These homemade Hamburger Buns are made with my leftover sourdough starter! They have a perfect texture, a nice crust and soft, but chewy in the middle!
I have been having fun for a couple months perfecting my sourdough starter techniques and getting photos together! Now that I have perfected a couple of recipes, I will start another batch of starter, so that I can get daily photos for you guys. Keep your eyes open for that in about a month!
For years, I researched how to make sourdough starter. There is a lot of conflicting information, in print and online, so in the end, I would always say to heck with it because it seemed like too much of a time commitment! Now that I am doing this for a living, I decided there were no more excuses not to start a batch of my own starter.
I am here to tell you, everything I have read, makes it more intimidating than it actually is. The starter is quite forgiving! Stay tuned.
These Hamburger Buns are made with unfed starter, or starter discard. See those links for explanations. More from me on that later. I searched for many recipes with measurements for all of the ingredients. Much of the information was very vague, or over complicated the process. Like most yeast doughs, they are very forgiving.
I tried basing my recipe on 4 different recipes, all of which I did not like for one reason, or another. Many of the recipes required huge quantities of extra flour to make them come together into a nice consistency. This could be the way I do the starter, but for my starter formula, this recipe works the best.
How to Make Hamburger Buns
- Warm milk to around 110°F, melt butter in milk, in microwave.
- Crack and whisk 2 eggs into small bowl.
- Measure 2 cups starter.
- Measure flour and salt.
- Mix milk, butter and eggs with starter.
- Add flour mixture.
- Mix with spoon or spatula.
- Knead by hand or in stand mixer (adding more flour, if necessary) for 5-7 minutes until smooth elastic dough forms.
- Cover tightly in oiled bowl. Refrigerate for at least 8 hours or overnight.
- Dough will rise in the refrigerator.
- Allow dough to come to room temperature. Weigh dough. Divide into 10 equal portions.
- Stretch and form dough into rounds, pulling the dough you stretched to the underside of the dough ball.
- Pinch the seams together on bottom of roll.
- Place on parchment lined baking sheet.
- Allow to rise in a warm place until approximately doubled in size.
How to Shape Hamburger Buns
Brush rolls with egg wash. Sprinkle with sesame or poppy seeds, or anything else you like.
Bake at 350°F until golden brown, 12-18 minutes.
Can Hamburger Buns Be Frozen?
Absolutely! I have tried to freeze these buns 2 different ways. I prefer them when I par- bake them. So I bake for about 12 minutes and let them cool thoroughly. Once cooled, package in air tight bag and freeze. To reheat, let rolls thaw. Then bake at 350°F for about 10 minutes.
Alternately, the rolls can be baked through and then wrapped and frozen for a few months.
Other Delicious Bread Recipes on Binky’s Culinary Carnival
- Light Caraway Rye for the Bread Machine
- Brioche, White Bread
- English Muffin
- Chocolate Banana Bread
- Savory Zucchini Cheese Bread
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So that is how easy it is to make your own hamburger buns! Thanks for stopping by to check out the recipe!
Enjoy! And have fun cooking!
Xoxo,
Tools I Use to Make Hamburger Buns at home
Contains affiliate links, for full disclosure, see FTC Disclosure, here.
Hamburger Buns
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup milk
- 3 Tbsp butter
- 2 cups unfed sourdough starter
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 Tbsp sugar
- 3 cups flour plus 1 heaping tablespoon
- 1 egg mixed with water for egg wash just before baking
Instructions
- Measure milk. Add butter and microwave for about 30 seconds to warm milk to 110°F and melt butter.
- Crack eggs. Add starter, eggs, milk and butter to a large mixing bowl. Combine.
- Add salt, sugar and flour to wet ingredients. Mix with spatula until incorporated.
- Knead by hand or with stand mixer with bread hook attachment, adding more flour, if necessary for dough to come together into a ball. Knead about 5-7 minutes. Until dough formed is smooth and elastic.
- Place dough in oil lined bowl. Cover the dough itself with plastic wrap, all around the top. See step 9 above. Refrigerate at least 8 hours, or up to 2 days.
- Remove dough from refrigerator and bring to room temperature. Weigh entire dough ball. Divide that weight by 10 or 12 and weigh out individual portions, so that your rolls are uniform in size.
- Form dough into balls, stretching the dough and pulling excess to the bottom of the roll. Pinch the seams together on the bottom. Place rolls on parchment lined baking tray. Let rise until the rolls are noticeably puffy. About 1 hour. (Times depend on how warm it is. I place my oven on the lowest setting and place near, but not directly under the oven vent on the stove top, turning the tray often.)
