Sourdough hamburger buns – home-grown happiness

These sourdough hamburger buns are soft and fluffy with a shiny golden exterior.

This Sourdough Hamburger Bun recipe makes soft hamburger buns that are naturally leavened and easy to hand make!

yield

This sourdough hamburger bun recipe makes 9 buns. If you’re looking for more of a slider style bun or hot dog buns, you can use this recipe for those as well or give them a try soft sourdough buns.

See more Sourdough Recipes here.

The ingredients

This is a slightly enriched batter with the addition of milk and butter for some fat. For this sourdough bread you will need

• On active sourdough starter.
• All-purpose flour with a protein content of at least 11%. You can also use bread flour for a chewy bun.
• milk
• water
• butter
• granulated sugar
• Salt
• Egg + sesame for the breading at the end.

The flour

This recipe uses all-purpose flour, one with at least 11% protein. The protein content in all-purpose flour varies by brand, as does the name of the flour.

It’s best to just check the protein content and not the name of the flour.

For a tougher bun, a bread flour with around 12% protein could also be used.

The Beginner

You need an active sourdough starter at 100% humidity for these fluffy sourdough buns.

I don’t have many same-day bread recipes, but I love making these sourdough hamburger buns in a day (minus the appetizer.) There’s still plenty of sourdough flavor in the buns and more flavor than if they were made with instant yeast.

To do this, the starter is fed the evening before. Overnight the appetizer will at least double and probably triple in size.

In this case it is fed in a ratio of 1:3:3 or 1:4:4 as it rises overnight. That means 1 part starter, 3 parts flour and 3 parts water by weight. For example, 1:3:3 can be 20 grams of starter, 60 grams of flour and 60 grams of water. In a separate bowl, mix together the sourdough starter, flour, and water until well combined. Then pour into a clean glass to rise.

If your kitchen is a reasonably warm place overnight, feed them at a 1:4:4 ratio to keep the starter from rising too quickly and the wild yeast from running out of nutrition.

Any leftover sourdough scraps can be re-fed and refrigerated for use another time.

Baker’s schedule

• At evening – Feed the starter
• 9 am – Mix the batter
• 09:20 – 12:30 – Ferment the mass in a warm place and stretch and fold 3 sets
• 12:30 pm– Form the burger buns
• 12:45 – 15:45 – Get up in a warm place
• 3:45 pm– Bake burger buns.

The dough can also be refrigerated for up to 24 hours after the initial fermentation. When ready, take it out of the fridge and form the buns.

Let them rise in a warm place for about 4-6 hours.

Step by step instructions

The night before, feed your starts

The next day, combine the flour, sugar, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add the water, milk and sourdough starter and mix to form a shaggy dough. You can use a wet hand, a fork, or a wooden spoon for this.

Tip this dough out onto a workbench and use a slap and fold kneading method to bring the dough together. It will be sticky, but kneading it will make it stronger. Knead for 5 minutes.

There is a demonstration of the slap and fold method in my Sourdough pizza dough Post Office. Alternatively, all of these steps can be performed in the bowl of a stand mixer on medium speed fitted with a dough hook.

Add the diced butter, a few small cubes at a time, and knead in. The butter will make it sticky, but the dough will already have some firmness from previous kneading.

Beat and fold another 6-8 minutes. The dough won’t be smooth yet, but should feel much firmer.

First climb

Place the dough in a lightly greased large bowl and let rest in a warm place (ideally around 25°C/77°F) for 3-4 hours, covered with a damp towel. During this fermentation time, perform 3-4 sets of stretching and folding, one every hour.

At this point, if you take a piece of dough and stretch it out, it should become thin and almost translucent. This is called the window pane test and shows the gluten development in the dough.

Use a wet hand when performing the stretches so the dough doesn’t stick to you. You can create a warm and humid spot by placing the dough in a turned-off oven next to a large cup of boiling water. Replace the water as needed when it cools.

In the end, the dough should feel lighter and more airy. At warm room temperature, 3 hours may be enough, but extend fermentation when it’s cooler.

After this time, the dough can be left in the fridge overnight (covered so it doesn’t dry out) before shaping, or you can shape the sourdough burger buns straight away.

Formation and Second Rise

Pull the dough out of the bowl onto a lightly floured work surface. Shape into a ball of dough and weigh on a scale. Divide the total weight of your dough by 9. This is how much dough is needed for each bun.

Cut the dough into 9 equal pieces, taking some from one piece to give to another, until they are all the same size.

