I had to think a few times about titling this recipe “Grandma’s Special Buns” for fear of what people might Google, but that’s what these dinner rolls are known as in this house – Grandma’s Special Buns. Alternate title could be “Nice Buns, Brenda” as my mother-in-law is the expert bun maker, playing off of George Canyon’s song about his MIL’s buns “Betty’s Buns“. 😀
Okay, enough talk about buns! Let’s get to why they’re so special!
Ingredients
Full recipe for 36 buns:
- 1/2 lb lard or margarine (I use Tenderflake lard)
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 tbsp salt
- 2 cups boiling water
- 2 packages (4½ tsp) yeast
- ¾ cup warm water
- ~11 cups flour, divided
- 1 cup milk
- 2 eggs
Directions
Get your stand-mixer bowl and put lard, sugar and salt in it; pour boiling water over and set aside. Next, sprinkle yeast over the ¾ cup warm water for about 10 minutes until foamy.
Add yeast mixture into mixer bowl with lard, sugar and salt and add 3 cups of flour; mix until smooth (I use my dough hook for everything). Add 1 cup of milk and 2 eggs and beat until smooth. The next step in the original recipe is “keep adding flour and kneading”. For me, I kept adding flour, 1 cup at a time until elastic and smooth, which was about 8 more cups of flour. I recommend doing just that – add 1 cup at a time; the dough should form a ball, not be sticky, but elastic and smooth when enough flour has been added. You may been more, you may need less!
Cover and let rise in a warm spot until double, about 1 hour. Punch down, cover and let rise again another hour.
Take ball of dough and divide into equal pieces. I’ve shared in detail how I divide my dough and shape them in this post, but you’ll need to divide even further as this is a big recipe!
Grease a pan and place buns on to rise another hour or so and bake at 400ºF for 12-14 minutes until golden brown on top. I like to brush melted butter on the top of these buns; immediately move to cooling rack and enjoy!
- ½ lb lard or margarine (I use Tenderflake lard)
- ¾ cup sugar
- 1 tbsp salt
- 2 cups boiling water
- 2 packages (4½ tsp) yeast
- ¾ cup warm water
- 11 cups flour, divided
- 1 cup milk
- 2 eggs
- Put lard, sugar and salt in stand mixer and pour boiling water over and set aside.
- Sprinkle yeast over the ¾ cup warm water for about 10 minutes until foamy.
- Add yeast mixture into mixer bowl with lard, sugar and salt and 3 cups of the flour, mix until smooth (I use my dough hook for everything).
- Add 1 cup of milk and 2 eggs and beat until smooth.
- Add the remainder of the flour (8 cups), 1 cup at a time until elastic and smooth; you may need more or less. The dough should form a ball, not be sticky, but elastic and smooth when enough flour has been added.
- Cover and let rise in a warm spot until double, about 1 hour.
- Punch down, cover and let rise again another hour.
- Take ball of dough and divide into equal pieces and place on greased pan to rise another hour or so.
- Bake at 400ºF for 12-14 minutes until golden brown on top. I like to brush melted butter on the top of these buns; immediately move to cooling rack and enjoy!
I half the recipe when I make for my own family and freeze a dozen or so for later! I hope you enjoy these, my kids LOVE them!
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