Project Karma and a Cookbook Giveaway

Photo from From Cupcakes to Caviar.

It seems impossible that we're approaching the three-year anniversary of when my husband went into the hospital ... and didn't come home for a long time.

Sometimes it seems like just yesterday, and sometimes it seems like a lifetime ago. So much has happened since then.

If you haven't been reading this blog for that long, the short story is that he drove himself to the clinic, they sent him to the ER and shortly afterwards he was in the ICU awaiting surgery. Things went wrong, they told me there was no hope - pick a time to pull the plug - and the next day he woke up and his condition started improving. Slowly.

Meanwhile our money situation was dire, and hospitals aren't cheap. Although I hated the idea, I wrote a blog post and asked for donations. I was overwhelmed with the generosity of strangers. And grateful to friends. And astonished at how my life could go from worrying about whether Bob would have a home to come home to ... to being comfortable spending time with him, knowing that the bills would be paid for a short while. I could breathe for a while.

It was the worst time of my life, and also the most amazingly wonderful time, when I realised how wonderful people really are. I felt very loved and very comforted at a time when I needed it most. And it wasn't even the money, but it was the fact that so many people were so caring.

I promised the universe that when I was in a position to give back, I would. I'm a big believer in karma, and in doing good without expectations of payback. Paying it forward, so to speak. And paying back when good things have come your way.

Have a cookie. Photo from From Cupcakes to Caviar.

For me, that payback time is now. And I'm asking you to help me with that payback. Please.

My friend Janet Brand - you might know her from the blog From Cupcakes to Caviar - just asked online for prayers and good wishes, and when I pressed her for details, she reluctantly told me.

Janet's husband's company recently stopped providing health insurance for spouses, and the family can't afford to pay for private health insurance to cover Janet. They're one of the many families who make too much money to get free insurance, but who struggle every month over paying monthly bills, food, and other expenses, and there's not enough left for that big insurance bill every single month.

I know exactly what that's like. I was there, too. So, like me, she crossed her fingers and hoped that everything would be fine. And ... she's not. She's experiencing symptoms of a very treatable type of cancer. She knows it well because it runs in the family. She knows what the future looks like, but she can't afford to pay for treatment, and she can't afford medical insurance.

She was asking for prayers and good thoughts, but what I want for her is medical help.

So, here's the plan. I twisted her arm really really hard, and she set up a GoFundMe campaign to collect money to pay for her insurance and her deductible. She's not asking for money for a blogger trip, or a new dishwasher. She's not asking for money to buy shoes. She needs money for basic healthcare to save her life.

Janet has two children who need her a lot (besides the ones who are grown) - one in grade school, and the other is special needs. It's not like she can run out and get a job, because childcare would cost more than she could earn. She's a hardworking gal who takes care of her kids, her house, her husband, and her blog. Now she needs some help taking care of herself.

Can you help?

Janet is one of the funniest people I know, and I absolutely refuse to lose another friend because they delayed medical treatment.

If you have some spare money, consider sending some to her GoFundMe campaign. She's only asking for enough to cover insurance and the deductible for a year, but I'd love to see her get a cushion to cover food and maybe some childcare, because there may be some days when she's not going to have a whole lot of energy for daily tasks. And she will need insurance next year, too.

You don't need to donate a lot. Even $5 will help her reach her goal. Even $1, if that's what you've got to give. It adds up.

If you don't have money, then consider sharing this blog post, or directly share a link to the GoFundMe campaign.

If you are a blogger and you'd like to write a blog post that mentions this campaign, email or message me on Facebook. I might be able to offer a little extra bonus giveaway for your readers as a thank-you from me.

If you're a blogger and you have a vast (or small) audience on social media, but you don't want to write a blog post, please just share a link. Please?

Janet is a real sweetheart, snarky and humble and funny. I nearly had to hit her over the head to allow me to do this for her.

She didn't want to ask for money, and she only agreed when I pointed out that her children really need her. And then she thought about it. If she wasn't there, her husband couldn't take care of both children and still work. Her special needs child would probably end up in a home ... and that's when she finally agreed to let me do this. Not for herself, but to make sure her family is okay.

She truly needs your help. Please do what you can for her.

And now for the GIVEAWAY

I have ONE copy of my cookbook, Make Ahead Bread to give to one lucky winner.

You do NOT need to make a donation to enter the giveaway, but there will be bonus entries for sharing links on social media. See, you can help without opening your wallet!

I may be offering extra books if donations entries and/or donations exceed my expectations.

Yum

Make a Head Bread: Santa's Coming to Town

I'm still laughing at the typo that called my book Make a Head Bread instead of Make Ahead Bread. In that case, I would have been baking breads shaped like famous people or animal heads, I guess.

So in honor of that silly typo, I decided to make a Santa-head bread, just for the fun of it.

I saw something similar on Pinterest, but used one of my basic bread recipes and used my own methods for making his face, hat, and beard. To get some color variation, I egg-washed some of the dough and sprinkled rice flour on other parts.

I kind of like the way it turned out.

But I digress!

I like playing Santa, so I joined up with the past and present members of Virtual Potluck to do a giveaway featuring my book as well as fantastic prizes from a whole lot of generous sponsors.

I chose to do this first big giveaway with Virtual Potluck because they're some of the first bloggers I got to know well. We "met" while doing a book launch event for Emeril, and we decided to hang around together and do some group posts on our own.

Over time, some of our members branched out to other ventures, and some temporarily stepped back from blogging. They left Virtual Potluck, but every one of them said "yes" when I asked them to help promote my book. I was touched by their response.


You'll find all of the Virtual Potluck posts here:

Theresa from Foodhunters Guide to Cuisine

Rachel from Rachel Cooks

Marnely from Cooking with Books
Shelby from Diabetic Foodie

Heather from Farmgirl Gourmet
Milisa from Miss in the Kitchen
Vanessa from Groovy Foody
Matt from Thyme in Our Kitchen

Tara from Foodie

Susan from 30a Eats

Donna (that's me) from Cookistry
Jay from Bite and Booze

Make sure you check out their blogs! I love them!

Where to buy Make Ahead Bread

My book, Make Ahead Bread, is available for sale on Amazon. If you'd like an autographed copy, you can order one from Barbed Wire Books. The price from Barbed wire is similar to what Amazon charges (they change the price often, as you know) but you'll save money on mailing a book to me to sign, and me shipping it back to you.

For the giveaway, I'd like to thank our sponsors who generously offered some fantastic prizes:

• Taunton Press, the publisher of my book, is supplying a total of 12 copies of Make Ahead Bread, one to each winner.
• Magimix is giving one winner a Magimix 3200XL 12-Cup Food Processor in Brushed Chrome. (I wrote about it here.)
• WÜSTHOF is giving one winner a CLASSIC 9-inch Double Serrated Bread Knife 
• SilverStone is giving one winner a 5-piece set of bakeware (11x17 cookie pan, 10x15 cookie pan, 9x13 covered baking pan, 9x5 loaf pan and 9-inch cake pan) in the winner's choice of red or blue.
• King Arthur Flour is giving one winner a rye bread baking kit.
• Duralex is giving one winner a 9-piece set of mixing bowls.
• Harold Import Company is giving three winners a made-in-the-USA hardwood baker’s rolling pin (It's the baker's pin, with no handles.)
• Microplane is giving each of the 12 winners an Elite Zester, Cube Grater, and Spiral Cutter.
• GIR is giving each of the 12 winners a silicone scraper.
• King Arthur Flour is giving each of the 12 winners a coupon for a bag of flour of your choice (good at your local supermarket) and a plastic bench scraper.
• Walker's Shortbread is supplying cookies to three winners.

There will be a total of 12 winners, with three bigger prizes and nine more really great prizes. And yes, all winners get a copy of my book. You'll find even more details about the prizes here.

In addition to supplying items for the giveaway, a special thanks to Taunton Press, Silverstone, Microplane and WÜSTHOF for supplying products for all the bloggers to work with.

GIVEAWAY IS OVER

Do you want to know more about the sponsors? You can find them on their websites and social media, here:

Taunton on Twitter and Facebook.
Magimix on Twitter and Facebook.
WÜSTHOF on Twitter and Facebook.
SilverStone would like you to follow Pots and Pans on Twitter and Facebook.
Duralex on Twitter and Facebook.
GIR on Twitter and Facebook.
Harold Import Company on Twitter and Facebook.
Microplane on Twitter and Facebook.
King Arthur Flour on Twitter and Facebook.
Walker's Shortbread on Facebook.

This event is sponsored by multiple companies, all listed above. I want to sincerely thank them for their amazing generosity.

Yum

Cheese Ball Bread with Virtual Potluck

You want this bread.

I'm so excited that my friends from Virtual Potluck agreed to help promote my book. And that so many generous sponsors offered up such terrific prizes.

While the bloggers were busy working on recipes from the book, I went into the kitchen and whipped up a new recipe just for this promotion. This is made in the Make-Ahead style, with all the work done the day before, and the bread baked later.

I waffled on what to name this, since it's made sort of like a monkey bread or a pull-apart loaf, but I intended it to be a sliced bread. The balls of dough are coated with cheese before they're placed in the pan, so each slice has random ribbons of cheese running through them.

So, they're balls ... coated with cheese. Not like balls of cheese.

The cheese will show up better if you use a yellow cheese, but use whatever you like. Or grate up all those leftover nubs of cheese you have on hand. Add more or less, to taste. The only thing I'd suggest is that you try not to get too much cheese on the bottom of the pan, since it tends to brown the most there, and could verge on burning. If a little bit falls to the bottom, it's not a big deal, but you don't want to coat the bottom of the pan with cheese.

Cheese Ball Bread

The bread is looking moody here. Can you see the lines of white cheese? 

1 1/4 cups water
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast (Red Star yeast is preferred, otherwise let it proof for a few minutes before mixing)
2 tablespoons sugar
3 cups (13 1/2 ounces) bread flour
1/4 cup instant mashed potato flakes
1 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup grated cheese (or more, as desired)

Combine all ingredients (except the cheese) in the bowl of your stand mixer (or mix in a bowl, then knead by hand) and knead until it's smooth and elastic.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside until the dough has doubled in size, about an hour. This is the important rise. If it rises faster, then continue sooner. If it needs more time, then let it wait longer.

When the dough has doubled, flour your work surface and turn out the dough. Flatten it gently. We're not kneading, and there's not need to pull out a rolling pin. Just use your hands to flatten the dough for easier cutting.

Need to grate cheese? 12 winners are getting this Microplane cube grater. I reviewed it here. 

If you're using a hard cheese, you could also use the zester, also from Microplane, that all 12 winners will receive.

Have a 9x5 bread pan standing by, sprayed with baking spray for foolproof bread removal.

Pretty pan, right? We're giving away a whole set in the winner's choice of red or blue!

Use a sharp knife, like this one that I received from WÜSTHOF ...

... Or pizza cutter, like this one I received from Microplane, to slice the bread into at least 24 pieces. More is better. They don't need to be even - random is just fine.

Place your grated cheese in a shallow bowl, or if you prefer, sprinkle it on your work surface. Dip the bread lumps (you could make actual round balls, but it's not necessary) into the cheese so that it sticks to one surface, and start placing the dough into the bread pan, cheese side up.

Alternatively, you could just put a layer of dough balls into the pan and sprinkle the cheese on top. Whichever you prefer. Continue placing cheese-coated dough lumps into the pan - or sprinkle cheese on top as you add uncoated dough. The distribution of the cheese doesn't need to be perfectly even. This is all about the randomness, so if you have some spots with extra cheese, that's perfectly fine. Unleash your inner child, and be messy.

Attempt to place the dough into the pan in a loaf-shaped formation, but again it doesn't need to be perfect. It's going to be lumpy.

The finished bread is lumpy, but in an interesting way!

Sprinkle any extra cheese on top of the loaf, then cover it with plastic wrap (or you can put the whole pan in a large plastic bag) and let it rest in the refrigerator. It will rise overnight. Magically. See, you don't have to wait around for a second rise. Just let it take a chill-nap, and it will be ready for baking when you want it.

When you're ready to bake - at least 8 hours later is good, 24 hours later is great, and you're probably safe up to 48 hours later - heat the oven to 350 degrees (let it have about 30 minutes to warm up) and take the pan out of the refrigerator.

When the oven is heated, remove the plastic from the pan and place the pan in the oven. Bake until the top is nicely browned and the loaf is fully cooked. You can use a thermometer to check internal temperature (195-200 degrees), or thump the loaf, or use whatever method you're comfortable with. It should take about 50 minutes.

Remove the loaf from the oven and let it cool completely on a rack before slicing.

See that knife? We're giving one away!

Want more breads like this? My book, Make Ahead Bread, is available for sale on Amazon. If you'd like an autographed copy, you can order one from Barbed Wire Books.

