Wednesday Baking | Cornmeal Buns
Today's recipe is yet another from my 1970s Better Homes and Gardens bread book. I love that thing! These rolls are a basic white roll with a twist in the form of cornmeal...kind of like a fancy corn muffin, but much less crumbly.
I'm not sure why they're called buns instead of rolls, unless the recommended two-dough-ball shape is the reason. Ahem.
Speaking of which, did we call small rolls "buns" because they look like people's derrieres, or did we come up with that nickname because people's derrieres resembled two small rolls? I'm thinking the latter, because I'm pretty sure that in the 1800s, nobody referred to their rears as buns.
But, I digress!
Mix some flour and yeast together.
And heat some milk, butter, sugar, and salt to 115-120 ° F.
(I am loving the fact that I learned how to make a real degree sign show up here. It's the small things, people.).
Add the warm liquids to the flour mixture, along with two eggs, and beat for several minutes.
Stir in 1 ½ cups of cornmeal and enough flour to make a soft dough. Dust your counter with a bit of flour, like so.
Turn the dough out onto the counter and knead for 6-8 minutes, or until smooth and elastic.
Cornmeal is very low in gluten, so this dough is a little heavier than most yeast doughs. Be careful not to add too much flour or your dough will be really heavy.
Place the kneaded dough into a bowl, cover it with a wet tea towel, and let it rise. I was in a hurry, so I put mine out on top of the grill, which was warm from the sunshine.
Punch the kneaded dough down and divide it into 3 portions. To make two-sectioned rolls, divide each portion of dough into 24 pieces, shape each into a ball, and place two in each greased muffin cup.
I only have two muffin pans so for the third portion of dough, I cut it into 12 pieces, shaped each into a ball, and placed them on a greased baking sheet.
Cover the dough balls and let them rise for 50-60 minutes. I know this is a super long time for rolls, but this dough is a little on the heavy side from the cornmeal, butter, sugar, and eggs, so it takes a while to rise.
Bake the risen rolls in a preheated 350 ° F (ooh, the degree sign again!) oven for 12-15 minutes, or until lightly browned.
This recipe makes 36 buns/rolls, but they freeze nicely and are also yummy at breakfast (we like them warm, topped with butter and jam or butter and honey.).
Cornmeal Buns
makes 36
printable version
5 ½-6 cups all purpose flour
1 pkg. (2 ¼ teaspoons) active dry yeast
2 ¼ cups milk
½ cup sugar
½ cup butter
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 ½ cups cornmeal
In a mixing bowl, combine 3 cups flour and the yeast. Combine milk, sugar, butter, and salt, and heat to 115-120 degrees F.
Add warm liquids to flour in mixer bowl; add eggs. Beat on low speed for 1 minute; beat at high speed for 3 minutes. Stir in cornmeal and enough of the remaining flour to make a soft dough.
Turn dough out onto a floured surface and knead for 6-8 minutes or until smooth and elastic. Place dough in bowl, cover with a wet tea towel, and let rise until doubled, about an hour.
Punch dough down; turn onto floured surface. Divide into 3 portions; divide each portion into 24 pieces. Shape each piece into a ball and place two balls in each cup of a greased muffin tin (or divide each dough portion into 12 pieces, shape each into a ball, and placed on greased baking sheets).
Cover rolls, let rise for 50-60 minutes, and bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes, or until lightly browned.
Thank you....I felt the need to bake some bread today and these fit the bill perfectly. You are such an inspiration to us all!
I may actually make these. I'm in the minority in that Wednesday Baking isn't my fave part of this blog (which is OK, right?) but this looks good, freezes well, and uses cornmeal[1] without coming out heavy. Worth a try to me. I have only 12 regular muffin tins but a ton of mini tins (4 mini = 1 regular).
[1] I can't bring myself to stop stocking cornmeal but I don't use it much anymore, so it gets stale or occasionally even buggy.
Didn't you get the notice? Everyone who comes here has to adore every single feature and post of my blog, or they'll have to be banned.
😉
These rolls ARE heavier than regular dinner rolls, but as long as you don't add too much flour and give them a very sufficient rising time, you should be happy with the end product. My kids certainly were! lol
Do you ever make polenta or fried mush? That uses up a lot of cornmeal.
