St. Patrick's Day Shamrock Buns Tutorial

Want some cute dinner buns to go along with your St.Patrick's Day meal? These were a big hit at my house and I bet they will be at your house too! 

You will need to prepare the dough using my "Easiest Homemade Buns From Scratch" recipe. 

You can find that recipe by clicking HERE!

I cut my recipe in half and it made 14 good sized buns. 

When the dough has risen and you have kneaded it four times and let it sit for ten minutes - you are ready to shape them into shamrocks.

1. On a well floured surface, roll dough with a rolling pin into approximately, a 10x12 rectangle.

2. Cut long strips, 1/2-3/4" wide.

3. Roll each individual strip on your floured surface so dough is rounded (this reminded me of my play dough days), and extended in length to be approximately 18 inches. This stage of the shamrock is in the bottom of the picture above. 

4. Take the rounded strip and make a loop leaving about 2 1/2 inches for your shamrock stem. (Pictured at the top of the above picture)

5. Make another loop. (Pictured above left).

6. Finish up your shamrock by looping the remaining dough and tucking the end in the back (pictured above right). Just to note - my first few looked scary, but I got the hang of it. 

7. Cover and let rise for about an hour. 

8. Make bun glaze: 1 egg and 1 T. milk stir well.

Use pastry brush to apply glaze.

9. Cook in 375 degree pre-heated oven for 15 minutes or until golden brown. 

So cute and so yummy and not too complicated. Why don't you give it a try?

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Quick Rising Home Made Flax Seed Pizza Dough

I got a whole wheat pizza dough recipe from a friend that was very easy to make, it finished rising within twenty minutes - but I did not like how it tasted. I am not a whole wheat pizza crust kind of girl. I do like the idea of something healthy in my pizza dough - so I altered the recipe. I like white pizza crusts, but adding flax to the dough I find enhances the flavor, and the nutrition. Here is the recipe....

Yields two 12 inch pizza crusts

2 1/2  cups All-purpose flour
1/2 cup ground flax
2 tbsp. flax seed
4 1/2 tsp. Quick rising yeast (or two envelopes)
1 tsp. salt
1 1/3 c hot tap water (I warm my water in a kettle)
4 tsp olive oil
4 tsp liquid honey
olive oil for top of dough

In a large bowl, combine flour, flax, seed, yeast and salt mix well.
Measure hot water into a measuring cup, then stir in olive oil and honey to dissolve. Pour mixture over dry ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon to form a ball. Add a bit of flour and knead for two minutes in the bowl to save cleaning the counter.

Ensure all dough bits are gathered up and then grease the dough with olive oil and flip over a couple times to grease the bowl. Cover. Let rise in a warm place until double the size - about 20 minutes.

When dough has risen, turn out onto a lightly floured surface, cut in half and roll each half into a circle or use hands to stretch dough into desired shape. Transfer dough to prepared pizza pans. Top with favorite toppings and bake in oven at 425 degrees F for about 15 minutes, or prick crust in several places with a fork and bake for 6 minutes. Remove crust from oven, top with desired toppings, and bake for an additional 8-10 minutes.

Easiest (and tastiest) Homemade Buns from Scratch

I love homemade buns. I do have a lazy side to me though, and usually if something is not reasonably easy, I don't want to do it. I usually make buns from scratch in my food processor. The dough blade in it broke recently, and so I was scrambling to find a recipe. This one intrigued me when it said "DON'T KNEAD". You do have to knead the dough, but only 4 or 5 times. These buns are the easiest handmade (without a machine) buns I have ever made, and they are very tasty. They look pretty impressive too.

-2 packages active dry yeast

(1 pkg. = 2 1/4 tsp)

                           -1/4 c warm water

                           -2 c warm milk

                           -1/2 c sugar, divided

                           -1 large egg, beaten

                           -1 tsp. salt

                           - 6 1/2 cups flour

                           -1 c butter, melted

                           Glaze:

                           1 large egg

                           1 tbsp. milk or cream

In large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast & 2 tbsp. sugar in warm water. Let stand until foamy, 5-10 minutes. Whisk in warm milk, remaining sugar, egg, and salt, mixing well. Gradually add 3 cups flour, one cup at a time; beating until smooth. Beat in butter, mixing well. Add remaining flour, beating to make a soft dough (dough will be slightly sticky). Do not knead. Place dough in a greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover and refrigerate over night. Punch down dough. Turn out onto lightly floured surface, divide dough into 2 equal portions, knead each 4 or 5 times. Let rise about 10 minutes. Lightly grease 2 baking sheets. Using a floured rolling pin, roll one dough half into a 12 inch circle. Cut circle into 12 wedges. Roll up eaach wedge starting at wide end. Place point-side down, 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Repeat with remaining dough half. Cover loosely with plastic wrap or clean tea towel; let rolls rise in a draft free warm place until almost double. Use a pastry brush to apply glaze to the tops of each roll. Bake at 375 degrees until golden brown (approx. 15 minutes)

Here's the recipe card: