The End Result: Wheat Buns

First, I made a sandwich from my most recent attempt:

I then put all my notes together and came up with this:

The main difference is in how I started the instant yeast.  I made a "quick sponge":

Mix together:
1 C Warm Water (105 degrees)
2 T Honey
1 T Oil

Separately mix together:
1/2 C White Flour
1 pkt. Instant Yeast

In a glass baking dish, mix the wet mixture into the dry mixture, and heat in the oven on "Warm" for 20 minutes.  Then thoroughly mix in:

1/2 C Whole Wheat Flour

Rewarm for 20 minutes.

I then ladled 1 C of the "sponge" into my Breadman's "bread bucket", and added another cup of 105 degree water to that, and turned it onto the "Dough" setting.  The remaining sponge went back into the warm oven to continue rising.  I then mixed together:

1/2 C Potato Flour
1/2 C White Flour
1 C Whole Wheat Flour
1/3 C Wheat Gluten
1/4 tsp. Salt

And then added that about 1/3 C at a time to the bread bucket and let the Breadman finish it's cycle, completely uninterrupted.

I then simply dumped the risen dough out onto my cutting board, which I'd coated with a teensie amount of whole wheat flour, and just cut the dough length-wise down the middle and then made two more adjacent (90 degree) cuts to make six sections (since the dough came out more like a rectangle than a circle).  After that, I just kneaded each section into a ball, rolled it on the cutting board to give it a nice finish, put a little flour on a cookie sheet, and then put each ball on the sheet.

I removed the extra rising yeast from the oven, and started the process over again with it for a second batch.

I then baked the roles at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.  Kinda forgot to make an egg wash.  I can work on that another time.  I also had planned on barely pushing the tops of the dough balls down a bit once they were on the pan, to spread them out a bit and make wider, less tall buns - forgot that as well.  It's probably a good idea though, as they are quite a mouthful even before they're filled!  And, they could stand to hold more ingredients (lettuce, tomatoes, etc.).  I'm tempted to, next time, have 8 buns per batch rather than 6, but I think I'll try the "pressed down" version first, just to see how I like that.