Happy Friday! It's the beginning of Memorial Day weekend and that means, at least in these parts, that it's time to pack up and go camping for the weekend. Grilling, campfires, beach time, fishing, picnics, and all that fun stuff that camping entails. I'm sure that more than a few of you will be enjoying a burger or two in the coming days, which is exactly why I decided it was time to work on making some homemade hamburger buns, and let me tell you...They are SO much better than store bought!
I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm a hamburger bun diva. My family has been raised on fresh baked buns from a little Dutch bakery in town, and they're in a category all their own. Store-bought hamburger buns are an entirely different species. (Have you counted the ingredients listed on the back of a package of store-bought buns lately? I quit counting at like 36...one of which was high fructose corn syrup.) Time for a homemade version. Stat.
Aren't they pretty? As soon as I took my second batch of buns out of the oven, I asked myself why on earth it took me so long to get round to making my own hamburger buns? I don't really know. Maybe it's because we very rarely make burgers at home. That's going to change though, now that we've got these! We eat a minuscule amount of ground beef around here since I'm not much of a fan. However, if made correctly, I quite enjoy a good burger. (Confession: I love Five Guys.) My burger philosophy is simple: Good, fresh ingredients. Generously season the beef with salt and pepper. Grilled properly, not too dark and dry, topped with a nice slice of Cheddar, a tomato slice, crunchy lettuce, and mayo made with olive oil (no ketchup or mustard---GASP! Ketchup is for fries and mustard is for pretzels.) All of that on a lightly buttered and toasted bun. A good bun. A really good bun. These homemade hamburger buns with sesame seeds, to be specific.
Homemade Hamburger Buns
- Total Time: 4 hours
- Yield: 12 Hamburger Buns 1x
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons warm water
- 2 ¼ teaspoons (1 envelope) active dry yeast
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 ½ cups whole milk, at room temperature
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 2 ¼ cups bread flour
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- cooking spray (for oiling bowl)
- Egg wash (1 additional egg + 1 teaspoon water)
- Sesame seeds
Instructions
- In a large bowl, add the warm water and yeast. Let sit 5-8 minutes, or until foamy.
- Whisk in butter and honey. Add milk and egg. Whisk until combined.
- In a medium bowl, sift/whisk together the bread flour, all-purpose flour, and salt.
- Add flour mixture to the milk mixture and fold together with a fork until a dough forms.
- Turn dough out onto a floured surface shape into a ball. Knead 6-8 minutes, adding only as much flour as necessary to prevent sticking. (You want the dough to be somewhat sticky.)
- Lightly coat the inside of a large clean bowl with cooking spray. Add dough to bowl and cover with a piece of plastic wrap sprayed with cooking spray. Lay a tea towel over the top of the plastic wrap. (Optional step, but I always like to cover my dough with plastic and a tea towel. It seems to help the dough rise better, especially in drafty/cool places.)
- Let rise 1 ½-2 hours, or until doubled in size.
- Turn out risen dough onto a floured surface and divide into 12 equal portions. (You can just eyeball it, or if you're feeling really precise: Weigh the ball of dough and divide it by 12. This is the weight each individual portion of dough should weigh, then just weigh and portion your dough to match the desired weight.)
- Roll each portion of dough into a tight ball and place on two parchment or Silpat lined baking sheets. Cover again with sprayed plastic wrap followed by tea towels. Let rise again 1 hour, or until doubled in size.
- Preheat oven to 410 degrees F. Make the egg wash by beating together the additional egg and water.
- Brush tops of dough with the egg wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
- Bake 15-20 minutes until golden brown and sound hollow when tapped.
- Cool on baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely before slicing or storing.
Notes
For best results: Store cooled, unsliced buns in an airtight container or bag. Enjoy within 3-5 days, although they're best the day they were made.
Bonnie Eng
These are gorgeous! They look absolutely perfect!! :)
Nathan
What do you do with the second batch when the first one is in the oven. Do you freeze it ?
Mandy
I usually just set the second batch in a place that is away from the heat of the oven so that they don't over-rise. You could definitely put them in the refrigerator while the first batch bakes, but I wouldn't recommend the freezer. Thanks for reading!