I have been searching for a good dough recipe for hamburger buns for quite a while. I really don’t like buying store bought bread of any sort, but making the perfect hamburger bun has eluded me for quite some time. My son, Matthew, is the connoisseur of hamburger buns. If the bun falls apart while he is eating it is a world calamity. If the bun isn’t big enough for the burger that is another issue. It has to be sturdy enough to hold all of the condiments but not too thick. So you can see finding the perfect hamburger bun is a huge challenge at my house, let alone making one from scratch.
This recipe is an amalgamation of a few recipes and it seems to be the perfect solution to the hamburger bun dilemma. It makes quite a few buns so if you are feeding a crowd like I was, it could be the perfect solution. Instead of beef burgers we did boneless chicken thighs with a dry BBQ rub on the charcoal grill and they were delicious!
So if you prefer to make your bread and buns from scratch instead of paying a fortune at the store for 8 buns, this is the perfect recipe to add to your repertoire. You can make the dough in the morning and leave it to rise all day and then bake the buns when you are ready. I would suggest having them out of the oven at least an hour before you want to add the burgers or chicken as they will be too difficult to slice if too fresh from the oven.
- ⅓ cup white sugar
- 3 cups warm water
- 3 tsp dry yeast
- 2 large eggs, room temp
- ⅓ cup canola oil
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 8-9 cups all purpose flour, approx
- 1 egg white
- 1 tbsp water
- ¼ cup sesame seeds
- To the bowl of the stand mixer add the sugar, water and yeast and whisk to combine. Let stand 8-10 minutes until frothy.
- Add eggs and oil and whisk again.
- Add 8 cups of flour and the salt. Mix on low with dough hook until the dough comes together. Then mix on speed 2 until dough is smooth and has pulled away from the side of the bowl about 5-7 minutes. Add up to another cup of flour if too lax. It should be soft and not too sticky.
- Put about 1 tbsp of canola oil in the bottom of a large bowl and place dough in it. Turn a few time until well coated. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and a towel.
- Let rise in a warm spot for about 1½ hours or until doubled in size.
- Flour your counter and turn dough out. Flatten dough out into a rectangle with your hands. Using a pizza cutter cut into 32 pieces.
- Take each piece and shape into to a 3 x 3 inch square. Place on well greased cookie sheet about ½ inch apart.
- Cover each sheet loosely with plastic wrap and let rise about 1 hour.
- Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375 ℉.
- Whisk egg white and 1 tbsp water.
- Remove plastic wrap and brush the top of each bun with egg wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
- Bake about 20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove buns immediately to wire rack to cool.