Thanks to the great bloggers who are helping me send my book into the world in a big way. You'll find more bread recipes here:

Theresa from Foodhunters Guide to Cuisine

Rachel from Rachel Cooks

Marnely from Cooking with Books
Jay from Bite and Booze
Shelby from Diabetic Foodie

Heather from Farmgirl Gourmet
Milisa from Miss in the Kitchen
Vanessa from Groovy Foody
Matt from Thyme in Our Kitchen

Tara from Foodie

Susan from 30a Eats
You are here now on Cookistry
AND! One more recipe from my book HERE, straight from the pages of my book!

For the giveaway, we'd like to thank our sponsors who generously offered some fantastic prizes:

• Taunton Press, the publisher of my book, is supplying a total of 12 copies of Make Ahead Bread, one to each winner.
• Magimix is giving one winner a Magimix 3200XL 12-Cup Food Processor in Brushed Chrome. I have this same model, and it's a BEAST. And the brushed chrome is really pretty. I reviewed it here. The winner is going to be very very happy!
• WÜSTHOF is giving one winner a CLASSIC 9-inch Double Serrated Bread Knife. I absolutely LOVE this knife. It really makes a difference, particularly when slicing challenging breads.
• SilverStone is giving one winner a 5-piece set of bakeware (11x17 cookie pan, 10x15 cookie pan, 9x13 covered baking pan, 9x5 loaf pan and 9-inch cake pan) in the winner's choice of red or blue. I received two of these pans to work with, and I love them! And the colors are so pretty!
• King Arthur Flour is giving one winner a rye bread baking kit. I'm a big fan of King Arthur Flour, and I love their rye flours. And you get a pan!
• Duralex is giving one winner a 9-piece set of mixing bowls. I don't have these bowls in particular, but I have other Duralex products that I love. This is a really nice set of nesting bowls, and since they're clear glass, you can see how your rising bread is doing without having to peek in from above.
• Harold Import Company is giving three winners a made-in-the-USA hardwood baker’s rolling pin (It's the baker's pin, with no handles.) I adore this pin, and I'll probably buy it for myself soon - it's so perfect for baking, and it's made in the USA, which is always a plus.
• Microplane is giving each of the 12 winners an Elite Zester, Cube Grater, and Spiral Cutter. These are totally fun products, and I really love the new design of the zester.
• GIR is giving each of the 12 winners a silicone scraper. I got a chance to test this before they were released to the public, and it's a really nice scraper with a lot of curves, contours, and edges for scraping bowls of just about any shape.
• King Arthur Flour is giving each of the 12 winners a coupon for a bag of flour of your choice (good at your local supermarket) and a plastic bench scraper. If you're going to bake bread, you're going to need flour. And you need a bench scraper, too. I've accumulated a few of them, and they're handy to have on hand.
• Walker's Shortbread is supplying cookies to three winners. Because you need something to munch on. Besides, cookie crumbs can be used for baking. Use them with cinnamon and sugar inside your swirl loaf to add texture and make the cinnamon layer more substantial.

There are more details (and larger photos!) of the giveaway items here.

An Extra Thanks to Our Sponsors
In addition to supplying items for the giveaway, a special thanks to Taunton Press, SilverStone, Microplane and WÜSTHOF for supplying products for all the bloggers to work with.

Each blogger was given a choice of one of several knives to use (because we wanted to make sure they got one they didn't already have) including the totally awesome bread knife that we're giving away.

Besides a choice of knives, each blogger received a SilverStone loaf pan and covered 9x13 baking pan, as as well as an Elite grater, cube grater, and pizza cutter from Microplane. Each blogger also received a copy of my book, Make Ahead Bread.

Yup, when you come to my party, you go home with party favors!

Do you want to know more about the sponsors? You can find them on their websites and social media, here:

Taunton on Twitter and Facebook.
Magimix on Twitter and Facebook.
WÜSTHOF on Twitter and Facebook.
SilverStone would like you to follow Pots and Pans on Twitter and Facebook.
Duralex on Twitter and Facebook.
GIR on Twitter and Facebook.
Harold Import Company on Twitter and Facebook.
Microplane on Twitter and Facebook.
King Arthur Flour on Twitter and Facebook.
Walker's Shortbread on Facebook.

This event is sponsored by multiple companies, all listed above. I want to sincerely thank them for their amazing generosity.

