These homemade feather-light Hamburger Buns are as soft as the grocery store buns! No more dense hamburger buns! They are amazingly soft, airy and even get those classic wrinkled signature marks!
Need some bright ideas to bring these Homemade Hamburger Buns into use? Try our Chicken Salad Sandwiches or tuna melts! We love breakfast egg sandwiches on these soft rolls too!
Feather-light Hamburger Buns
These soft Buns, actually happened to be, after trying to replicate the dinner rolls from a local bakery, called the Bread and Basket! If you’re not aware they sell huge dinner rolls the size of hamburger buns and make some of their signature sandwiches on them. After some experimenting and successful results the Homemade Hamburger Buns was the name they got! They are compatible to the grocery-store buns and at the same time are the deli copycat! They are the softest rolls or buns that I’ve ever made! You don’t need any fancy equipment or specific Hamburger Bun pans, it’s all made from scratch by hand!
How to make Easy Hamburger Buns:
Hamburger Buns Recipe
Ingredients
Dough:
- 2 cups warm water
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 Tbsp salt
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup shortening
- 6 1/4 cup flour
Instructions
How to Make Hamburger Buns:
- In a large mixing bowl, dissolve the yeast in warm water. Whisk in the sugar, salt, eggs, and shortening. Stir in the flour and knead 7 minutes. Let rise 30 minutes or until doubled.
- Cut dough in half and then cut each half into 16 equal pieces. Roll all 32 pieces into balls and place onto a cookie sheet about 2-inches apart (9 rolls fit into a large 18x13 cookie sheet.)
- Let buns rise in the cookie sheet until tripled in size or the size of a hamburger bun.
- Bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes on the lower rack of the oven.
Notes
- Occident flour or Bread flour is best for Hamburger Buns. If using an all-purpose flour whack the dough multiple times during the kneading time to bring out the gluten naturally.
- Baking Bread Tip: Baking bread on the lower half of the oven, creates even browning.
- To Freeze: Hamburger buns freeze well unbaked. After rolling the buns into balls (step 4) allow rising for 15 minutes then flash freeze. Place uncooked buns into a freezer bag and keep frozen for up to 2 months. After the recommended time the yeast can lose its rising power.
- To Bake from Frozen: Proof in the oven at 170°F for 10 minutes then turn off and repeat when needed until tripled in size or thaw overnight at room temperature and bake as instructed once tripled in size.
- For the Deli Rolls- To get the deli buns like Bread and Baskets, bake for about 10 minutes or just until starting to brown. For classic hamburger buns bake a little longer until nicely brown (2 more minutes.)
Nutrition per serving
Q&A
What flour is best for making Hamburger Buns?
A high gluten-flour like Bread flour or Occident flour is best for baked bread, like hamburger buns. Gluten gives incredible stretch and elasticity to a dough like no other. Many commercial breads are enriched which is translated “bread flour.” However, there are ways to enrich the dough at home!
Can I make with all-purpose flour?
Yes! All-purpose flour can be used for baked breads. However, since all-purpose flour lacks gluten, a way to enrich it is with vital gluten. Another way to bring out the gluten, but naturally is to whack the dough hard during the kneading process, this technique brings out the gluten naturally without the enhancers.
How can I add gluten to flour naturally?
A natural way to bring out the gluten in flour, is to whack the dough during the kneading process. When kneading slam dough or throw onto the kneading surface with force to bring out the gluten, this technique brings out the gluten naturally without any enhancers.
Do Hamburger Buns Freeze well?
Yes! Proven and tried! I’ve froze these unbaked buns multiple of times, however there are some things to keep in mind. The longer kept in the freezer the more the quality of the buns go down. They may not rise as much after extended amounts of freezer time and can get freezer burned. I think a one month period is good and a two-month freezing period can be pushing it, unless you have a deep freezer and properly sealing equipment.
How do I proof bread from frozen?
There are two ways to proof frozen bread.
Overnight at Room Temperature- Simply leave the frozen bread on the pans they would bake in overnight at room temperature.
Oven at 170°F- Place frozen bread on a cookie sheet and leave in a 170°F oven for 5-10 minutes. Turn off and keep repeating every time the temperature drops until the bread has tripled in size. Then leave in the oven and bake at the desired temperature.
Should I brush Hamburger Buns with eggs or wash?
No, Hamburger buns are unlike Brioche Buns that are typically deeper in color and have a shiny glean to them. A quick bread tip: Bread will brown nicely on the bottom rack of an oven, somehow the heat circulates in a way with both the bottoms and tops bake evenly.
How do you make light and airy Hamburger Buns?
Yeast will give airy hamburger buns, however, in order for that to come into effect you need a generous amount. If you’ve noticed my recipe calls for 4 Tablespoons, that is correct. In fact, that’s the number #1 reason why these turned out so fluffy!
Tips:
- Freeze any unbaked rolls and poof and bake later!
- Use margarine, butter or oil for the shortening.
- Bake until just getting golden (at a 10 minute mark) for super soft rolls!
- Use these buns for burgers, sandwiches or egg sandwiches!
