Hamburger Buns – Sourdough
These homemade Hamburger Buns are made with my leftover sourdough starter! They have a perfect texture, a nice crust and soft, but chewy in the middle!
Use this sourdough buns recipe to make buns for burgers, hot dogs, subs or heroes and the like. Make the rolls a bit smaller and make rolls for sliders. They have the perfect sourdough flavor and the texture is perfection.
For years, I researched how to make sourdough starter. There is a lot of conflicting information, in print and online, so in the end, I would always say to heck with it because it seemed like too much of a time commitment. Now that I am doing this for a living, I decided there were no more excuses not to start a batch of my own starter.
I am here to tell you, everything I have read, makes it more intimidating than it actually is. The starter is quite forgiving! See the recipe here.
These Hamburger Buns are made with unfed starter, or starter discard. See those links for explanations. More from me on that later. I searched for many recipes with measurements for all of the ingredients. Much of the information was very vague, or over complicated the process. Like most yeast doughs, they are very forgiving.
I tried basing my recipe on 4 different recipes, all of which I did not like for one reason, or another. Many of the recipes required huge quantities of extra flour to make them come together into a nice consistency. it could be the way I do the starter (100% hydration), but for my starter formula, this recipe works the best.
What you need
- sourdough discard – use unfed sourdough starter. (If you feed your starter daily, just use the starter that you discard before feeding it again with more flour.
- milk – whole milk will give you the best flavor but any milk will work to make a brioche style roll.
- butter – use unsalted butter
- eggs – 2 for the dough and 1 for the egg wash on top before baking.
- flour
- salt – if you use salted butter, reduce the amount of salt a bit.
- sugar – you could substitute honey for a natural sugar.
How to Make Hamburger Buns
- Warm milk to around 110°F, melt butter in milk, in microwave.
- Crack and whisk 2 eggs into small bowl.
- Measure 2 cups starter.
- Measure flour and salt.
- Mix milk, butter and eggs with starter.
- Add flour mixture.
- Mix with spoon or spatula.
- Knead by hand or in stand mixer with your dough hook (adding more flour, if necessary) for 5-7 minutes until smooth elastic dough forms.
- Cover tightly in oiled bowl. Refrigerate for at least 8 hours or overnight.
- Dough will proof and rise in the fridge.
- Allow dough to come to room temperature. Weigh dough. Divide into 10 equal portions.
- Stretch and form dough into rounds, pulling the dough you stretched to the underside of the dough ball.
- Pinch the seams together on bottom of roll.
- Place on parchment paper lined baking sheet.
- Allow to rise in a warm place until approximately doubled in size.
I place my oven on the lowest setting and place near, but not directly under the oven vent on the stove top, turning the tray often, to let the dough rise.
Brush rolls with egg wash. Sprinkle with sesame seeds or poppy seeds, or anything else you like.
Bake at 350°F until golden brown, 12-18 minutes. Cool rolls on a wire cooling rack
Can Hamburger Buns Be Frozen?
Absolutely! I have tried to freeze these buns 2 different ways. I prefer them when I par- bake them. So I bake for about 12 minutes and let them cool thoroughly. Once cooled, package in air tight bag and freeze. To reheat, let rolls thaw. Then bake at 350°F for about 10 minutes.
Alternately, the rolls can be baked through and then wrapped and frozen for a few months.
How to use these sourdough burger buns
- hamburgers
- pulled pork sandwiches
- fish sandwiches
Or shape them like hoagie rolls and make- hot dogs
- hoagies, subs or heroes
Delicious Burgers to use for These Buns
Other delicious bread recipes
- Light Caraway Rye for the Bread Machine
- Brioche, White Bread
- English Muffin
- Chocolate Banana Bread
- Savory Zucchini Cheese Bread
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So that is how easy it is to make your own hamburger buns! Thanks for stopping by to check out the recipe!
Enjoy! And have fun cooking!
Xoxo,
Hamburger Buns
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup Milk
- 3 tablespoon Butter
- 2 cups unfed sourdough starter
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 2 tablespoon Sugar
- 3 cups flour plus 1 heaping tablespoon **May take more or less flour. See notes below
- 1 egg mixed with water for egg wash just before baking
Instructions
- Measure milk. Add butter and microwave for about 30 seconds to warm milk to 110°F and melt butter.1/2 cup Milk, 3 tablespoon Butter
- Crack eggs. Add starter, eggs, milk and butter to a large mixing bowl. Combine. See clarification on starter below.2 large eggs, 2 cups unfed sourdough starter
- Add salt, sugar and flour to wet ingredients *see notes below. Mix with spatula until incorporated.1 teaspoon Salt, 2 tablespoon Sugar, 3 cups flour plus 1 heaping tablespoon
- Knead by hand or with stand mixer with bread hook attachment, adding more flour, if necessary for dough to come together into a ball. Knead about 5-7 minutes. Until dough formed is smooth and elastic.
- Place dough in oil lined bowl. Cover the dough itself with plastic wrap, all around the top. See step 9 above. Refrigerate at least 8 hours, or up to 2 days.
- Remove dough from refrigerator and bring to room temperature. Weigh entire dough ball. Divide that weight by 10 or 12 and weigh out each individual piece of dough, so that you have equal pieces so your rolls are uniform in size.
- Form dough into balls, stretching the dough and pulling excess to the bottom of the roll. Pinch the seams together on the bottom. Place rolls on parchment lined baking tray. Let rise until the rolls are noticeably puffy. About 1 hour. (Times depend on how warm it is. I place my oven on the lowest setting and place them near, but not directly under the oven vent on the stove top, turning the tray often.)
