Homemade Sesame Hamburger Buns

Total Time: 3 hrs 15 mins Preparation Time: 3 hrs Cook Time: 15 mins

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• 1/3 cup instant milk
• 2 1/2 tablespoons vegetable shortening (like crisco)
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 (1/4 ounce) package yeast
• 1/2 egg (sorry!)
• 5 cups flour, approximately
• 1 egg
• sesame seeds, for sprinkling

Recipe

• 1 stir together the water, dry milk, vegetable shortening, salt and sugar (the shortening will not be dissolved and it doesn't matter).
• 2 sprinkle the package of yeast over this mixture and let stand for about 5 minutes.
• 3 add the 1/2 egg and 1/2 to 1 cup of flour.
• 4 gradually add another 2 cups (approximately) of flour to make a sticky soft dough; knead on a floured surface for one minute (this isn't a particularly easy task), then scrape it back into your bowl and let it rest for 10 minutes.
• 5 add about another 1-1/2 cups flour so dough isn't extremely sticky and knead dough until smooth and elastic.
• 6 cover and let rise in a warm place (i like to let it sit on top of the clothes dryer), for about another hour and a half.
• 7 grease a large cookie sheet.
• 8 divide dough into 8 equal pieces and roll into balls.
• 9 place dough balls on the greased cookie sheet and flatten each of them with your hand to form a 3 to 3-1/2 inch diameter disk.
• 10 cover and let them rise another 45 minutes.
• 11 preheat oven to 425 degrees f.
• 12 brush tops with a little of the egg (you won't use it all), then sprinkle with sesame seeds.
• 13 bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for about another 5 minutes.
• 14 remove from sheets and cool on baking racks.