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I’ve been perfecting my homemade hamburger buns for a while now, and I’ll never go back. These are beautiful, take just a few minutes to put together, and the shaping is so so fun to do.

I’ve actually started to NOT announce that we’re having burgers for dinner at home as my daughter tries to beat me to the shaping! Dash it all, I’ve taught her too well it seems.

Seriously though, you will love how light and soft these rolls are. They have some tooth to them that stands up to a good homemade hamburger. We love 50/50 ground beef and bison in our house. They’re so so much better than the miserable sad squishy cottony buns that come in packages.

If you’ve never fancied yourself as a person who would bother making homemade hamburger buns, let me show you how easy and fun it is to become that person!

Homemade Hamburger Buns

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closeup of burger bun on a classic burger

Why would I bother making burger buns?

Control over ingredients: with just a handful of ingredients you’re the boss. There’s no unpronounceable ingredients of questionable origin in homemade burger buns. I love being able to use organic flour, fresh milled organic wheat, and my neighbor’s eggs. The closer we can eat to the source with fewer, the better for everyone.
Shaping is therapeutic: Having a bad day? Make some burger buns. Having a good day? Make some burger buns. Whatever the case, spending the 5 minutes it takes to shape these buns will make you smile. If it doesn’t, we probably won’t be friends.
Speed: These homemade buns are truly quick. I’ve made these dozens of times, and it takes me about 10 minutes of active time between making the dough and shaping. An hour and a half passive time waiting for things to rise between the first rise and the shaped resting period, and you’re ready to bake. Truly, they add very little into your time for making dinner.
Flavor despite the speed: often in breadmaking you sacrifice flavor or texture if you’re making your bread quickly. That is not the case here. These do not have the flat over-yeasted flavor of breads you make as quickly as possible. Seriously, one taste and you’ll be wondering why you never thought to make these before. Good meat deserves good bread!
Texture: I get excited about this every single time. These are so light on the inside with a soft, toothy crumb that you only get from homemade bread. The added egg glaze adds a beautiful shine that you’ll never see on a store bought bun outside of brioche buns (p.s. they’re cheating with all the added fat).

Pin the image below to your favorite Pinterest board to save the recipe for later:

closeup of homemade hamburger bun with text overlay

Ways to shape homemade hamburger buns

I’m demonstrating in this post how to make a kaiser roll shape. The quick rundown of this shape looks like this:

Rope: Roll out a piece of dough into a rope.
Fish: Cross the ends over each other in the middle to make a fish.
Tail around back: bring one of the tail ends from the back through the middle. Then tuck it around to the back.
Through the middle: bring the other end through the middle, wrapping it around to the back.

While this is a classic way to shape breads for any style deli sandwich, there are other ways:

brushing potato garlic knots with egg white

Simple roll: roll pieces into simple balls like you would for these whole wheat dinner rolls.
Knot: like the potato garlic knots, just no need to split the layers. Twist two strands of dough together, then coil them up, tucking the ends around the back to make a knot.
Twisted: make a rope, then cut down the middle twist the ends over each other and coil it into a spiral. Like the strawberry jam rolls, without the filling.
Braided: make a rope, cut it into 3, braid the strands and coil it into a spiral.

There’s probably more ways to shape burger buns, and I’m always trying something new. If this is a recipe you come to make regularly, I’m sure you will come up with new fun ways to shape this dough as well.

Ingredients for burger buns

Water
Yeast: instant
Maple syrup: for flavor; honey is also good here.
Olive oil: for flavor and to enrich the dough with a little fat. You can use melted butter, though it adds an extra step. I love that you can dump the ingredients into a bowl and go.
Egg: adds lightness and fluffiness, and the fat also enriches the dough and adds flavor.
Whole wheat flour: I’m freshly milling mine, but feel free to use a good quality whole wheat flour or use all bread flour.
Bread flour: the slightly higher protein content in bread flour makes for stretchier dough that’s easier to shape.
Salt: for flavor.
Sesame seeds: a classic addition to hamburger buns. You can and I do also use everything bagel seasoning or plain poppy seeds.