Note: It might take a while for the Rafflecopter to load, so give it a chance! It's worth it!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Yum

The Virtual Potluck Reunion Tour: A Make Ahead Bread Mega Giveaway

When I throw a party, I don't just throw it. I blast it out of a cannon.

I decided that I wanted to do a big giveaway as part of the launch of my book, Make Ahead Bread, and I decided to call upon the enter Virtual Potluck team - past and present members -  to help me get the book of the launchpad. And they all said YES.

And then I sent some emails to a few companies I worked with in the past, and they all said, sure, we'll toss some stuff into the prize basket. You know, a few things here and there. Enough for 12 prizes!

This is what I've gathered:

Taunton Press, the publisher of my book, is supplying a total of 12 copies of Make Ahead Bread, one to each winner.

Magimix is giving one winner a Magimix 3200XL 12-Cup Food Processor in Brushed Chrome.

WÜSTHOF is giving one winner a CLASSIC 9-inch Double Serrated Bread Knife.

SilverStone is giving a 5-piece set of bakeware (11x17 cookie pan, 10x15 cookie pan, 9x13 covered baking pan, 9x5 loaf pan and 9-inch cake pan) to one winner, in the winner's choice of red or blue.

King Arthur Flour is giving one winner a rye bread baking kit.

Duralex is giving one winner a 9-piece set of mixing bowls.

Harold Import Company is giving three winners a made-in-the-USA hardwood baker’s rolling pin.

Microplane is giving each of the 12 winners an Elite Zester, Cube Grater, and Spiral Cutter.

GIR is giving each of the 12 winners a silicone scraper.

King Arthur Flour is giving each of the 12 winners a coupon for a bag of flour of your choice (good at your local supermarket) and a plastic bench scraper.

And Walker's Shortbread is supplying cookies to three winners.

That's a pretty amazing bunch of stuff, right?

So, this is how the prizes will be divvied up:

Giant Super Grand Prize:

Make Ahead Bread cookbook

Magimix 3200XL 12-Cup Food Processor in Brushed Chrome

9-Piece set of Duralex Mixing Bowls

Made in the USA hardwood baker’s rolling pin from Harold Import Company

Microplane Elite Zester, Cube Grater, and Spiral Cutter

GIR silicone scraper

Coupon for a free bag of  King Arthur flour and a plastic bench scraper

One package of Walker's shortbread cookies

Really Big Grand Prize:

Make Ahead Bread cookbook

Wustoff CLASSIC 9-inch Double Serrated Bread Knife
5-Piece set of SilverStone Bakeware in winner’s choice of red or blue

Made in the USA hardwood baker’s rolling pin from Harold Import Company

Microplane Elite Zester, Cube Grater, and Spiral Cutter

GIR silicone scraper

Coupon for a free bag of  King Arthur flour and a plastic bench scraper

One package of Walker's shortbread cookies

Grand Prize:

Make Ahead Bread cookbook

Rye Bread Baking Kit from King Arthur Flour

Made in the USA hardwood baker’s rolling pin from Harold Import Company

Microplane Elite Zester, Cube Grater, and Spiral Cutter

GIR silicone scraper

Coupon for a free bag of  King Arthur flour and a plastic bench scraper

One package of Walker's shortbread cookies

NINE MORE WINNERS GET:

Make Ahead Bread cookbook

Microplane Elite Zester, Cube Grater, and Spiral Cutter

GIR silicone scraper

Coupon for a free bag of  King Arthur flour and a plastic bench scraper

Tomorrow there will be twelve FANTASTIC bloggers who will help me give all of this away. Because, yanno, I can't carry all of this on my own.

The participating bloggers (and links to recipes posts and giveaways) are:

• Shelby from Diabetic Foodie who made Oatmeal Honey Loaf
• Milisa from Miss in the Kitchen who made Butter Buns
• Matt from Thyme in Our Kitchen who made Tart Cherry and Cream Cheese Buns
• Susan from 30a Eats who made Sausage and Cheddar Strata with Spinach
• Rachel from Rachel Cooks who made Naan
• Tara from Foodie who made Bacon Tomato and Cheddar Loaf
• Vanessa from Groovy Foody who made Gluten-Free Gibassier
• Marnely from Cooking with Books who made Pumpkin Dinner Rolls
• Jay from Bite and Booze is hosting a giveaway post
• Theresa from Foodhunters Guide to Cuisine who made Nutella Swirl Rolls
• Heather from Farmgirl Gourmet who made Cinnamon Swirl Bread
• Donna (that's me! you're here!) showcased Blueberry Cream Cheese Buns from the book and also created a brand new recipe for Cheese Ball Bread.

