Soft Burger Buns
Soft Burger Buns are soft and chewy and are best served as a base for your favorite burger, grilled chicken breast, or deli meat and cheese. These buns are sweetened with honey and include some whole wheat flour for a true one-two flavor punch!
Try our Everything Bagel Rolls or Chewy French Bread next!
Soft Hamburger Buns
Question. What’s better than grilled cheeseburgers?
Answer. Grilled cheeseburgers with soft homemade buns!
I take my hamburger bun game VERY seriously, friends. While you CAN buy some pretty tasty ones at the store, there is nothing like homemade with love!
Since these freeze so well, it makes sense to make a double or triple batch and freeze a bunch. Just wrap each one individually in plastic wrap, and place them in a large freezer bag. Take as many out as you need for your meal, thaw out, and either warm them up or grill them (if you’re making something on the grill).
Ingredient Notes
- Yeast – I normally use active dry yeast. I buy mine in large quantities on Amazon and keep it in the freezer. (I’ve been known to gift yeast to friends and family, especially during the 2020 pandemic!)
- Sugar – A little bit of sugar helps activate yeast, so I normally include it in my bread recipes that require yeast.
- Water – Make sure you use warm water, not hot. It should be between 100 -110 degrees F when adding it to your yeast and sugar.
- Milk – We’re adding some milk for added richness.
- Honey – The honey is a great sweetener for these buns!
- Oil – I used olive oil, but other types can be substituted.
- Salt – Some kosher salt is required.
- Flour – I used a combo of whole wheat and bread flour for this recipe.
How to make Soft Burger Buns:
Step 1
Make the dough. In a large mixer, combine the yeast, sugar, and warm water and milk. Use a spatula to stir it up. Let the yeast mixture sit to activate, about 15 minutes. (It should get bubbly and foamy.)
Then add the olive oil, honey, and salt – and stir again. Place the dough hook attachment on the mixer and then the whole wheat flour plus three cups of bread flour. Start mixer and let it run, stopping it intermittently to brush down the sides of the mixer.
Gradually add more flour as needed. You want the dough to still be a little sticky, but it should pull mostly away from the sides of the bowl.
Step 2
Add to bowl. Grease a mixing bowl with oil, and use your hands to transfer the dough from mixer to the bowl. Form it into a nice smooth ball, and then cover with a clean dish towel.
Set the bowl in a warm place in your kitchen and let dough rise until doubled in size, about 30 minutes to an hour. This is the first rise.
Step 3
Form rolls. Use a bench scraper (or a knife or your hands) to divide the dough into equal pieces. I normally get about 10-12 homemade hamburger buns out of this recipe.
Use your hands to form the sections of dough into round balls, bringing everything to the center of the rounds resulting in a smooth top. Place the dough rounds on a greased baking sheet (or use parchment paper) for the second rise.
Step 4
Bake rolls. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Place pan of buns in the preheated oven and bake until browned on both the tops and bottoms. (You will need to bake in two batches.)
Step 5
Brush with butter. When the buns comes out of the oven, use a pastry brush to coat tops of the rolls with butter.
Step 6
Cool. Remove rolls to a wire rack and let fully cool.
Step 7
Store. Store rolls in freezer bags or an airtight container. You can also freeze these for up to three months.
Tips for making Soft Burger Buns:
- When you add the warm liquids to the yeast and sugar – be careful to use WARM liquid (between 100-110 degrees F), not hot. If the water/milk is too hot, the yeast will disappear and you can’t make bread without yeast. Also, do not use cool liquid because it won’t activate the yeast.
- Don’t add all the flour at once because every baking day is different. Some days you will need a bit more flour and some days, you will need less.
- The bread dough shouldn’t be overly sticky when ready. It should bounce back slightly to the touch. Over time, you will learn exactly how much flour is needed to make the ultimate burger buns.
- When done, the bottom of the buns should be slightly brown and crunchy, and the top, a nice golden brown.
- Make sure you brush the top of each bun with butter.
- These soft buns can also be topped with poppy seeds or sesame seeds as another option.
This soft dough also makes delicious dinner rolls and sandwich bread in addition to the best hamburger buns.
What to make with Soft Hamburger Buns
In addition to burgers, these buns work great as a sandwich of any kind – deli meat and cheese, pulled pork, chicken salad, etc.
Kitchen Tools Used: (affiliate links)
xoxo ~Sue
Soft Burger Buns
Ingredients
- 1 Tablespoon yeast – I use Red Star Active Yeast
- 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
- 1 cup warm water (240 grams) – warmed to 100-110 degrees f
- 1/2 cup milk (120 grams) – warmed to 100-110 degrees f
- 3 Tablespoons olive oil (42 grams)
- 2 Tablespoons honey (42 grams)
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1/2 cup whole wheat flour (65 grams)
- 3 ¼ cups bread flour (422 grams) – or a little more, to right of consistency
- butter – for topping
Instructions
- Make the dough. In a large mixer, combine the yeast, sugar, and warm water and milk mixture. Use a spatula to stir it up. Let this sit to activate, about 15 minutes. (It should get bubbly and foamy.)
- Then add the olive oil, honey, and salt – and stir again. Place the dough hook on the mixer and then add the whole wheat flour plus three cups of all-purpose flour. Start mixer and let it run, stopping it intermittently to brush down the sides of the mixer.
- Gradually add more flour as needed. You want the dough to still be slightly sticky, but it should pull mostly away from the sides of the mixer.
- Add to bowl. Grease a mixing bowl with oil, and use your hands to transfer the dough from mixer to the bowl. Form it into a nice smooth ball, and then cover with a clean dish towel. Let rise until doubled in size, about 30 minutes to an hour.
- Form rolls. Use a bench scraper (or a knife or your hands) to divide the dough into sections. I normally get about 10-12 rolls out of this recipe.
- Use your hands to form the sections of dough into round balls, bringing everything to the center of the rounds resulting in a smooth top. Place the dough rounds on a prepared baking sheet (with spray or parchment paper).
- Bake rolls. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Place pan of rolls in the oven and bake until browned on both the tops and bottoms. (You will need to bake in two batches.)
- Brush with butter. When the buns come out of the oven, brush the tops with butter.
- Cool. Remove rolls to cooling racks and let fully cool.
- Store. Store rolls in freezer bags or an airtight container. You can also freeze these for up to three months.
Notes
- When you add the warm water to the yeast and sugar – be careful to use WARM water (between 100-110 degrees F), not hot. If the water is too hot, the yeast will disappear and you can’t make bread without yeast. Also, do not use cool water because it won’t activate the yeast.
- Don’t add all the flour at once because every baking day is different. Some days you will need a bit more flour and some days, you will need less.
- The bread dough shouldn’t be overly sticky when ready. It should bounce back slightly to the touch. Over time, you will learn exactly how much flour is needed to make the ultimate burger buns.
- When done, the bottom of the buns should be slightly brown and crunchy, and the top, a nice golden brown.
- Make sure you brush the top of each bun with butter.
- These soft buns can also be topped with poppy seeds or sesame seeds as another option.
All of your bread recipes are amazing! So much better than store bought! Awesome!
Woohoo! 🙂