Mom's Panini Attempt #2

Makes 10 buns

This time I decided to go to the source! My mom learned how to make buns from my aunt Rosina, we called her Zia Granda (Big Aunt) as she was the eldest of the Cristiano Zia’s.

With mom’s recipes not making sense, I asked Mary my cousin to see if she could get the recipe from her mom’s sister. Lucky for me she was able to and I have been able to recreate mom’s bread. It is so good warm out of the oven with butter and jam or butter and sugar. Really is simple, especially if you have a stand mixer to do the work.

Ingredients

5 cups flour (+extra)

2.5 tsp instant yeast

1 tsp salt

2.5 cups warm water (+ extra)

3 tsp olive oil (+ extra)

Directions

1. Place flour, yeast and salt into stand mixer and using kneading hook turn mixer on to low speed

2. Using spatula scrap flour from sides into mixer so everything mixes well

3. Pour 3 tsp oil into warm water and slowly pour into mixer

4. Add a little more flour if the dough is to sticky add a little more water if too dry

5. Use spatula to scrap dough from sides of mixer

6. Let the mixer keep kneading the dough for ten minutes

7. Take dough out of bowl and place on lightly floured board

8. Hand knead dough for two to three minutes, adding more flour so dough isn’t sticky

9. In a large bowl pour in a little olive oil to coat bowl so dough doesn’t stick

10. Place dough into bowl and sprinkle a little olive oil over the dough

11. Cover with saran wrap and a dish cloth until dough doubles in size – about 1.5 hours

12. Line a large baking sheet or two smaller ones with parchment paper

13. Take ball and punch down dough and knead for a minute adding more flour if required so dough isn’t sticky

14. Cut into ten pieces and knead each individually to form a ball using more flour if required so dough isn't sticky

15. Place each dough ball onto baking sheet

16. Take a sharp knife and cut into the bun at the side about a quarter inch deep, let rise for 1/2 hour

17. Place a baking pan with water in the lower rack (will help make crust crunchy and insides soft)

18. Preheat oven to 375°F

19. Bake bread for 40 minutes or until golden brown

20. Take out and let cool on cooling rack

Let them cool

Topped with butter and jam

Ingredients

Pour warm water and oil in

Mix well

Coat bowl with oil

Ready to hand knead dough

Add extra flour if sticky

Knead dough well

Pour little oil on dough

Cover with saran

Cover with tea towel

Ready to knead again

Bubbles starting to form

Cut in half

Cut into ten pieces

Knead each ball

Place on baking sheet

Make a diagonal cut

Let them sit for 1/2 hour

Ready for oven

Looks delicious

Crunchy outside chewy in

Ready to eat

Delicious buns