Shape each piece into a tight ball by bringing all of the edges of each piece of dough into the center, then flip it over so the seam side is down. Use your palms to shape the ball and twist it round and round on the bench, creating some surface tension and a smooth ball. The dough will be a little sticky, so use the floured surface and any extra flour you need to make sure the dough balls don’t stick to you.

You can flatten each ball slightly with the palm of your hand to create a wider bun.

Place the shaped buns on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Let the rolls rise in a warm place (ideally around 25°C) for 3-4 hours until they have almost doubled in size. You can create a warm and humid spot by placing the bowl next to a large mug of boiling water in a turned-off oven.

Bake

In a small mixing bowl, lightly beat 1 large egg with 1 tablespoon of water. Brush the egg yolk over the sourdough buns. Sprinkle sesame or poppy seeds on each bun.

Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown.

These homemade burger buns are crispy when they come out of the oven but soften as they cool.

storage

Leftover burger buns can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Alternatively, you can freeze them for up to 3 months.

Full Recipe

Sourdough Burger Buns

Yield:
9

Preparation time:
30 minutes

Cooking time:
25 minutes

Extra time:
8 hours

Total time:
8 hours 55 minutes

These sourdough burger buns are soft and fluffy with a shiny golden exterior.

ingredients

Starter*

• 20g appetizer

• 60 g all-purpose flour

• 60 grams of water

Dough for burger buns

• 450 g all-purpose flour with a protein content of at least 11%

• 20 grams of granulated sugar

• 8 grams of salt

• 150 grams of water

• 140 g whole milk

• All sourdough starters

• 50 g unsalted butter, room temperature

wash egg

• 1 large egg

• 1 tablespoon of water

• Sesame seeds

instructions

The night before

1. In a bowl, mix all the starter ingredients until well combined. Pour the mixture into a clean loose-lid jar and allow to double overnight.

The next day

1. Mix flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl.
2. Add the water, milk and sourdough starter and mix to form a shaggy dough. Tip this dough out onto a workbench and use a slap and fold kneading method to bring the dough together. Knead for 5 minutes.
3. Add the diced butter, a few cubes at a time, and knead it in. The butter will make it sticky, but the dough will already have some firmness from previous kneading.
4. Continue beating and folding for another 5 minutes. The dough won’t be smooth yet, but should feel much firmer.
5. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl and leave to rise in a warm place (ideally around 25°C/77°F) for 3-4 hours. During this fermentation time, perform 3-4 sets of stretching and folding, one every hour. You can create a warm and humid spot by placing the dough in a turned-off oven next to a large cup of boiling water. Replace the water as needed when it cools.
6. The dough should feel lighter and fluffier and have risen by about 50%. In a warm place, 3 hours may be enough, but extend the fermentation when it’s cooler.
7. After this time, the dough can be left in the fridge overnight (covered so it doesn’t dry out) before shaping, or you can shape the sourdough burger buns straight away.

layout

1. Pull the dough out of the bowl onto a lightly floured work surface. Shape into a ball of dough and weigh on a scale. Divide the total weight of your dough by 9. This is how much dough is needed for each bun.
2. Cut the dough into 9 pieces, taking some from one piece to give to another, until they are all the same size.
3. Shape each piece into a tight ball by bringing all of the edges of each piece of dough into the center, then flip it over so the seam side is down. Grasp the ball in your palms and spin it round and round on the bench, creating some surface tension. Dust your hands with flour to keep the dough from sticking to you.
4. Use your palm to flatten the dough ball a bit. This will help make a wider bun.
5. Place each ball on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Leave them in a warm place for 3-4 hours (ideally around 25°C/77°F) until almost doubled in size. You can create a warm and humid spot by placing the bowl next to a large mug of boiling water in a turned-off oven.

Bake

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/392°F regular or 180°C/356°F fan oven.
2. Lightly beat a large egg with a tablespoon of water. Spread it over the sourdough buns. Sprinkle them with sesame seeds.
3. Bake for 18-20 minutes until buns are deep golden brown.
4. The buns are crispy when they come out of the oven but will soften as they cool.
5. Leftover burger buns can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Alternatively, you can freeze them for up to 3 months.

Remarks

*If your kitchen is reasonably warm overnight (anything above 15°C/59°F), feed at a 1:4:4 ratio to keep the starter from rising too quickly. For example 15 g starter, 60 g flour, 60 g water

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Nutritional Information:

Yield: 9
Serving size: 1

Amount per serving:
Calories: 327total fat: 10gSaturated Fatty Acids: 5gTrans fats: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 41mgSodium: 418mgCarbohydrates: 50gFiber: 2gSugar: 3gProtein: 8g