Gramma's Homemade Buns

My husband's Gramma is a wonderful cook! I'm going to treat you with her recipe for "homemade" buns using a bread machine.

Gramma's Homemade Buns

1 cup warm water
1/4 cup sugar, divided
2 tsp yeast (regular or bread machine yeast)
2 tbsp softened butter or margarine
3/4 tsp salt
3 cups bread flour

Heat the cup of cold water in the microwave on high for 13 seconds. Pour into the bread machine pan and add 2 tsp of the sugar and the yeast and let it activate. Then add flour, sugar, butter and salt. Gramma's machine has a feature of "First Rise" in which the machine mixes and rises only once (takes about 1 hour and 40 minutes). Take bread dough out of machine and form into buns and let rise until double. If using a convection oven: bake at 350 degrees for 13 minutes. If using a traditional oven: bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

Gramma's notes:
Most bread machine recipes have you put the yeast in without letting it activate in sugar and warm water but I found that the yeast did not always dissolve and you get a better rise doing it the "old fashioned" way. It is important that the salt does not get into contact with the yeast. That's why I add the salt last or between cups of flour. The first loaf I made with my machine was only 4 inches high, after that i never followed the book instructions!! Sound like a Gramma thing?

You can make them small to serve with a meal or you can make them a little larger to use for sandwiches. They're really great because they're crusty on the outside and chewy in the middle. I was skeptical of activating the yeast because I'm a rule-follower, but it worked well and the buns are delicious.