FAQ to help you make amazing homemade hamburger buns

Can I double the recipe?: Yes, no problem. While this is for a small-batch recipe, you can easily double it if you’re having people over.
Is this a brioche hamburger buns recipe?: No it is not; this recipe is closer to a lightly enriched whole wheat bread. Brioche is a VERY rich dough with lots of eggs and tons of butter. While brioche makes extra special rolls, I also don’t think it’s a recipe that’s worth the effort, and certainly not one you’d turn to every time you want to make burgers. It takes far too much time to make brioche…unless you’re a chef. They seem to have unlimited time and think you do as well. There’s no chef police force in your house–make your quick burger buns and you’ll get zero complaints.
Can you freeze the recipe?: Yup. Place cooled rolls in an airtight plastic bag for up to 2 months.
Do I have to shape them like you did?: No. While I love the kaiser roll shape, some days you don’t want to fuss. Scroll on up to get some other ideas on shaping, and know that there’s no shame in making a simple round bun .
Do you have to use the egg wash?: I will say yes here. It helps the seeds stick to the bun, helps the buns brown better, plus it makes them pretty. Life is too short to eat sad looking bread.

Homemade Hamburger Buns

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Author: Elizabeth Farr
Total Time: 2 hours 5 minutes
Yield: 8 buns

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Description

Light, gorgeous handmade buns you can make in a few minutes that’ll put anything out of a package to shame.

Ingredients

Scale

1 cup warm water (236 mL)
2 tsp instant yeast
2 Tablespoons maple syrup (30 mL)
2 Tablespoons olive oil (30 mL)
1 large egg
1 and 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (195 g)
1 and 3/4 cups bread flour (227 g)

For finishing the buns

2 Tablespoons sesame seeds, poppy seeds, or Everything Bagel seasoning
1 egg + 1 tsp water for Egg Wash

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Instructions

Measure the yeast and maple syrup into a small bowl. Pour over the water and whisk together. Set aside for about 5 minutes, until the yeast it foamy.
Measure the flours and salt into a mixer bowl (or a large bowl if you’re mixing by hand).
Make a well in the middle of the flour, then pour in the olive oil, the yeast mixture, and crack the egg into the center of the well.
Use a wooden spoon or your mixer’s dough hook to rough mix all the ingredients to make a shaggy dough.
To knead by hand, lightly flour a work surface, then dump out the contents of the bowl. Use your hands to push the dough away from yourself, then roll it back towards yourself. Continue this motion for about 10 minutes until you get a smooth dough. Alternatively, mix with a dough hook in a stand mixer on low speed for about 5 minutes.
Form the dough into a ball, then place the dough in a clean bowl sprayed with cooking spray. Cover with plastic wrap until it’s doubled in size, about 1 hour.
Divide the proofed dough into 8 pieces on a lightly floured work surface. If you want to be super precise, divide the balls into 95 g pieces with the help of a gram scale.
Roll each piece of dough into a rope.
From there, fold the ends across each other to make a fish shape, leaving a good sized hole in the middle.
Bring one of the ends around the back of the roll and through the middle.
Tuck the end around to the back.
Bring the second end through the middle to the back.
Continue shaping all the rolls the same way, then place them on a parchment lined baking sheet.
Cover the rolls to rest for 30 minutes.
Towards the end of the 30 minutes, heat the oven to 350 F (180 C).
Beat the egg and teaspoon of water together to make an egg wash. Brush the buns with the egg wash, then sprinkle with sesame seeds.
Bake the buns for 20 minutes until golden brown and set.
Cool the buns for at least 15 minutes before splitting them to make sandwiches of your choice.

Notes

Freshly milled flour: if you have a grain mill and would like to use it for this recipe, use 195 g of your choice of wheat berries. I’m using Prairie Gold.
Work ahead: while these burger buns are best the day they’re made, you can freeze them in plastic bags for up to 2 months. Set out frozen buns to thaw for about 2 hours at room temperature or heat them covered in foil in a 300F oven for about 10 minutes.

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Additional Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Category: Breads
Cuisine: American

Nutrition

Serving Size: 1 bun
Calories: 193
Sugar: 4
Sodium: 133
Fat: 7
Saturated Fat: 1
Unsaturated Fat: 5
Trans Fat: 0
Carbohydrates: 26
Fiber: 2
Protein: 7
Cholesterol: 70

Have you ever made burger buns? Did it make your burger taste 1000% better?

Homemade hamburger buns: feather light, gorgeous, and easy to make