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Very soft and tasty homemade hamburger buns. As soft as those store-bought ones, but way tastier.

I've been looking for a perfect recipe for very soft homemade hamburger buns for a while without much success. My brioche buns are excellent, but not quite what I wanted. They are very tasty but don't have the same texture and softness as the .... well... good store-bought hamburger buns. This may sound very amusing when someone who enjoys artisan food is looking to replicate lowly store-bought buns. What can say, I love them. We all do. They may not be the best buns there are but they taste damn good.

To make a long story short, I found it. I found a recipe for the best homemade hamburger buns there are. Better than the store-bought. They are incredibly tasty and very soft. Once you try them, you'll forget about the store-bought ones. I've made this recipe a few times and every time the buns came out fantastic. If you are looking for a great soft homemade hamburger bun recipe - look no further. This one is it!

This recipe is a scaled-down and slightly modified version of Jeffrey Hamelman's soft butter rolls features in his fantastic Bread book. I scaled the recipe to make exactly 12 large burger buns. I roll the dough balls into 4" disks before proofing. This results in big, beautiful buns. If you want to make half a batch, or six buns, just cut the ingredients in half, except the eggs. For half-recipe, use one whole egg.

They take a few hours from start to finish but hands-on time is minimal. Enjoy!

Homemade Hamburger Buns

5 from 2 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Bread

Cuisine: American

Keyword: burger buns, hamburger buns, homemade burger buns

Prep Time: 20

Cook Time: 20

Rising and proofing: 2 30

Servings: buns

Calories: 303kcal

Author: Victor

Ingredients

750 g bread flour about 5 cups using 'scoop and sweep' method
345 ml water about 1 1/2 cups plus 2 Tbsp; warm, about 85F
1 1/2 eggs 1 whole egg and one egg white
60 g butter softened; about 4 1/4 Tbsp
45 g cane sugar about 2 Tbsp
37.5 g dry milk about 1/3 cup, heaping
15 g kosher salt about 1 Tbsp, level
12 g instant yeast about 1 Tbsp, heaping; also known as Quick Rise or Rapid Rise yeast

Garnish

Butter
Milk or cream
Grate parmesan cheese

Instructions

Add all the dough ingredients to a bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a dough hook. Mix on low speed (KitchenAid speed 2) for 5-6 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic. Shape the dough into a ball and place back in the bowl, seam side down. Let it rise in a warm place (cold oven with the light on) until the dough doubles in volume, about 1 - 1.5 hours.
Transfer the dough to a large work surface. You don't need to dust it with flour, but you can if the dough sticks too much. Divide into 12 equal pieces and shape into balls. Cover with plastic and let relax for 5 minutes. Using a rolling pin, roll each ball into a 4" disk. Place the disks on a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Cover and let proof for about an hour or until the dough is soft to touch. This may take less or more time depending on ambient temperature.
Place the dough disks on a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Cover and let proof for about an hour or until the dough is soft to touch. This may take less or more time depending on ambient temperature.
Once the dough is fully proofed, brush with milk or cream and sprinkle with grated parmesan cheese. Bake at 400F for 20 minutes. The tops should be golden and the buns very soft when pressed on.
If not using parmesan cheese, you may want to lightly brush tops with melted butter, this will keep the buns moist and soft for longer. The butter also adds flavor.