You can find my book on Amazon (www.amazon.com/Make-Ahead-Bread-Melt-Your-Mouth/dp/1627103953) as well as brick-an-mortar retailers.

If you want an autographed or personalized copy, you can order one from my local bookstore Barbed Wire Books (www.barbedwirebooks.net). I'll go there to sign it, and they will ship it directly to you.

Make sure to come back tomorrow for the giveaway, and I'll have links to all the posts from the 12 bloggers who made recipes from my book!

This event is sponsored my multiple companies, all listed above. I want to sincerely thank them for their amazing generosity.

Yum

And then this happened ...

I was going to publish a recipe today, and a giveaway.

But then this guy showed up.

He was carrying a heavy box.

And when I opened the box, I found these.

Yes, that's my name on the cover.

Look at that! Wow! It's real.

I've been completely useless since these showed up, and if I finished writing the planned post, it would probably not be in English. And I'd probably make a terrible mistake and give away a small hippopotamus or something like that.

So instead I'm going to tell you that you can buy the book directly from the publisher - and they have a PDF version as well, if you're that sort of person.

Or you can find it on Amazon.

If you want an autographed copy, I am making arrangements with my local bookstore, so it's easier for everyone. When I have details on how you should order, I will let will know. Or you could contact them directly and ask. They won't have books until after the Nov. 4 release date, but if they know they have books already sold, they'll know how many more they need to order.

TOMORROW there will be a recipe and giveaway.

Today, I celebrate!

Oh, and if you're wondering how I managed to get a photo of the UPS guy at the moment of delivery, my husband parked his car at the end of the driveway, and waited there for him. Not all day. He's not that crazy. But we get enough deliveries here to know what time we should expect a package to drop.

So he sat there. In his car. With a camera.

Isn't he sweet?

Yum

Need fresh buns for dinner? Do the work the day before!

I needed to bring some buns to a dinner I was going to, and I knew the day of the dinner was going to be a busy one. I wanted to bring freshly-baked buns. What to do?

This is a perfect example of what my upcoming book, Make Ahead Bread, is all about. The recipes let you do most of the work the day before, and finish the process on the day you want the bread.

It makes a lot more sense than getting up at the crack of dawn to bake bread for dinner, or juggling oven space and temperatures to get everything done on time.

This recipe isn't in the book, but it's the same concept.

As usual for me, I did all the mixing in my stand mixer, but you can certainly knead by hand. If you do choose to knead by hand, use softened butter. If you're using a stand mixer, you can add cold butter; the mixer will have no trouble incorporating it.

I used Red Star Platinum yeast here, but you can use active dry or instant - whatever you have on hand should work just fine. If you're using an active dry yeast other than Red Star, let it soften a bit in the water while you gather the rest of your ingredients.

Make-Ahead Dinner Rolls

1 1/4 cups room temperature water
2 tablespoons sugar
1 package (2 1/4 teaspoons) Red Star Platinum Yeast
1/2 cup (3 ounces) semolina flour
2 1/2 cups (11 1/4 ounces) bread flour
1/4 cup instant mashed potato flakes
2 tablespoons buttermilk powder
1 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter

Put all the ingredients except the butter in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the dough hook. Knead until the dough is elastic. Add the butter and continue kneading until the butter is completely incorporated.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

Flour your work surface and spray a 9x13 baking pan with baking spray.

Turn out the dough and divide it into 12 equal pieces. Arrange the buns in the baking pan, cover with plastic wrap. (My favorite 9x13 pan comes with a snap-on lid, so that's what I use.)

Refrigerate the buns overnight or up to 24 hours.

When you're ready to bake, remove the pan from the refrigerator and preheat the oven to 325 degrees - I like to let the oven heat for 30 minutes and let the buns sit at room temperature for that same amount of time.

Uncover the buns and bake at 325 degrees until they're nicely browned, about 30 minutes.

Remove the buns from the pan (they should flip out easily) as soon as you can and let them cool completely on a rack.

Note: If you like, you can brush these with an eggwash (1 egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon water) before baking for a shiny crust. If you eggwash, you can also sprinkle the tops with sesame seeds or other toppings - the eggwash will help the toppings stick to the tops of the buns.

Yum