Super Soft and Simple Sourdough Hamburger Buns

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Every time we go visit my MIL she makes these Simple Soft Sourdough Hamburger Buns. We actually eat them with her famous sloppy joes.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

These simple soft sourdough hamburger buns are firm enough to stand up to all the fixings that go on a hamburger too, but soft enough to almost taste like a Sara Lee Dinner Rolls. And yet they have the super yummy tangy of sourdough and are definitely healthier than a Sara Lee dinner roll.

Another thing you will love about this recipe is that it is super versitle! This recipe can be rolls or even a loaf of bread.

And the last thing is that this recipe can be cut into 1/3’s for just one batch, but this recipe actually makes 3 batches quickly!

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Tips

• The recipe makes 3 batches of 12 sourdough hamburger buns. If you don’t want to make 36 buns and freeze some, you can also take the remaining dough and bake a loaf of bread or put the dough in the fridge and use within the week.
• I recommend bringing the dough together with a stand mixer, but to knead by hand unless you have a Bosch high power mixer that is meant for bread

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Simple Soft Sourdough Hamburger Buns Ingredients 

• 2 cups starter bubbly (I feed mine the night before and make dough in the morning)
• 1 egg beaten
• 1 tablespoon of sea salt
• 1/3 cup of avocado oil
• 2 ½ cups of warm water
• 3/4 cup of honey
• 8-9 cups of flour (I use Kirland organic unbleached all-purpose flour from COSTCO)

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Tools You May Need

You can make this whole recipe without the following tools, but they will just make the process easier.

• Stand Mixer for bringing dough ingredients together
• Kitchen Scale to measure the dough so that you are getting uniform size buns
• Bench Scraper for cutting the dough into portions
• Parchment Paper
• Sourdough Starter

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How to Make Sourdough Hamburger Buns

Step 1: Feed starter night before if you plan to make dough in the morning. Or feed the starter in the morning if you plan to bring your dough together in the afternoon.

Step 2: Combine everything except the flour in a mixer *can see me doing this in this YouTube video at time stamp: 29:50

Step 3: Add eight (8) cups of flour (mix and combine a bit with each cup)

• if dough is not lopsided in bowl or sticks to the sides of bowl add more flour.

Step 4: Knead eight (8) to ten (10) minutes until dough stretches thin
(windowpane)

Step 5: Place in bowl with lid and let rise until it doubles in size, it looks like this below when it is ready.

Step 6: At this point, divide dough into three (3) equal parts

Step 7: You can either put it into a sandwich loaf pan, split into equal parts for rolls or buns, I show you HOW to do this with a kitchen scale in this video, mine were around 115 grams each.

Step 8: Let the buns rest under a wet towel or spray plastic wrap with avocado oil and put on top while the dough rests for 15-30 minutes.

Step 9: Get a small bowl of water, wet your hands and press down the buns a bit to formed them more into a hamburger bun and less into a roll.

Step 10: Crack one egg into a bowl with a teaspoon of water, whisk, and brush on top of the buns.

Step 11: Bake at 350° for 25 minutes plus. I cut one open to see if done, if not done in center, but getting crispy on top, drape a piece of foil over the top and bake 5-10 minutes longer until they are baked to your liking.

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Storage

These are definitely best served right out of the oven, but you can airtight container or bag at room temperature for a few days.

If you think you will not use them within 2 days, I would suggest freezing them. Just make sure they are completely cool before you freeze them.

The best way to eat them from the freezer is to allow them to thaw at room temperature and bake gently.

OR

They reheat in the oven at 350° with 15-20 minutes from frozen, just cover with foil so they do not continue to brown and crisp.

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FAQ

Can I use sourdough discard instead of bubbly starter?

Yes you can, BUT you will need to 6 teaspoons of active dry yeast to make sure the dough rises. This will make the rise time around 3 hours instead of 8ish hours.

What does starter need to look like to make the dough?

Your stater should double-ish in size and be nice a bubbly. I wouldn’t stress too much about this. Sourdough is a journey and perfection isn’t the goal. This is an stress-free recipe, so go for it even if you think the starter isn’t perfect.

Here is a picture of what mine looks like when I am ready to use it.

What is sourdough starter?

Starter is a culture of wild yeast from the environment and bacteria that comes from flour and water. It makes bread rise naturally without active dry yeast packets that come from the store. It just takes longer and is way better for your gut. Here is a post on how to make your own starter at home.

What are my sourdough buns so dense?

This means you used too much flour. The recipe calls for 8-9 cups. Next time err on the side of slightly less dough and try leaving the dough a little bit more wet. Sometimes when we knead by hand we add too much flour to the counter to try and keep the dough from sticking to the counter. Try less flour next time.

What if I don’t want to make 36 buns and just 12?

Just divide all the ingredients by 3.

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More Recipes from Girl, Teach Me:

How to Make Easy Crockpot BBQ Pulled Pork with Pork Loin

Insanely Easy Healthy Freezer Meals

Easy Einkorn Drop Biscuits

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If you try this recipe and love it, I would love if you could come back and give it 5 stars! Tag me on Instagram @girlteachme

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