Honey Sesame Whole Wheat Breakfast Buns

I have always wondered why there is battle of minds when it comes to bread-making. Is it really such an anxious or a tedious art? Till I started taking baking seriously, I never thought of baking breads at home really. I had always visualized breads were meant to be made in bakeries with massive oven chambers, not something commonly known to be baked at home, till recently, when I saw a couple of good television cookery shows which showed how simple bread making can be. Not something that one should detest giving a try. Worth an attempt.

Even in the recent past, I have had good results making Foccacia or be it the Deep pan pizza, both using bread base. From these, I learn that the art of bread making is far simpler than baking cakes, cookies or muffins! Puzzled? Baked goods require exact measurements, restricting much scope to play around with ingredients and measurements of your choice. However, recipes involving making dough can be flippant with not so exact measurements required. They can be altered and ingredients adjusted to taste. Just a little time consuming, but with practically most commonly feasible ingredients in any kitchen home, one can bring out a healthy meal, which does always pose a temptation.

Apart from Indian breads, like Roti, Naan, Kulchas, which are fairly simple and faster, Western breads need ample time for proofing, a process where the yeast needs to rise to form ample air pockets in the bread. The dough is made in advance, which has active yeast added that assist in the process of rising. So plan ahead. Warmth is another essential factor for good proofing. It's similar to making yogurt from milk where the yeast plays a dominant role.

So for someone who is used to making Indian breads like rotis or parathas, making yeast breads at home will be a breeze. I have attempted this bread solely with Whole wheat flour instead of the all purpose flour along with honey and sesame combination.

Honey Sesame Whole Wheat Breakfast Buns

INGREDIENTS

25 g active dry yeast
50 ml warm milk/ water
1 tsp sugar
200 g whole wheat flour
50 ml warm water
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tbsp oil

Topping:

1/2 tbsp honey
1/2 tsp sesame seeds

DIRECTIONS

Dissolve dry yeast in warm water with sugar. Leave for 5-10 mins to dissolve and become frothy.

Next mix the wheat flour with salt to taste. Add in the yeast, water and oil till a soft pliable dough is formed. Cover with a warm towel or cling film and leave it to rest for 4-5 hours or overnight in a warm place.

Next morning, the dough should have risen and doubled in size after about 5 hours of proofing. Punch it down. Roughly divide into round fist-sized dough. Grease and dust the bread tin or a roasting tray with some oil and flour. Transfer the dough gently to the baking dish. Allow to rest there for about an hour for the dough to rise again. I push the tray into a warm oven (not hot, else they will not rise, but bake!) After an hour, they will rise again. Brush the tops of the dough buns with honey and sprinkle some sesame seeds.

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees C. Bake the bread for 50 mins to an hour till the top looks crusty and brown. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the rack for sometime. Slice them as preferred. I sliced them horizontally in the center and spread a good amount of Nutella. They were great to go with the morning tea.

The rolls are good as is as they have a mild sweetness from honey. You can substitute the honey with sugar if you don't like the honey taste. Sesame seeds can be avoided if you prefer. The bread itself is not sweet, so it's the honey topped wheat crust that imparts a sweet and mild flavor to it. End result is a mild honey flavored, nutty sesame, healthy wheat breakfast buns. Way to go for a healthy start!

I am sending these healthy breakfast buns to Rachel of Tangerine's Kitchen as she is hosting an event titled 'Bread Baking Day'.