- When dough has risen, brush with egg wash. Top with seeds or just leave plain.
- Bake in 350°F oven for 15-20 minutes until rolls are golden brown. Allow to cool on wire rack or eat fresh and warm!
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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Helen
I have found the same problems with yeast dough measurements online. They never seem to come out right. Interested to see how you do the starter. I may just give it a go.
Beth Neels
Thanks Helen! It’s good to know that it is just not me! The starter should be on in late May or Early June! Keep posted!
Jere Cassidy
We eat a lot of sourdough in my family and I have tried making a keeping a starter going but the results were less than great. Your buns look perfect and I bet that awesome. Great tutorial and need to try your techniques.
Beth Neels
I will post the starter soon. It is way easier than people make it! Look for that next month! Thanks Jere!
Lisa Huff
Whoah, these rolls look perfect! Loving all the seeds on top! Saving this one for Memorial Day weekend!
Beth Neels
Haha! I love seeded rolls! They seem to look and taste better, don’t they! Thank you Lisa!
Noelle
These buns were amazing, they had the perfect amount of fluffiness! I loved it
Beth Neels
Yes, the texture is superior to bought rolls at the bakery or grocer! Thanks so much for checking out the recipe, Noelle!
Claudia Lamascolo
I love that you made homemade buns, thats really a lost art, so much more healthier than the ones we buy with tons of preservatives. Nice job!
Beth Neels
Thank you so much, Claudia! It is easier than you think!
Vanitha Bhat
Perfect burger buns! Cannot wait to make these to enjoy with aloo tikkis/spicy Indian potato patties!
Beth Neels
Ohh! I haven’t tried spicy potato patties! I’ll have to check that out!
Bee
I made these for dinner tonight. The whole family loved them. My picky son said “they were the best ever!” Thank you.
Beth Neels
Thank you Bee! We really enjoyed them, as well! I have a picky son too! I feel your pain!
Fiorenza
Exactly as you wrote, I too have always found conflicting information about sourdough, with not very excellent results. I really appreciated your information instead, clear and above all competent. I’m already starting my buns!
Beth Neels
Yes, the information available is, confusing, at best! Thank you for checking out the recipe, Fiorenza!
Claudia Canu
These buns look like the real deal but I bet they are actually healthier than the store bought. Great tutorial with step-by-step photos to make it easier for us to try this recipe. Thank you so much, Beth!
Beth Neels
Thank you Claudia! I am so glad that you enjoyed the recipe!
Julie
I’m so impressed! I love how you have these step by step instructions… perfect for folks who don’t bake! So useful. Plus these buns look SO tasty!
Beth Neels
Thank you Julie! I really appreciate you stopping by and checking out the recipe!
Brian Jones
They look amazing, I don’t bake bread often as I have no self control and need to eat it ALL whilst it is warm 😉 But I really must try these!
Beth Neels
I actually feel your pain! It is difficult NOT to eat them warm! Thank you Brian! I appreciate you stopping by!
Laura
Such a great presentation idea. It makes me want to get out for a picnic somewhere far away from home and enjoy the smell of the burning wood and fire crackling nearby. The texture is very nice indeed.
Beth Neels
Thank you Laura! It is still snowing here, so I think I will wait a bit for a picnic! 🙂
SE
I just made these!
They’re pillowy and delicious.
I made them too big though.
However, how do you prevent them from breaking up?
Thanks for this great recipe!
Beth Neels
Hi SE! I’m glad that you like them! First, did you weigh the dough and you thought they were too big? I think weighing really helps there. Second, what do you mean “breaking up”? I had issues with a few of the first ones I did that said to roll out the dough with a rolling pin, and then roll them into a log and pinch the edges together. They split while they were baking. Did you take a photo of how they broke up? If so, email them to me at [email protected] and I will see if I can figure out what happened. Thanks for stopping by and trying the recipe!
Mary-Kate Zepf
Hi! These look great!
I just have a quick question. Do you have the starter amount in grams? I’ve never made anything with sourdough in cups so I’m a little nervous about it.
Thank-you so much!
Beth Neels
Thanks Mary-Kate! Sure, if you look at the top section of the recipe card, in the post, there are blue highlighted options. US-customary and metric. Just click on the metric and it will convert for you automatically! In this case, it is 500 gr.
Thanks for checking out the recipe! Let me know how they turn out!