I'm already on the cusp, too, because I admitted to liking squishy white bread.
I know. Watch your step. :p
bun
late 14c., origin obscure, perhaps from O.Fr. buignete "a fritter," originally "boil, swelling," dim. of buigne "swelling from a blow, bump on the head," from a Gmc. source (cf. M.H.G. bunge "clod, lump"), or from Gaul. *bunia (cf. Gael. bonnach ). Of hair coiled at the back of the head, first attested 1894. The first record of buns in the sense of "male buttocks" is from 1960s; but the singular form meant "tail of a hare" (1530s) in Scottish and northern England dialect and was transferred to human beings (and conveniently rhymed with nun in ribald ballads). This may be an entirely different word.
Good musing about buns. What about the pregnancey term "a bun in the oven", or a "having a roll", or two on one's body?
On a new roll, I noticed you often mix your yeast into the flour without letting the yeast sit in warm water first. Do you know if I am doing this unnecessarily, or are you using fast rising yeast?
Found your site a couple of weeks ago. Love it from Canada.
This looks delicious, I will give it a try!
(ooh, the degree sign again!) ...
hehe. It IS the little things in life, I know! Those look yummy, need to pull ou the cornmeal and try them, maybe this weekend ... not much else to use the cornmeal with besides the bottom side of pizzas! Nope, don't do polenta, 🙂
Spoonbread? Sorta like a cornbread souffle.
Thank you for giving me a good laugh this morning! I laughed out loud at your derrií¨re comment and my 3 year old of course wanted to know why. I told her that the dough looked like little bottoms and, as you surely well know with that age, her little 3 year old self took it to the next level of hilarity.
Yes, because anything even remotely close to potty humor is exceedingly hilarious to children. =P
I'm nosy - do any of your children share a room? How does that work for you guys? (Yes, I shared a room with my sister until I was 9.)
Yup, Joshua and Lisey shared for a long while, and then when Zoe was born, Joshua got his own room and Sonia moved in with Lisey.
This works out pretty well only because Lisey is very easy-going. Sonia, not so much. If we roomed her with Zoe, it would be a disaster. lol
These look delicious. Since you mentioned that you like them reheated in the morning... what is your favorite way to reheat rolls? I had this dilemma with homeade biscuits this week...
Hi Kristen!
I didn't have much to do today, so I made them! This is how good they are: I am "yelling" at my husband via IM to get home, because I keep eating them and I am ready for dinner!!!
thanks!
Shannon
This has nothing to do with cornmeal buns but I just wanted to stop by and tell you how much I'm enjoying your blog. I read everyday in my feed reader and star it with the intention of coming back to comment. Life gets in the way and then I don't make it back by the end of the day but I've been reading every post. I just went through the items that are waiting for comments in my reader and so many of them were yours! The Wednesday Baking posts are my favorite. They inspire me to get in the kitchen! I'm so glad free-cycle brought me to your blog and just wanted to let you know how much I'm enjoying following along! : )
Aww, I'm so glad you're enjoying my blog. 🙂
Those rolls are the cutest! They remind me of little white bottoms!
Made these to go with soup for dinner. Perfect!
And because it made so many I was able to take soup & fresh rolls as dinner to 2 other families that needed some home-made goodness.
Thanks for a very timely post!
Blessings on the journey~
Bringing fresh breadstuffs to people is so much fun...mostly because it's so unusual.
Alt 0176 (°) is a beautiful thing, I agree!
And so are your buns!
Love this recipe and your blog!!!
One question: Is there a reason why some people first combine the yeast with warm water and then once it bubbles they add the rest VS combining the yeast with the flour?
So how DO you make that degree sign show up? Tell me so I can do it on my blog! I plan to stuff myself with these buns as soon as I'm recovered from my current gallbladder attack. I'm thinking this time, gallbladder might have to be kicked out of the family.
Blame Dr. Samuel Gall, inventor of the gall bladder.
Go to http://www.casualhacker.net/tom.lehrer/evening.html#mexico and scroll down to "In Old Mexico" for the full version. If your sense of humor is anything like mine be sure to put your coffee down first.
These look so soft and delicious! I love the addition of cornmeal for a slightly different flavor and texture. I'm going to try making them this year for our Thanksgiving feast. Thank you so much for sharing the recipe, and Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family!!