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
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