Hamburger Buns: Tips & Techniques

[CaliPoutine]

Check out the Baking Circle thread over at King Arthur Flour.

There is a member there with a bun recipe, known as Moomie.

Moomie's Buns enjoy a cult status at King Arthur.  You can get them from the member's recipe's section.

I, myself, have not made them, but personally, I would highly recommend trying them.

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This is the bun I usually make and I use white whole wheat flour. We love them.

[loladrian]

The potato bun results:

so sticky again after rising, the only way I could put them into balls was to add even more flour and flour my hands after every bun. I didn't give up hope though. After the second rise, I baked them and the results were good. Not perfect, but my best shot yet. The outside was too tough and crunchy, like a hard outer shell (due to all of the flour on the outside I assume) and I sprayed them with water before baking like suggested in the rosemary roll. The inside was great. Fluffy, moist and the texture I am looking for. I would like a hint more flavor though. I would like a little butter-y flavor like the ones Baggy made (any recipe??). And perhaps an egg wash before hand to keep them from looking dull. So this wasn't the golden ticket, but much closer than I have been yet. I think it was a combination of my amateur bread-making status and the differences in flour. Next to try: a bun with added butter and a hint of sugar.

Whew.

Baggy, you put me to shame! Two recipes in one day! I am so envious of you... I wish I had that patience and talent.

[Baggy]

I hadn’t joined King Arthur’s Baking Circle, but did because of the earlier posting recommending Moomie’s recipe – painless! Search for Moomie's Beautiful Burger Buns; it’s fairly close to the Hamelman recipe for Soft Butter Rolls that I used from his book.

For the French style buns (plus conversion to US cups):

T55 bread flour (or substitute all-purpose flour) 250g (2c)

Sugar 5g (1¼ tsp)

Salt 6g (1 tsp)

Butter 12.5g (not quite 1 tbs)

Milk powder 2.5g (1 tsp)

Instant yeast 5.86g (generous 1¾ tsp)

Water 175g (½ c plus 4 tbs)

If using milk rather than powder, use one third milk two thirds water.

It’s a rather wet dough, but agreeably soft to manipulate. Next time I try it, I’ll probably pull back on the water a little.

Mix the dough to be elastic (I mix everything in a breadmaker rather than by hand). The recipe is a no-time dough but, as I used instant yeast, I rested the dough for 15 minutes before dividing and making up the buns. I made x6 buns which are on the smaller side (about 60g after baking). For a larger bun you might choose make up just x4 buns for this flour quantity.

With the temperature at around 25C, the buns were proofed in 45 minutes. Bake for 19 minutes at 190C (375F) and, for a soft crust and extra flavour, brush with melted butter after baking.

If you do a recipe search on Baking Circle for Soft Butter Rolls you’ll find a couple of recipes that include potato, which might be of interest.

I hesitate to say this, but I only made the buns because I promised to do some grilling for a family party and needed to find the absolute best way to make the patties – turns out that twice-ground chuck steak using a plate with 0.8 cm holes was by far the best of the methods I tried. The buns were, I’m sorry to say, just a side show.

[edited to get rid of a couple of unnecessary words]

Edited July 18, 2007 by Baggy (log)

[loladrian]

sorry it took me so long to try again... i was a little discouraged after previous attempts. But I was inspired again by a horrid excuse for a 'amburger here in Paris to get the recipe right. I was a bit hesitant, but I attempted the "moomie's" recipe for beautiful buns. Beautiful they were! These are the perfect solution. Easy to make, although I was nervous when the dough was incredibly sticky, but just kept on kneading (no machine or batteur here) and the result was great. Light, fluffy, and melt in your mouth. Works wonderful for traditional sliders. Thanks everyone!

[Forest Gleaner]

I baked these the other night, and they turned out better than I expected, and I thought I'd share the recipe here. The reason why I thought they'd disappoint is that this is another super-fast, super-overdose of yeast recipe! In the past, when I'd try any of those recipes, the yeast taste would be apparent in the finished product - but that didn't happen with these, perhaps because of the acid in the buttermilk/sour milk (I used sour milk) and the baking soda - don't know why, but they don't taste of yeast. They do however, go stale quickly due to the excess yeast, so eat fast, or freeze.

OK, here’s the recipe – but first the legal stuff:

This recipe is from “Mrs. Witty’s Home Style Menu Cookbook”

By Helen Witty

1990, Workman Publishing

ISBN: 0-89480-690-4 (pk’bk)

Recipe is called, Cookout Buns (p. 266)

Makes about 15 large or 20 medium buns

Ingredients:

2 cups Buttermilk or sour milk (I don’t throw out “soured” milk – it’s great for baking)

3 Tbs yeast (3 envelopes)

1 Tbs salt

2 tsp sugar

½ tsp baking soda

apx. 6-7 cups AP flour (I only needed 5 cups – it all depends on the moisture content of your flour – err on the wet side, you can always add more flour during kneading)

6 Tbs (3/4 stick) butter, melted and cooled but pourable

1 egg, beaten with 1 tsp water

Process:

Warm the buttermilk/sour milk to lukewarm (100-105 degrees). Whisk together the yeast, salt, sugar and baking soda in a bowl. Add buttermilk or sour milk and whisk until the dry ingredients are dissolved. Stir in 2 cups of flour, then the butter. When well mixed, stir in enough of the remaining flour to make a soft dough.

