Hamburger Buns

By Becky Jo

These buns are pillow soft but with just enough chewiness to make them interesting. They taste yeasty and just slightly sweet. They'll hold your burgers, your pulled pork, and your sandwiches without blinking twice or falling apart on you. (And P.S. leftover buns make a mighty fine breakfast with a little butter and jelly.)

Hamburger buns are also remarkably simple to make at home. There's no mystery or magic to them. They are, after all, basically oversized dinner rolls. You likely have most or all the ingredients in your pantry right now, and can make a batch of fresh buns in about two hours.

Take a peek at the notes when you get to the end of the recipe, too. I have some suggestions for making Whole Wheat Burger Buns, for doubling the recipe, and for freezing buns for later.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon active-dry yeast
• 1/2 cup (4 oz) warm water
• 1/2 cup (4 oz) milk (whole, 2%, or skim)
• 1 large egg
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups (15 oz) all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon butter

Details

Servings 8
Adapted from thekitchn.com

Preparation

Step 1

Makes 8 buns

In the bowl of a standing mixer (or a large bowl, if mixing by hand), stir the yeast into the warm water and let it sit until dissolved.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the milk, egg, oil, sugar, and salt. Add this to the yeast mixture and stir until combined. Add all the flour and stir until it forms a shaggy dough. Knead at low speed, or

Return the dough to the mixing bowl and cover. Let the dough rise in a warm spot until doubled in bulk, about an hour.

Pre-heat the oven to 375°F.

Additional Notes:

For Whole Wheat Buns

- Substitute 1/2-1 cup of the all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour and prepare the recipe as usual. The texture of the buns will be a bit more dense, but still very delicious and burger-worthy.

- Double all of the ingredients except for the yeast. To make even more buns, it's best to prepare separate batches as the dough becomes too cumbersome to work with easily.

Homemade buns or like-homemade from a good bakery do elevate a burger. I don't make them but the ones I get locally at Thee's Bakery in the Original Farmer's Market (Los Angeles) are superb.

Buns are not just for burgers....A good bun makes a decent sandwich amazing.. just saying.. give up those hard rolls and try a well made Bun!

I've made about 2 dozen hamburger/hotdog buns in the past month but none of them seem to come out quite right. More dense than fluffy anyways.

And here is how to prepare your delicious bun: butter both sides. Place the bottom of the bun on a medium hot griddle and then turn the top of the bun upside down and place it over the bottom of the bun. The heat from the toasting bottom bun will soften the top. When the bottom is browned to your satisfaction, turn it all over so that the top of the bun is now on the griddle (or fry pan) and the bottom will stay warm on the top.

I have made hamburger buns in my bread maching using the dough cycle and organic active dry yeast. They turned out great. I like to add a 1/4 cup of bran to make them more healthy. Homemade is so much better that that grocery store junk!!

This is a great recipe. I'll sub honey for the sugar, and swap out some of the flour for whole wheat.

Resist the urge to add more flour as it's kneading in the mixer. My dough seemed a tad wet, but I left it to knead for the full 10 minutes, and it came out perfectly. Thanks for this wonderful recipe. Good buns aren't always easy to come by.