shawnalyn- Perhaps this yeast test will come in handy for you - especially if you use yeast purchased in bulk amounts, don't use it frequently, and are uncertain of the strength of the yeast. Yeast Test: In a 1-cup glass measuring cup place 1-1/2 t. yeast, 1 t. sugar and 1/4 c. warm water. Wait 10 minutes. The mixture should be up to the 1/2 c. line if the yeast is active enough to raise bread dough. If you proof your yeast in water/sweetener for a recipe and you don't see good activity after 5\-10 minutes of proofing time, then there won't be enough "umph" in the yeast to raise bread dough and there's no sense continuing the recipe and wasting any more ingredients than the proofing mixture. And it's also an indication it's time for new yeast..... Be sure to add your yeast to the water, not water to yeast. Dumping the water on the yeast can actually "kill" or damage the yeast from the beating it takes from the water. If you actively stir the proofing mixture you can damage or kill the yeast. In one of his bread books, Bernard Clayton offers this advise: "If the dough refuses to rise, you may have forgotten the yeast or the yeast may have been outdated and dead. Don't throw the dough away. Start a new batch of dough but make certain the yeast \- in the amount specific in the recipe is among the ingredients. After the dough is mixed, blend the two doughs. There will be more than enough healthy yeast cells to go around. OR, dissolve the yeast in a small amount of water and work this into the dough. It will be a sticky mess in the beginning, but the yeast will be absorbed." \-Grainlady

I mill my own flour and make a 100% whole wheat bread recipe for hamburger and hot dog buns on a regular basis. I also use the same recipe for high-rising loaves of bread. The loaves or buns are just as light and fluffy as white bread because I use the SPONGE METHOD for making dough, instead of the much faster direct dough method - where all the ingredients are mixed together. An ingredient important in all bakers' yeast breads made with 100% whole wheat flour, or additions of wheat germ as an ingredient in the bread, that most people don't know about is ascorbic acid. There is a substance in wheat germ (which is a part of 100% whole wheat flour) called Glutathione which breaks down the gluten (which equals squatty short loaves). By adding ascorbic adic to your dough you will help to counteract the negative effects of Glutathione. Ascorbic acid will repair gluten bonds and will help sustain the leavening of the bread during baking. It also promotes yeast growth in the acidic atmosphere in which yeast grow best (1/8 t. ascorbic acid per loaf). (Note: Do not add ascorbic acid to naturally-leavened breads - aka sourdough - because it's naturally acidic and the ascorbic acid is unnecessary.) I let the sponge rest for at least 2-1/2-hours and up to 12-hours - covered in the bread machine or covered in a bowl if making it by hand. This allows the gluten in the flour to hydrate and the bran to soften. Bran in whole wheat flour can actually cut the gluten strands during kneading. It makes a big difference in texture, taste, and rise when working with 100% whole wheat flour if you use a sponge method and the addition of ascorbic acid powder. You don't say if the recipe was 100% whole wheat or a light wheat recipe (includes some unbleached/bleached all-purpose or bread flour). If you use a high-protein whole wheat flour, additional vital wheat gluten is entirely unnecessary!!! If you use whole wheat flour in combination with commercial bleached/unbleached all-purpose or bread flour, it's unnecessary because there's more than enough gluten in the white flour. If, by chance, the whole wheat flour you use was specifically for PASTRY, it is milled from low-protein soft wheat and not appropritate for making yeast breads. Additions of vital wheat gluten (where there is NOT a high-percentage of low-gluten or non-gluten flour) usually contributes to tough bread, not necessarily the rise of the bread. "Hocky Pucks" or "Bricks" are also a sign of not enough moisture in your breads - among the other things already mentioned. If you don't do a good job mixing the dough and developing the gluten while mixing and you toss out a shaggy lump of dough, then you didn't do the mixing slowly enough, or enough strokes used to slowly add the flour to the liquid. If you don't do a good job of kneading and add too much flour during kneading, then you chance making a dry dough which often makes "pucks". With bread dough, it's best to err on the side of a wet dough. Dry dough always equals a "brick" or "puck". You'll find my recipe at the link below. Post #2 in the thread. -Grainlady Here is a link that might be useful: sponge method help please

I am no longer a bun virgin! You folks inspired me to try them. I have a bread machine that I used to use many many years ago, back when I had a metabolism. LOL All these posts about yeasts and how forgiving dough is made me brave. I figured I would give it a shot with the recipe in this thread. I used the bread machine to mix the dough. I confess that I never even thought about using the dough cycle, always baked the bread in the machine. I poured the ingredients in, walked away for 1:30 came back and dumped it on the counter and made cute little balls (thanks for the video link). Came back 1 hour later and baked these delicious rolls! Oh yeah, my yeast expired in May, I used it anyway. No problem. We are such city slickers and my Mom and her Mother were not cooks. So the most amusing part of making these rolls is my Mom saying "Wow you can do that? Make hamburger buns at home?" She was pretty funny. After they were done she kept touching them saying "I'll be darned, aren't they beautiful?" Here they are after 5 minutes of hands on. The results How easy was that? I think I'll leave the bread machine out. Thanks for all the encouragement. A special thanks goes to Ann T and Annie for being so encouraging to us novices about bread baking. And Maureen thank you for the recipe. I think next time I will weigh the little balls to get them the same size. Does anyone know how much hamburger sized buns should weigh?

I've never had good luck freezing cheap hamburger or hot dog buns. Bread, yes, but not for long term. I freeze bagels. Lately I use a good bagel for a burger bun. With bread, as with most anything, remove as much air as possible. A second wrap helps. Thawing, I generally leave it open a bit so the excess moisture can get out or else it goes mushy. Turn it while thawing. I generally switch bags when thawing it to put it into a dry bag. That helps a lot. However, if making a burger, put the bun in and toast it. That will freshen it up and toast it at the same time. Or just steam it on the burger. Not as good as toasted but workable.