Russ, is it okay if I live vicariously through you? This recipe looks simple but I am TERRIFIED of yeast. I cannot wait to hear how it turns out for you. Good luck!
I can't stress enough how easy bread is. Cave-dwellers probably made bread. It's that simple. The no-knead bread I made last week...four ingredients (flour, water, salt, yeast).
I couldn't live not making bread occasionally. It's therapy. It really is. If you knew me IRL, you'd know I don't really like things that are difficult, and I make bread. Culinarily, I'm also dumb as a post, and I make bread.
I'm like MoGlo, I don't get the fear. My brother recently asked me how to make bread, and I demo'd a very simple recipe (five ingredients, because it included oil), and it was just proofing the yeast, mixing the dry ingredients together, then adding the yeast, kneading, rising, shaping, and baking...and he freaked out. This is a guy who makes his own rubs and sauces for meats, uses a smoker and and outdoor charcoal grill, which takes a lot more finesse than bread ever will, and he absolutely refused to do it and buys frozen loaves.
My advice to first-time bread makers: either make a pizza dough or a no-knead bread, or a focaccia. Start easy. Even the most complex breads I make aren't complex. At their core...flour, water, yeast, and salt, and depending on the bread, other stuff may get added (milk, eggs, mix-ins like olives, herbs, or cheese).
The burger buns...I put off making my own buns for years because the only person I knew who made buns was a serious baker (she bought flour by the 50-lb bag for just her and her husband), and she told me you had to have a special pan and do this and that, that burger buns weren't just reshaped bread, etc.
Well, maybe if you're a professional baker that's true, but after a few years, I started looking around and found easy-to-make burger buns (and beat buns, and hot dog buns) and now I make my own, no special equipment or complicated recipe required.
