Best Ever Hamburger Buns

These are truly the best hamburger buns you will ever make. They also are perfect for chewy dinner rolls or use the dough to make caramel rolls.

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The Story

My husband’s mom is a great cook and baker. One of her most requested and I’d say all around favorite item she makes, are these perfect buns. The recipe came from her mom, Grandma Eileen. The recipe card calls these “Maggie’s Buns”. I don’t know who Maggie is but her bun recipe is perfect.

They are light and chewy in a melt-in-your-mouth kind of way.

I will say these buns require three rises so they take a little while but man are they worth it.

Supplies for Easy Burger Buns

• Baking Sheet
• Large Mixing Bowl
• Whisk
• Solid Wood Spoon
• Measuring Cups
• Measuring Spoons

Ingredients for the Best Ever Hamburger Buns

• 2 packages (4 and 1/2 teaspoons) yeast
• 1/2 Cup Warm Water
• 2 Tsp Sugar
• 1 1/2 Cups Milk
• 1 1/2 Cups Cool water
• 2/3 Cup Sugar
• 8-9 Cups of Flour
• 3 Eggs
• 1/3 Cup Oil
• 1/3 Cup Melted Butter
• 1 Tablespoon Salt

How to Scald Milk

Milk is heated to about 170 degrees or when a skin starts to form. At that point you have scalded your milk. Give it a good stir up from the bottom with a rubber spatula to keep it from scorching on the bottom of the pan.

Traditionally this was done to basically pasteurize milk before using it. Milk is still scalded for bread recipes as it breaks down the proteins and makes it easier for yeast to digest them and allows the gluten to better form, giving you a better loaf of bread.

How to Make Perfect Hamburger Buns

Add 2 tsp of sugar to 1/2 cup of warm water. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Then add in two packets, or 4 1/2 teaspoons of yeast. Allow the yeast to activate.

Meanwhile, scald 1 1/2 cups of milk. Once scalded, combine with 1/2 cups of cool water. I figured why not use cool water and add it to the hot milk to cool it down? Seemed to work fine for me! Tammi (my mother-in-law) if you are reading this, forgive me.

Add the milk and water mixture to 2/3 cup sugar in a very large mixing bowl. Use a whisk to mix it together and start to dissolve the sugar.

Next, beat in four cups of flour. This will make a very soft dough. Almost like a thick pancake batter.

Pour in the yeast mixture and beat that in as well.

Add the eggs one at a time, incorporating well after each.

Pour in 1/3 cup oil of choice along with 1/3 cup of melted butter.

Add in the salt.

Next, stir in around five cups of flour. Then, allow the dough to rest for twenty minutes.

After twenty minutes, knead the dough by hand or in a mixer until it is smooth and elastic. This took me about five minutes by hand.

Clean out your mixing bowl and oil or butter the inside thoroughly.

Place the dough ball in the bowl, then flip it over so the top is good and glossy. This will keep your dough from drying out.

Cover with a lightweight towel and allow to double in size.

Punch down the dough, cover, and allow to rise again until doubled.

Shaping and Baking

After the second rise, lightly grease a large baking sheet.

Pull small blobs of dough from the bowl and shape them as you see in the photos below. These size made burger buns. If you are looking for more of a dinner roll you’d want them to be about half that size.

Place them on the greased sheet, about one finger width apart on all sides. This will ensure the buns bake together just enough to get those flakey edges.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Cover the rolls with the same light towel and allow to rise a final time while sitting on top of the oven.

Once risen, bake in the oven for twenty minutes.

Remove from the pan and allow them to cool on a wire rack, but be sure to devour a few while they are still piping hot.

Once fully cooled these store great in gallon ziplocs.

What goes well with buns?

These buns can be a meal in themselves but are also amazing when filled with yummy ingredients or eaten as a side dish.

• Easy Egg Salad from Scratch
• Meatball Sandwich
• Ham Hock Soup

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