Burger buns

Once you taste these home-made burger buns, you will never want to go back to something that comes from the plastic bag. Actual work is 15 mins, but the rising time is around 6 and half hours. You can fill these burger buns with any meat, but you can also use them simply for making sandwiches. Buns will stay really soft and fluffy for two days. Just keep them in airtight container or a in the plastic bag.

Traditional burger buns are sprinkled with sesame seeds, but you can let your imagination go wild and you can also use poppy seeds, sunflower seeds, or any kind of seeds you fancy. 

These buns freeze beautifully, so make couple of batches, load up the freezer and you will be always ready for BBQ. You might get a feeling that making burger buns is lots of work and it takes forever, but it’s not like that. It’s really worth to try.

Ingredients

480g bread flour

290 ml milk – room temperature + 1 tablespoon for egg wash

40g caster sugar

70g soft butter

8g fresh yeast or 4g dry yeast

8g salt

1 egg yolk – for egg wash

1 tablespoon sesame seeds or your favourite seeds

Directions 

1. In a small bowl combine yeast, 1 tablespoon of sugar and 30 ml of milk. Mix gently and set aside for 5 minutes. 

2. In a large bowl mix together flour, rest of the sugar, 8g salt and the rest of a milk and yeast mixture. 

3. Here you have two options      

Option 1: Use electric stand mixer with dough hook to combine all ingredients together. Beat on low speed for 3-4 minutes. The dough should form nice compact ball. Sides of the bowl should be clean as seen on the picture.

Option 2: Combine all ingredients together. Knead by hand for 5 to 6 minutes.

4.  Add melted butter and knead until butter is incorporated.

5.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and put into the fridge for 4 hours to let the dough rise. 

6. Transfer the dough to a floured kitchen counter. Dust dough lightly with flour if needed.

7. Cut the dough into 8 equal pieces.  Each piece should have 110g. We would strongly recommend to check the weight on a scale (like we did) so pieces are equally big.

8.  Use your hands to gently pat and stretch the dough. Form each piece into a round shape, gently tucking ends underneath.

Transfer buns on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Cover the buns with kitchen towel. Let rise for one and half hours.

Preheat oven to 220 degrees.

9. Prepare egg wash - beat 1 egg yolk with milk in a small bowl, using a fork, until mixture is thoroughly combined. Very gently and lightly brush tops of buns with egg wash without deflating the risen dough.

10. Sprinkle each bun with sesame seeds.

Bake for 10 mins.

Let the buns cool completely.