Homemade hamburger buns are so much better than store-bought. These buns are fun to make and will work well for hamburgers, sloppy joes, and barbecued meats of all kinds.
As promised (a day late) here is a post about making hamburger buns. I used the same recipe for the hamburger buns that I used for the breadsticks.
To save time and clean-up, I made both the breadsticks and the hamburger buns on the same day. The dough recipe doubles easily and will make enough dough for 16 breadsticks and 8 hamburger buns. The buns keep very well for a day or two if allowed to cool and then are stored in a single layer in a food-grade plastic bag.
The day that I made the breadsticks and hamburger buns, I used the breadsticks as an accompaniment for spaghetti with one of my favorite homemade pasta sauces. The next day, I used the hamburger buns for teriyaki burgers (recipe to come on Friday).
These were very easy to make. I’ve wanted to make my own hamburger buns for a long time, but felt intimidated by doing so. Silly me.
Perfect Hamburger Buns
Homemade hamburger buns are a wonderful addition to your next barbeque. They are SO much better than store-bought and will make you look like a rockstar.
Servings: 8 buns
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup warm water
- 1 tablespoon instant yeast (I used SAF instant yeast)
- pinch of sugar
- 3/4 cups warm milk (warm in microwave or in pot on stove - just warm, not hot)
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons white granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3-3 1/2 cups white flour
Instructions
- Pour yeast in 1/4 cup warm water with a pinch of sugar. Stir well. Allow yeast to proof until bubbly and active, about 5-10 minutes.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer add the proofed yeast, warm milk, oil, eggs, sugar, salt and 1 1/2 cups of the flour.
- With the paddle attachment, on low speed mix ingredients for five minutes. The batter should be smooth.
- Change to the dough hook and add 1 cup of flour. Mix on low speed until flour is incorporated. Add only enough remaining flour, a little at a time, until a medium soft dough forms. The dough should be tacky, but not sticky.
- Continue to knead the dough in the mixer or by hand on a lightly floured counter-top until smooth and elastic. There will be very small bubbles just under the surface of the dough when it has been kneaded enough.
- Gather dough into a ball. Place in a greased bowl, turn dough over once so that the surface is lightly coated with oil. Cover bowl with a slightly damp kitchen towel and let rest for 30 minutes.
- Punch dough down and work out the large yeasty bubbles. Divide into 8 equal sized pieces. The use of a kitchen scale will help to make the pieces equal in weight, if you care about that sort of thing ;).
- Form each piece of dough into a smooth ball. (See tutorial below for forming the dough into balls.) Flatten the balls out just a little bit by pressing the top lightly with your hand.
- Using a parchment lined or well greased baking sheet, place 8 buns staggered on the baking sheet. They need to be staggered so that there will be enough room between them for rising. Cover with a damp kitchen towel and allow to rise in a warm place for 30 minute.
- Bake at 375 degrees F for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.
- Allow to cool before serving, otherwise the buns will be too soft to handle. Cut in half for serving.
- These buns store very well at room temperature for two days if properly protected. I put mine in plastic bags.
Tutorial for Making Hamburger Buns
Add the yeast to some warm water. Remember to keep the water warm, not hot. Think about the temperature how warm you would want your baby’s milk to be…no, not the temp of breast milk…somewhat warmer than that. 🙂/
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Now add a pinch of sugar. The yeast gets all happy when sugar comes to play.
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Stir well to dissolve the yeast in the water. Set aside to allow the yeast time to activate.
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While the yeast is proofing, add the milk to the mixing bowl. It’s best if the milk is warm, too. I just pop it in the microwave for a few seconds to take the chill off.
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Now add the egg.
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Pour in the oil. Be sure to use a neutral flavored oil.
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More sugar.
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 The salt adds flavor balance and gives life to the rest of the ingredients.
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The yeast is ready to go. It gets so, so happy.
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Add the yeast to the rest of the ingredients in the mixing bowl.
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 Be sure to get all of the foam into the bowl, too.
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 Add 1 1/2 cups of flour to the bowl with the other ingredients.
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 Attach the paddle to the mixer…
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And beat on low speed (speed 2 on a Kitchenaide mixer) about 5 minutes until the dough is very smooth and the gluten is starting to get slightly stretchy./
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You will be able to see the change in the batter. It will appear as though it is a bit gelatinous.
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Remove the paddle and attach the dough hook./
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On low speed, work the flour into the dough./
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Periodically it may be necessary to stop the mixing process and scrape down the edges of the bowl with a spatula./
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Add another 1/2 cup of flour./
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Mix it into the dough. You can see the dough getting thicker and starting to come together./
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Continue to add the flour a little at a time until the dough cleans the side of the bowl. Continue to allow the machine to knead the dough until the dough is smooth and elastic, at least another 5 minutes. If you notice that the dough seems too soft and it is sticky, add a little more flour, but not too much./
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Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured counter top. Knead it for a minute or two, just a few turns and then gather it into a ball./
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Properly kneaded dough will be very smooth, satiny, and easy to handle. Look carefully at this dough. See how smooth it is? It is just right with small, flat bubbles visible just under the surface of the dough./
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Put the dough into a large, lightly oiled bowl. The dough touching the bowl will have picked up some of the oil from the bowl. Turn the dough over once, with the oiled side facing up./
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Place plastic wrap or a damp kitchen towel over the bowl. This helps to keep the dough from drying out. Put the bowl in a warm place and allow the dough to rest for about 30 minutes. Once the dough has rested and has risen a little, punch it down and divide it into eight equal portions./
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Working with one section at a time, begin to form each piece of dough into a smooth ball. I form the dough by gently pulling it into a rounded shape, bringing the edges to the bottom of the dough ball. It takes two hands for this process, but hey, I had to use one hand to take a picture while I held this future hamburger bun with the other hand for a pic!/
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Place the dough ball on the counter top and pinch together the edges./
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This is how the bottom looks after the edges have all been pinched together./
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Press gently on the dough to flatten it somewhat./
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The finished ball of dough will look something like this./
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On a parchment paper lined baking sheet, place the 8 balls of dough. Stagger their placement so that they will have room to expand./
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Cover the dough with a damp kitchen towel. If you choose to use plastic wrap, be sure to oil the side of the plastic wrap that will be touching the dough. You can spray the wrap with a non-stick baking spray. Put the buns-to-be in a warm place to rise until nearly double in bulk. Sometimes I place them in a warm, 170-degree F oven, to rise. Watch them carefully if you use the oven method because they rise FAST!/
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If you wish to add sesame seeds or other toppings, brush the tops of the buns with an egg white mixed together with 2 teaspoons water./
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Sprinkle the buns with sesame seeds. Bake in a 375-degree F oven for 15-20 minutes until the buns have turned a beautiful golden brown./
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Are these beautiful or what! Look at those wonderfully tender, moist insides./
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OMG! These are the best looking hamburger buns ever! Thank you so much for sharing these, Terri!
LOL. Thank you!
You have pretty buns!! (hee hee) Serious, these are sheer perfection!!!
Oh my. Well, thank you. I haven’t heard that for at least 25 years. LOL Oh wait, you meant the HAMBURGER buns. You wouldn’t believe everything that I have just deleted in this reply. Just never get a nurse going on “buns” because things can get very irreverent very fast!
…laughing… You could probably have whole conversations about buns, huh? With all your experience in nursing. It’s an appropriate table topic if you ask me. Especially if eating hamburgers, etc. I’ll never forget my high school history teacher in the lunchroom talking about the “really big buns” we had with chicken sandwiches that day. Cracked us all up!