They make for one killer burger! Once you see how easy it gets to make them, you will get used to making them so often, and they make one of the best kinds of bread to make at home.
Homemade is just always better, and these buns are no exception.
To start, you’ll need two tablespoons of sugar, two and a half teaspoons of instant yeast, and one and a half teaspoon of salt. Then you’ll need one cup of warm milk, and you want it, so it’s just warm to the touch! Warm it approximately for about 45 seconds in the microwave.
Pour the milk in with the yeast, sugar and salt, and also add in half of cup of water. Since you’ll be using instant yeast, no proofing will be required. And if you want to use regular yeast, then you’ll use the same amount, but you’ll need to let this mixture sit for 10 minutes to allow the yeast proof.
Then add in a quarter cup of melted butter and then four cups of all-purpose or bread flour. The amount of bread that you need in bread making always varies just a little bit so start with less than you think you need and then you can always add later. Then you go ahead and get that mixing.
You want the dough to be tacky, but not stick enough to stick to your hands so add enough flour to achieve that consistency. Go by the touch and feel the dough.
Then you’re going to pick up the dough and transfer it to lightly greased large mixing bowl and rub it in oil and turn it over so that it’s coated with oil. Then cover it with a cloth or towel and then let it rise until double in size, which will take about one hour.
After an hour you want to turn your dough onto a clean countertop and divide it into 12 pieces. You want each piece to be fairly even so you can eyeball it or if you want to be totally accurate you can weigh each piece on a kitchen scale.
Then you want to roll each piece into a ball. You can simply form your hand into a cupping shape and roll each piece between the palm of your hand and the countertop. Once you have them all rolled out into balls, you’ll want to take each dough ball and then just use your hand to flatten it out into a disc shape. That will be the size of your bun.
Now the best part about making homemade hamburger buns is that if you want to make a giant burger, then you just make only six dough balls for that and make six giant hamburger buns. Or if you want to make sliders, you could make twenty-four and just make them a little bit smaller.
Then you’ll want to place them all onto a lightly greased baking sheet. Next, you’ll want these to have a nice shiny top, so you’ll to take one egg and whisk it together with one tablespoon of water. That is called an egg wash, and you want to whisk it really well until you get little bubbles that form on top and it’s nice and frothy.
Once you have that all whisked you’ll need to take a brush and then just brush the top of each bun with that egg wash. That will give a nice shiny finish to the top of your buns. Now if you want to make sesame seed buns, you just sprinkle some sesame seeds right on top.
Then you’re going to bake these in a 400-degree (200°C) oven for about 12 minutes, or until tops are lightly browned. It would be best if you cooled these completely before you slice them open and make your burger. These will also stay well frozen for about one month.