Homemade Hamburger Buns

Homemade Hamburger Buns – With a soft and airy crumb, a tender texture and they’re made from scratch with just a few staple ingredients. They’re one hundred times better than store-bought and well worth the extra bit of effort!

Easy Homemade Burger Buns

Beautiful golden brown hamburger buns that have delicious fresh flavor, and they make for the best diner style beef burger out there!

Plus they have so many other uses too, they aren’t just for hamburgers. We love them for chicken salad sandwiches, garlic bread and cheese toast. They’re great for turkey burgers, black bean burgers, pulled pork, or pulled chicken.

Or head in a more creative direction and repurpose leftovers into a French toast casserole, bread pudding, homemade croutons, or try trimming a thin layer off the top and bottom and turn them into a tasty grilled cheese.

This easy to make burger buns recipe is likely to become a family favorite! So good people will want to just slather them in butter and eat them like a jumbo roll!

Burger Bun Recipe Ingredients and Possible Substitutes

• All-purpose flour: Bread flour will work too but buns will be a bit chewier.
• Granulated sugar: Honey will work in place of sugar.
• Instant yeast: Rapid rise yeast works too (rise time will be a bit shorter), or active dry will work too but it needs to be proofed with some of the warm water and a few pinches of sugar first.
• Salt: I use table salt here but kosher salt will work just use 1 3/4 tsp.
• Eggs: Try using flax egg for the dough, then skip the egg wash over the top of the buns and brush with cow’s milk or almond milk instead.
• Unsalted butter: Coconut oil or olive oil will work as well.
• Sesame seeds: These are optional if you want that light added flavor and texture.

How to Make Homemade Hamburger Buns

1. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer whisk together flour, sugar, yeast and salt.
2. Pour in water, add 1 room temp egg and butter. Roughly stir together with a spatula then using the hook attachment knead mixture on medium-low speed until it’s a fairly smooth and elastic dough, about 3 to 5 minutes. If needed add in up to 6 Tbsp additional flour.
3. Transfer dough to an oiled bowl. Cover with greased wrap, and let rest until doubled in volume, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
4. Punch dough down. Divide dough into 10 portions.
5. Pull and tuck corners and edges under a few times and shape into a ball, over a floured surface.
6. Transfer 10 dough balls to a parchment paper lined baking sheet, spacing evenly apart. Using your hand slightly flatten to each dough to a 2 2/3-inch circle.
7. Cover and let rest until at least doubled or nearly tripled in volume, about 45 to 60 minutes.
8. Preheat oven to 375 degrees during last 15 minutes of dough rising.
9. Very carefully brush buns evenly over the top with the egg wash (the egg that’s been whisked with 1 Tbsp water). Be very gentle as to not deflate the buns.
10. If desired sprinkle tops with sesame seeds.
11. Bake in preheated oven until buns are golden brown on top and cooked through, about 13 to 16 minutes.
12. Let cool on a wire rack then slice buns in half when ready to serve.

How to Store

• Store buns in an airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days.
• Store in the fridge for up to 1 week.

Freezing Directions

• To freeze homemade hamburger buns once cool wrap in foil and store in an airtight container.
• Freeze up to 3 months.
• Thaw at room temperature.

Reheating Buns

• If you want a warm hamburger bun then split it in half with a serrated knife, then butter the top side of each.
• Toast in a countertop oven for just a few minutes.
• Or you can also warm the in a non-stick skillet split (buttered side down), or in the oven at 450 degrees on a baking sheet.

Helpful Tips for the Best Burger Buns

• Careful not to over-work the dough. With these buns they are best when tender and not overly chewy so I don’t knead them for too long.
• Allow enough time for dough to rise. You can speed the process up slightly by heating an oven to 200 degrees for a minute or two, turn it off right away then place the dough in there to rise.
• After the first rise punch dough down all over to remove large air bubbles so you don’t end up with air pockets in the buns.
• For more evenly sized buns weigh each portion with a kitchen scale.
• Be gently with the dough once they’ve risen (the second rise) so they don’t deflate. It’s very light, delicate and airy.
• If your oven doesn’t brown as well then consider moving oven rack up one level from center.

Possible Variations

• For wheat hamburger buns use 50% wheat flour with 50% white flour in the recipe. I recommend using white whole wheat flour for a fluffier bun.
• Finish the buns with a little melted butter after removing from the oven for more richness.
• In place of poppy seeds try seasoning instead with everything bagel seasoning, red pepper flakes, or a blend of dried herbs like chives and parsley.
• Near the end of baking add cheddar cheese, parmesan cheese, or Asiago cheese over tops for cheesy buns (move near top rack).
• Make them gourmet style, reduce salt in the recipe slightly then finish the buns with flakey sea salt and cracked black pepper.
• Change the size. You can make them larger for big hearty burgers, or smaller for sliders too.

FAQ

How can you tell when enough flour is added?

• This dough should feel and appear similar to roll dough. It should be slightly sticky for buns but not overly wet, sticky and unmanageable. If it is you need to add a little more flour.
• Note that kneading the dough also makes it less sticky after a few minutes so be careful not to add too much flour or buns will be dense and may end up slightly dry.

Can the hamburger bun dough be made by hand?

Yes the dough can also be mixed by hand in a bowl using a wooden spoon.

Then as you add the flour and it gets heavy start kneading it by hand on the counter top until a more elastic dough is formed.

What about using a bread machine for the dough?

This should also work well to knead in a bread machine on the “dough” cycle.

Can the dough be frozen?

Yes this burger bun dough can be frozen. Freeze after you’ve shaped them into rounds.

Delicious Recipes to Pair with It

• Corn Salad
• German Potato Salad
• French Fries
• Sweet Potato Fries
• Turkey burgers