We make a lot of bread items (buns, pizza dough, tortillas, etc.) in our house for a couple of reasons. First, I love carbs! Second, I prefer not to buy bread in the store. How can their bread or tortillas last 2 weeks and mine only stay fresh for a couple of days? I don’t like the idea of the extra ingredients that must go into the items to keep them fresh that long.
As I’ve mentioned earlier this week, we have a lot of basil in the garden and I had to use up some sun-dried tomatoes, so I added the ingredients to my normal bun recipe for a little bit of a change. Everyone seemed to enjoy these and we used them for dipping into soup and for holding veggie burgers. If you really love sun-dried tomatoes, you can easily add a bit more.
I make this recipe using my bread machine for the dough because I really am about saving time. It is much quicker and less messy using the bread machine. If you do not have a bread machine, then you can prepare the bread by hand.
MAKES 8 BUNS
INGREDIENTS
– 3 cups flour (I used 1 cup whole wheat and 2 cups white)
– 1 cup non-dairy milk or water
– 2 Tablespoons coconut oil or olive oil
– 1 Tablespoon sugar
– 1 teaspoon salt
– 2.5 teaspoons yeast
– 1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped, packed
– 3 Tablespoons basil, chopped and packed
– 1 teaspoon garlic powder
DIRECTIONS
1. Combine all of the ingredients into your bread machine. Set the machine to dough cycle and let it do it’s magic.
2. Take out the dough and place onto a lightly floured counter.
3. Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces. Shape into balls.
4. Place the balls onto a lightly greased pan or a pan lined with parchment paper.
5. Cover and let rise 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 350F while you wait.
6. Bake for 20 minutes, or until lightly brown on top and sound hollow when tapped.
Note: if you do not have a bread machine, then follow the directions below.
Traditional Method
– warm the water or milk slightly. Put into a bowl and add the sugar and sprinkle with the yeast.
– let the yeast set until it is bubbly
– add in the salt and oil
– add in the flour slowly until it forms a slightly sticky ball (you may not need all 3 cups)
– place the ball on a lightly floured counter and kneed the dough for 5 minutes, adding in the rest of the flour as needed until the ball is soft and smooth (it will still be tacky to the touch).
– cover the dough and let rise until doubled in size (approximately 45 minutes)
– punch the dough and need again.
– follow the instructions from Step 2 onward above.
Running With Veggies 
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