Enga Buns – Homemade Multigrain bread rolls recipe to pass down generations  

When she was alive my Grandma was a big baker. Cookies and pies were always readily available. But the things that most everyone remembers are the “Enga Buns” (homemade loaves of bread split into rolls). What are Enga buns? My grandother’s name was “Enga” and she made homemade multi-grain rolls for more years than I was alive (probably 50 or more) – that were known throughout the town. Over the years I’m sure she gave away more than the family actually ate, and not only were they on the table for every single holiday meal – but she gave them to every church member, friend, relative, and neighbor that she ever knew. There was probably not a single thing requested more in her life than those buns (even though her Raggedy Ann dolls probably came in a close second).

This recipe is a family secret (well not anymore)….a family “tradition”. You rarely find anyone anymore who takes the time required to make any kind of homemade bread because of the time involved. I would only attempt this on a weekend or holiday when I would be in the house the bulk of the day (like I was today). The taste of these homemade rolls is not only something that money can’t buy – but the smell of fresh bread rising and baking in your house for hours is something that you’ll not soon forget. Even though this recipe is time consuming – I encourage you to try it one Saturday or Sunday afternoon. Especially if you try it with other family members or your kids. So many of spend hours and hours in front of the televsion – it’s rare to spend time with others learning to do something new. Baking bread is almost a lost art – you should try it and pass this recipe down throughout your generations.

This is what you’ll need:
1 cup lukewarm (slightly higher than room temperature) water
2 packages Fleishman’s Yeast (nothing but packets, not yeast cakes, not jar yeast)
1 stick margarine at room temperature
3/4 cup of sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup pre-creamed shorting (preferably Crisco in the can)
1 heaping cup Kellog’s All Bran
1 cup of 115 degree water
2 eggs
8 – 9 cups of flour
5 – 1.5 lb bread loaf pans (greased with Crisco)

Heat your tap water to slightly above room temperature – you want about 115 degrees (if you have a food thermometer). It’s important that you do not exceed 120 degrees in water temperature because kill the yeast and it won’t grow and rise. Place 1 cup of water in a small bowl, and stir in the 2 packets of yeast until well mixed and set aside. You’re going to need an extra large mixing bowl – the largest one you have. I believe the one I use is either 5 or 6 quart.

Place the stick of margarine in the bottom of the and chop if up with a spoon into about 10 pieces. Add the Crisco, sugar, salt, and All Bran to the bowl – don’t mix yet. Do not substitute anything for the All Bran at all – that’s an integral part of the recipe. Scramble 2 large eggs in a bowl and set aside. Get another cup of hot tap water and place in the microwave for 45 seconds on high. The water should not be boiling or hotter than you can stick your finger in. Pour the water in the large mixing bowl and stir the butter, crisco, sugar, All Bran, and salt mixture until the butter and crisco are about as melted as you can get them. Add the egg and yeast mixtures in the large mixing bowl, and mix well again.

Add 1 cup of flour (a little at a time), then a 2nd, 3rd, and 4th the same way. Once you get to the 5th cup it will start to get sticky and harder to stir – keep mixing until the flour is completely mixed in. The mixture should still be sticking to the side of the bowl, but just barely. Get one last cup of flour – and mix in a little at a time, but stop once the mixture starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl. Clear a large 2×3 area from the counter, and dump 1 cup of flour in a about a 6″x6″ circle. Dump your mixture from the mixing bowl onto the counter on top of the flour.

Pre-heat your oven to about 150 degrees. Toss another 1/2 cup of flour on top of your mixture. Your going to begin to knead the mixture (a 10-15 minutes process), which consists of pushing down with the base of both your palms, and then from the back flipping frontward. Knead, flip, knead, flip – and as you do this the flour will begin to become more and more spread out, so as you flip you’ll need to sweep more flour underneath every couple times. Do not let the mixture get sticky and stick to your or the counter – just keep adding flour. Once the flour on the counter is about used up, add another 1/2 cup on top of the mixture and knead in again. You may end up adding an additional 2-3 cups this way. You’re not going to stop until you notice while you’re kneading that the mixture no longer starts to become “sticky” (needing more flours) and has a consistency like play-doh. Once this happens, knead an additional 2-3 minutes well.

Wash out the extra large mixing bowl you originally used, dry, and then grease liberally with Crisco. Place the ball of dough in the bowl, and flip a few times greasing it up from the sides of the bowl. Cover the top with saran wrap, and then a large kitchen towel on that. What I usually do is place the oven on about 150 degrees, just enough to make the stove top warm and have some warm air come out of the vent towards the back. I place the covered bowl towards the front of the stove top and leave for 45 minutes, when I turn the bowl around for another 45 minutes – just to make sure that one side of the bowl didn’t rise more than the other. Total rise time is about 90 minutes, long enough for the dough to double in size mounding above the top of the bowl. You’ll know when it’s done because it will mound and push out the towel upwards appearing to be a like a very large basketball.

Once your dough is ready remove the bowl from stove, remove the towel and saran wrap – and literally “punch” the middle down one time. Get give 1.5lb loaf pans and grease liberally with Crisco. You’re going to pince of pieces of dough and roll them in the palm of your hand to make 2 1/2″ size balls. Each loaf pan will have 8 balls in the bottom of each that should touch each other and they will be a litle less than halfway up the side of the pan. Fill all 5 loaf pans the same way and you should even have a little bit left over – about enough to make 2-3 more balls. You can cook these smaller pan, make a big ball and flatten (making a bun on a small cookie sheet), or just toss out. Your 5 pans will make 40 rolls in all. Cover all 5 pans with saran wrap and place pans at the front 1/2 of your stovetop. Let rise for 45 minutes, turn all pans around 180 degrees and let rise for 45 more minutes (90 minutes total). Your rolls should have risen to about 1/4 – 1/2″ above the top of the pan. Turn your oven up to 350 and wait about 5 minutes before putting the loaf pans in the oven. Try to put them all on the same rack if you can.

Bake the rolls for 25 minutes, and then check them. You will think they are done at this point – but they probably aren’t. You will see the tops begin to turn brown and some will look darker than others. Watch those pans – and the ones that are darker are probably in a hotter spot in your oven. The rolls aren’t done until the tops are a deep golden brown all over and they make a distinct “thump” when you flick your finger on the top. After the initial 25 minutes, I put the timer back on for 5 minutes twice (checking each time) – so my total cook time was 35 minutes.

When they’re done, take them out and immediately turn the rolls out of the pans onto cooling racks. We recommend eating some right away! When they cool in 20-30 minutes place in large ziplock (or tie) bags – keep out what you need for the week and freeze the rest for a holiday or a later date.

I hope you enjoy them as much as we have over the years! If you have a question or a favorite bread recipe of your own – comment now!

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2 Comments »

Pingback by Cream of Vegetable Soup Recipe : Free Online Recipes by Kieli

2008-08-19 12:18:01

[...] soup – we dipped multi-grain rools freshly baked in the soup, I recommend you try my famous Enga Buns – Homemade Multigrain Rolls Recipe to go along with this! Related PostsChicken Pot Pie2 cans Cream of Chicken Soup 2 packages frozen [...]

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Pingback by Cheesy Veggie Casserole Recipe : Free Online Recipes by Kieli

2008-09-09 13:33:55

[...] on 375 for about 1 hour in center of oven. Best served with fresh french bread or freshly baked multi-grain rolls. The best way to describe this disk is a cross between scalloped potatoes and Mac & Cheese [...]

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