On re-reading the recipe, it's pretty clear that hydration is being defused by the ingredients--dry potato starch, dry milk, dry yeast, dry sugar... Try mixing all the liquid, the dry addins, and HALF the flour into a wet batter. For whole wheat, add it here before you add any other flour. Cover mixing bowl with plastic wrap. Skip the egg and fat for this first rising if you want to use egg. Let this rise for an hour. Afer this sponge has had a chance to hydrate the milk powder, the potato starch, the yeast, and any dry sugar you choose to add, beat it well. Then add egg, oil (better than butter), malt syrup or honey (better than dry sugar), and slowly add the rest of the flour to make a soft dough. Knead by machine or hand as described. Oil the surface and cover with the same plastic. Let rise for 2 hours regardless of how overgrown it gets. Better--let it rise in the fridge for 4 hours. Punch down and shape as desired. For those who ask, bakery buns have a long shelf life because they get all sorts of additives put in to hold the moisture. Even if you couild buy them for home use, you really wouldn't want to be adding them. I'm just a home baker but I can see why my mother's recipes worked.

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