I suspect you killed the yeast.....either too hot, too salty...or the yeast was dead to begin with.
Linda C

BlueIris, I just made a batch tonight myself, light and fluffy and a bit sweet. I've been baking them and putting them in the freezer for my "reception" in a couple of weeks, I'm going to use them for buns for pulled pork with Jack Daniels and Coke sauce.

I make the dough in my bread machine, then roll it out about an inch thick, cut it with a 2 3/4 inch round cutter. A tuna can with both ends removed works well too for this size. I let them rise and bake at 350 for about 15 minutes, it makes a light roll, about hamburger bun size.

Mine look like this when I try unsuccessfully to add seeds and herbs to the top, LOL, I'll try an egg wash for "glue" next time:

{{gwi:1529645}}

and like this:

{{gwi:1569907}}

I hope this helps.

Annie

I've been thinking about making my own hamburger buns lately. These look like the ticket. However, I've just spent 30 minutes of browsing trying to find the recipe. Does anyone have sol's recipe handy to cut and paste? I would really appreciate it if you do, but please do not type it out. I'll find it eventually if noone has it handy.

I think this is the recipe you want:

SOLÂS HONEY ROLLS

1 cup milk
½ cup honey
½ cup (4 ounces) butter
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons sugar
2 pkgs. dry yeast
½ cup warm water, 110°F -115°F
2 eggs, lightly beaten
6 - 6½ cups flour
In a 2-cup measure, melt the butter, add milk, honey and salt. In a large mixing bowl, combine the water, yeast and sugar, if using the latter. Allow yeast to dissolve 7-8 minutes. Add milk mixture to yeast mixture, stir. Add 4 cups flour, beat well. Add enough of the remaining flour to make a soft, but not sticky dough.
Place dough in large, greased bowl, turning to coat both sides. Cover and allow to rise about 1 hour.
Punch down. Let it rise again. Knead briefly and shape into rolls*
Allow to rise 1 hour more, or until doubled in size. Preheat oven to 375°F. Bake rolls 25 minutes or until golden. For softer rolls, I always butter the tops, as soon as they come out of the oven. Makes 27-30 rolls.
*When I'm ready to roll them out, I scoop the dough out with a medium ice cream scoop (#24 makes a standard size roll), to keep them uniform in size.
Sol

The yeast was new and foamed up. Annie, yours look MUCH nicer than mine! I didn't bake the next batch for as long and it helped, but still not right. I'm not sure what I did. I've baked bread without a problem. Aargh!

Thank you beachlily. :)

blueiris, the only other thing I can think of is that maybe you didn't knead long enough, but if you make bread you know how the dough should feel. I do let mine rise until at least double, maybe even a bit more, so they are light and fluffy. Mine just sit on top of the stove after shaping, with the oven on and preheating, until they are nicely risen.

I'm going on 10 dozen in the past couple of weeks, and all have come out nicely. I had one hot from the oven last night, with butter. Tonight I start on Terri's honey wheat.

Annie

Do you punch it down twice Annie?

AB, I may have a killer headache right now, but that is not going to stop me from commenting on your fine-looking buns [wink].

Blueiris, I wish I could've been in you kitchen to see when/where it all went wrong.
You mentioned you've never made rolls before, but if I were to recommend a yeast roll, this would've been the one, because it's pretty straightforward.

I will admit, after 20 years of using the same recipe, I've had one catastrophe. Which was the time I forgot to add both the honey and the eggs to the recipe. That was not a good day for me and I left out not one, but two, crucial ingredients. I know this because I found said ingredients later, after the fact.
I have since learned to keep better track of every ingredient going into whatever I make.

So I'm wondering if there's a possibility you might've forgotten to add a liquid, or any other ingredient?

As far as shaping the rolls, that's a technique that's easier to demonstrate, than it is to explain, but I'll try. I normally use an ice cream scoop (as mentioned in the recipe above), to keep the rolls uniform in size.
Then I start by stretching the top of the dough and folding it under itself. I do this for a few seconds, until the roll is as smooth and round as I like.
But, rolling out the dough and using a cookie cutter like Annie does, obviously works very well.
And you can be as rough with it as you want. I've kneaded this dough 18 different kinds of dead, yet, it always turns out light and fluffy.

Thank you Beachlily for posting the recipe.

Honey Rolls

Sol

blue iris, the machine lets it rise, I knock it down and roll it, cut it and let it rise a second time.

Sol, I'm just too impatient and I could never find an ice cream scoop, LOL. I have just rolled the dough into a log, cut it into slices about an inch thick and let them rise. (grin) I'm lazy, I know...

Annie

I don't have a bread machine - everyone is talking about how easy these rolls are to make and now I feel really stupid ;0 so I will have to get back on the horse and try try again to see where I went wrong -- thanks for your help!!

Well Blueiris, that's the way my biscuits turn out every time I've tried to make them... don't feel bad. Let us know how your next try goes!

Bobby, Thank you from bringing in me in from the ledge -- I was about to hit rock bottom there (I'd probably land on one of my rolls) - glad to hear I'm not the only one slinking around with hockey pucks . . .