- When dough has risen, brush with egg wash. Top with seeds or just leave plain.1 egg mixed with water for egg wash just before baking
- Bake in 350°F oven for 15-20 minutes until rolls are golden brown. Allow to cool on wire rack or eat fresh and warm!
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Notes
Nutrition
Originally published April 23, 2019. Updated March 31, 2022.
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Hi, do you think the recipe would work well even if I cut all the ingredients down by half? (Bc I don’t need so many buns!) Looks great. Will try it this weekend!
Yes, for sure it will work. You can freeze them, as well, if you par bake them first, that’s the best way to freeze. See the article for instructions.
I’m a sourdough newbie of three months. I have a einkorn starter and a rye starter I’m tending. I used the einkorn for this recipe. I also used a combo of 3/4 organic all purpose and 1/4 organic rye.
Your comments on starter and how forgiving it was along with your directions were Spot on. These buns turned out amazing. Many thanks!
I’m so glad you liked them! I really find the starter way more forgiving than people think. Everyone over complicates it.
Thank you very much. My buns looked awesome, smelled fantastic, and tasted delicious. Ended up being a bit dense, but still very very good. My starter is a 100% hydration rye starter. All in all, small hickup trying it for the first time, but I believe that I should have stopped mixing in my Kitchen Aid after 5 to 7 minutes….Jan
I think if you had let them rise a bit more, they would be less dense. Glad you liked them! Thanks for letting me know, Jan!
Hi, I’ve just started making sourdough boules and I’m loving it! I want to try these soon!! My question is….I would like to use them for burger buns…..how do I store them…..if I don’t use them the same day…and how long would they last for buns? I know the sourdough boules get pretty hard after a couple days:). Thanks
Hi Trish. There is a section in the article for freezing these buns. But in short, I prefer par baking them for about 12 minutes, then cooling them. Freeze in bags until ready to use. Thaw and then bake an additional 10 minutes. You can freeze them for a few months. Thanks for checking out the recipe!
thanks so much! I love these. I actually didn’t even see the response till now–(I thought I would get an email about a reply…and I didn’t..unless I missed it somehow)–anyway… that is what I have been doing:) My husband thinks they don’t hold together too well for hamburger buns, but my daughter made them and she thought they worked well. I am going to make them again with a 100% hydration starter (I’m learning:) and see if they work better…..either way, I love them:) Thanks so much for the recipe!
I’m so glad you like them! Thanks for letting me know!
Can I substitute buttermilk for the milk? How about almond milk? Will I need to change anything else??
Thanks! Can’t wait to try these.
You can certainly substitute buttermilk Jackie. I haven’t tried almond milk, but it should work as well. You can even use water in breads. The milk just makes the bread a little more rich flavored and bodied. Let me know if you have any more questions, and how it goes! Good luck!
Only had enough discard for a half batch, but went for it and they turned out GREAT! It was my first experience with baking bread, and my first attempt at doing anything with my discard since beginning the “mini” sourdough starter adventure when first quarantined with this crazy pandemic. So encouraged for my next baking adventure! Thank you!
That’s great Teresa! Welcome to the world of bread baking! Once we can go back to the stores regularly, it will be hard to eat packaged bread, though. Fair warning! Stay safe! Thanks for letting me know!
I’m realizing I will need these sooner than an 8 hour refrigerator rise. Can I let them do a room temp rise? If so, how long? Thanks
If you let them rise at room temp, it should take about 1-2 hours. It will depend on your starter and the temperature. Just let them rise to double. Then punch them down, shape them and let them rise again. Probably 30-60 minutes. The texture may be slightly different than a slow rise. They may not be as airy. Thanks for trying the recipe Leigh Anne! Let me know how it goes!
Mine dough did not rise in the bowl or after shaping. I went ahead and baked and they rose a little in the oven but not much.
Was there supposed to be some yeast added? I’m pretty sure my starter is good as I have been using it and feeding it but this is the first recipe I’ve tried without yeast being added to the dough.
Did you let it rise overnight? It takes a longer time to rise than with commercial yeast. It will also take a while to go from refrigerator temp, to room temp, which is where it will start to really rise. You have to be very patient with starter scrap dough.
Hi, does the bun taste really sour with a lot of starter used in the recipw? Thank you
Hi! These look great!
I just have a quick question. Do you have the starter amount in grams? I’ve never made anything with sourdough in cups so I’m a little nervous about it.
Thank-you so much!
Thanks Mary-Kate! Sure, if you look at the top section of the recipe card, in the post, there are blue highlighted options. US-customary and metric. Just click on the metric and it will convert for you automatically! In this case, it is 500 gr.
Thanks for checking out the recipe! Let me know how they turn out!
I just made these!
They’re pillowy and delicious.
I made them too big though.
However, how do you prevent them from breaking up?
Thanks for this great recipe!
Hi SE! I’m glad that you like them! First, did you weigh the dough and you thought they were too big? I think weighing really helps there. Second, what do you mean “breaking up”? I had issues with a few of the first ones I did that said to roll out the dough with a rolling pin, and then roll them into a log and pinch the edges together. They split while they were baking. Did you take a photo of how they broke up? If so, email them to me at beth@binkysculinarycarnival.com and I will see if I can figure out what happened. Thanks for stopping by and trying the recipe!