Homemade Hamburger Buns – Easy and Worth It!

Can you believe that the 4^th of July is only 11 days away!?!? How in the world did that happen and what exactly happened to the month of June? I swear it seems as though I blinked and half of 2016 was gone. It amazes me how the days can move along so slowly and yet the months and years seem to fly by.

It is also that weird time of the year in which school is out for the summer and I only see my son in passing, between summer football practice and him working full-time while school is out it’s as if I only see him in passing. Some days I find myself thinking about how he will be off to college in two short years and I will see much less of him than I do right now. There is certainly a bitter sweet feeling in my soul about that in which I will save for another day.

Monday I shared a recipe for Black Bean Burgers and just in case you missed it, then HERE it is. They were some delicious burgers.

But these homemade hamburger buns though…

I decided that since I have become more comfortable with active yeast and making homemade bread items at home that it was time for me to push myself a little further and try my hand at making homemade hamburger buns.

And Yes! This recipe is time consuming, but when working with yeast I already knew it would be a test of will and patience. But this hamburger bun recipe is very easy and uses few ingredients that with the exception of the yeast, you probably already have in your kitchen. The prep time for this recipe is about 3.5 hours…Yes I know your head probably just exploded…but wait…the actual work time is about 30 minutes and the rest of that time is spent allowing the dough to proof and rise. I would do a little work and leave the kitchen and then come back later, so the actual amount of time that I did spend in the kitchen was very minimal. The next time that I make these I will probably shorten the rise time and see if the outcome is still the same. We’ll see.

Once these were removed from the oven I was very impressed with how they turned out. My son, Michael said that they were aiiight but then I later saw him eating a hamburger bun by itself with no burger and these lasted in my house for only a day. I would say that means they were a little better than aiiight.

The time spent on these was totally worth it and I will definitely be making homemade hamburger buns again.

Homemade Hamburger Buns Ingredients: 

• 1 packet active dry yeast
• 3.5 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup warm water
• 1 large egg
• 3 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 3 Tablespoons sugar
• 1-1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon olive oil

Instructions: 

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Place the yeast packet into large mixing bowl and whisk in 1/2 cup flour with the warm water until the mixture is smooth. Set aside and allow the yeast to proof for 15 minutes. The mixture will have proofed successfully once you notice that it is foamy. Whisk in the same bowl the egg, melted butter, sugar, and salt until combined and then add in the 3 cups of flour and begin to knead by turning around in the bowl until the dough comes together to form a ball with nothing sticking to the side of the bowl. Remove the dough ball from the bowl and onto a floured surface and knead by hand for about 6 to 8 minutes until the dough is sticky and elastic but does not stick to your fingers and come off. Form the dough into a ball and place it into a large mixing bowl lightly oiled with olive oil. Cover bowl with aluminum foil. Let dough rise in a warm place until it has doubled in size; about 2 hours.

Transfer dough to a floured work surface and pat to flatten bubbles and form into a slightly rounded rectangle of dough about 5×10 inches and about 1/2 inch thick. Dust dough lightly with flour if needed. Cut dough into 8 equal pieces. Form each piece into a round bun shape.

Use your hands to gently pat and stretch the dough rounds into flat disc shapes about 1/2 an inch thick. Arrange buns about ½ an inch apart on prepared baking sheet. Dust buns very lightly with flour. Drape a piece of plastic wrap over the baking sheet (do not seal tightly). Let buns rise until doubled, about 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Bake the buns until lightly browned on top, 15 to 17 minutes. Buns will stick together slightly where they touch. Let cool completely, tear the buns apart, and slice in half crosswise to serve.

Enjoy!

*Recipe adapted from All Recipes