! We had big huge bakery-style buns and they were awesome.
Yes, PSHELLY, the temperature of the water could mess up the recipe. Yeast activates at a fairly specific range of temperatures. Have a look at the yeast packet for details. Actually this recipe's directions aren't very good as far as preparing the yeast for the most success. I'd advise heating the milk, margarine, water and sugar to the recommended temperature on the yeast packet (somewhere between 115F and 130F depending on if it is regular or rapid rise)and then mix in the yeast and let it stand for 5 minutes. If it doesn't foam and bubble after 5 minutes, your yeast isn't good.
Many are saying you need to heat the water for the recipe to activate the yeast well that is true if you are using active yeast but not for instant yeast which is what is called for in the recipe. Instant yeast does not require warm water or proofing.
Great recipe in my opinion. Contrary to the other reviews my bun raised just fine. Yes it did take about an hour and a half but all my bread takes that long. Fast easy few ingredients no kneading what more do you want in a recipe? I put mine in the oven (turned off) with a big bowl of HOT water under the rack. Makes all of my bread raise nicely. I make big burgers with LOTS of conciments so these buns were perfect nice and dense. I halved the recipe and made 8 large buns. Warming the milk helps and to get 25 buns out of the full recipe I would think they would have to be pretty small. I liked this recipe a lot. As I said my buns raised nicely.
These rolls were so bad they prompted me to join AllRecipes so I could write a review. I followed instructions exactly and doubted the rolls would rise in just 20 minutes. I did use instant yeast. They didn't rise any but I went ahead and baked them. They were heavy and tasted strongly of yeast. We couldn't eat them. I also only got 9 hamburger-sized rolls out of the recipe.
These were great! I don't like to buy bread but love to make my own--it just tastes better. I took suggestions from several others and used 2 cups whole wheat flour and the rest bread flour. I did not have a problem with them rising but it may have been because I let the dough rise first until doubled and then formed the rolls and let them rise until they looked good (didn't time either rise). I also used reconstituted dry milk instead of the stuff from the jug. I brushed the rolls with egg and sprinkled on sesame seeds before baking--delicious!!
The taste and texture of these buns are perfect! I didnt alter any of the ingredients though I did let the buns rise for about 2 hours (in the oven with a bowl of hot water underneath...this is the perfect rising method!) and I divided the dough into 8 balls instead of 25. Really a very good bun.
This recipe is a pretty basic white bread mix one I've made before. Very easy to make and the buns were great; since it's a basic recipe you can add any herbs or seeds you'd like. Also let the dough rise for 2 hours not 20 minutes; 20 min just isn't enough.
Definitely delicious. The recipe should have said to warm the milk so the yeast would become active. I know that but an inexperienced cook would have been befuddled when their dough did not rise. I also let mine rise longer. My picky husband even liked these. I had fun making them.