Rest the dough for 10 minutes in the bowl, covered with a towel. Flour a kneading surface, and turn the dough out onto it. Knead the dough for 2-5 minutes, just enough to make it smooth and elastic – if the dough is sticky, add some more flour, but don’t overdo it – you want the dough to remain soft. Cover with a towel and rest for 5 minutes.

Pat or roll out dough to apx 2/3rds of an inch – cut rounds with a 3” (med roll) or a 3 1/2” (large roll). A standard biscuit cutter is close to 3”, and a tuna can (w/o top and bottom) is about 3 ½”, as is a wide mouth Mason jar lid ring. Place them 1” apart on a baking sheet or pan – You should be able to get all 15 large or 20 medium buns on a standard half-sheet pan – it’s OK if they touch once risen. Cover with a towel and let rise for 45 minutes or until double in size. Turn your oven on and let it heat to 400 degrees while the buns rise.

Beat the egg and water and brush on the tops of the buns. Bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes or until the tops are well browned (mine were done at 18). Move the buns to a cooling rack within a few minutes so that the bottoms don’t soften. When cool, either eat right away or freeze.

Making hot dog buns.

You can use this same dough to make hot dog buns – just the shape is different. Roll out dough to a rectangle 12” by 15”. Cut this into 3 equal pieces 12” by 5”. Then cut each smaller piece into 6 strips 2” by 1”. Flatten each strip until each is about 6” long. Brush each strip with water, and fold over lengthwise, seam to one side. Place these on a greased baking pan ½” apart – these should touch each other once risen. Cover with a towel and let rise for 45 minutes, or until double in size. Brush the tops with the egg glaze and bake in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes or until well browned.

[paulraphael]

I just made my first buns last weekend. They used Peter Reinhart's pain a l'ancienne dough (I happened to have some retarding in the fridge), so they weren't at all like conventional buns. They turned out like extra flavorful, chewy French bread. The crust was thick enough that I decided to steam them for a bit in the microwave, just so the crunch wouldn't be overwhelming.

Anyway, I thought they were great; my girlfriend thought they were too crusty and chewy. So if you happen to like the hard roll style of bun, this is a delicious and easy way make them.

[Jay Francis]

As noted elsewhere be sure that you have a lot of steam in your oven. Hamburger buns need to be super soft. A pan filled with lots of boiling water should help.

[Chris Hennes]

Anyone have any shaping tips to get these to actually look like hamburger buns? I tried shaping them as boules and then flattening them a bit, but the poofed right back up due to oven spring, what I got were just little boules. I see a post about where someone is rolling the dough out and then cutting it with a biscuit-cutter: is that the only way?

[baroness]

A quick look at King Arthur Flour's website offers this shaping advice:

"Flatten each ball into a 3 1/2-inch circle. Make them slightly concave in the center. Place 1/2 inch apart on a well-greased baking sheet. Brush the tops lightly with vegetable oil, and lay a piece of plastic wrap over the buns. Cover the wrap with a cloth towel. Refrigerate for 12 to 24 hours. "

[IndyRob]

Anyone have any shaping tips to get these to actually look like hamburger buns? I tried shaping them as boules and then flattening them a bit, but the poofed right back up due to oven spring, what I got were just little boules. I see a post about where someone is rolling the dough out and then cutting it with a biscuit-cutter: is that the only way?

Maybe proofing and baking them in rings?

Burgers are not something I've worked on much, but would like to. But just looking at the thread title and imagining my ultimate bun (although this is a very subjective thing), I think there might be an easy way out...

I love to make baguettes and boules and pizzas from scratch. But when it comes to American style breads I have an easy proven alternative - frozen dough from the supermarket. It's nearly fool proof. It's a little more rustic than your supermarket buns - slightly denser, a larger crumb. More moist, for sure. And freshly baked. That crumb is exactly what I'd want for a burger.

Crustwise, I'm a little more unsure about what I'd want. I think it depends a little on the burger style. But there are all sort of tricks to play with. Brushing with butter, milk, egg yolk wash, egg white wash, egg wash, cornstarch glaze, etc.

[runwestierun]

Anyone have any shaping tips to get these to actually look like hamburger buns? I tried shaping them as boules and then flattening them a bit, but the poofed right back up due to oven spring, what I got were just little boules. I see a post about where someone is rolling the dough out and then cutting it with a biscuit-cutter: is that the only way?

Chris, I know how to do this but I am worried I won't be able to explain it well.

Make your dough, let it rise, punch it down and form it into little tight individual balls. (I don't know the word for this, but you know how you roll a little ball and then keep tucking the dough under until it's taut? That.) Then cut each little dough ball in half on the equator. I mean, if you make your dough ball taut by turning it under and under, when you are done you set the dough ball on the bench with the tucked-under part down, touching the bench. Then it is a ball like a Weber kettle grill is a ball. You cut it where the Weber opens, through the middle, right in half. Then put the halves right back together like you are closing the Weber, pinch the two halves together at the seam, and tuck under the ugly little pinched parts, pushing any excess downward like you do when you are tightening up your dough balls. Then continue with your second rise and finish as your recipe directs.

I spent the better part of last year trying to figure out hamburger bun shape. This worked really well. I would experiment with different dough recipes, making a batch and shaping the buns different ways. This worked the best most consistantly.

It is important that the dough ball is taut, that you cut on the equator, and that you fold the pinched parts downward after the cut, just so you know.