Home-Made Hamburger Buns

 

We often combine meals with our daughter, son-in-law and those precious grand-daughters and last night was one of those occasions. Hamburgers sounded so good to me so I told my daughter that I'd bring the buns, burgers and fixins and she said she'd make the sides.   You can read her blog post on what she brought here. 

 

If you've never had a hamburger with home-made hamburger buns you are missing out on something really special!  Think its too difficult to do?  You are in for a big surprise on how easy it is.  I'll help you.

 

Gather your ingredients: 

 

4 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon instant yeast

1/4 cup sugar

1 egg

2 tablespoons melted butter

1 cup hot water

 

Throw all your dry ingredients in your mixer equipped with dough hooks (see note below), add your wet ingredients and mix on low till all ingredients are incorporated.  Then knead on medium setting for about 3 - 5 minutes.  You've kneaded your dough long enough when it is smooth and has a nice shiny gleam to it! 

 

 Note:  I would recommend a mixer with dough hooks; however, you can certainly mix this up and knead it by hand.  My mother always did!  As far as mixers go, my personal preference is the Bosch Universal Mixer.  I'm on my second Bosch mixer in 25 years and I use it practically on a daily basis, so that tells you how wonderful they are.  Some people prefer a Kitchenaid and I've heard they are just as wonderful.  It simply comes down to preference.

 

Remove the dough from your mixer and place into large bowl that has been slightly oiled with olive oil. Cover with a clean tea towel and set it aside to rise to double size. Depending on the temperatures, it could get to this point in 20 minutes or an hour so keep a watch on it. (We are living in a travel trailer right now while building our house, and my camper was warm and toasty and my dough was double in size in about 20 minutes.)

 

 

When your dough has risen sufficiently, separate it into 9 pieces and form them into nice little balls. Pour a little olive oil on a cookie sheet (I love my jelly roll pan for this) and place your dough balls a few inches apart. I kind of roll them in the olive oil on the pan so the top sides are oiled as well as the bottoms. Cover with a tea towel and let them rise about 15 minutes. 

 

 

Then, with the palm of your hand, squish the balls into flat disks the size of hamburger buns! Cover with your tea towel again and let them rise til nice and puffy - it was about 30 minutes in my warm camper, but could be as long as an hour.

 

 

Place in pre-heated 375 degree oven and bake until they are a beautiful golden color. Brush the tops with butter, let cool slightly and then with a serrated knife cut them in half horizontally. 

 

 

Grill your hamburger patties and assemble your burger ingredients.  I used butter lettuce leafs, sliced tomatoes, sliced purple onions, home-made pickles, and sliced avacado. 

 

 

I would also recommend using the very best of  ingredients.  From King Arthur flour, butter from grass fed cattle, cage free egg, organic sugar and sea salt for your buns to the best meat you can buy for your patties.  My husband and I are lucky to have a farm where we raise grass fed beef, so I feel the hamburger meat is the finest quality.  My pickles are ones that I canned last summer, and soon I'll have fresh tomatoes from my garden.  All those ingredients make for a hamburger that is better than anything you can find anywhere! 

 

These home-made hamburger buns come with a warning:  You will never want another hamburger with store bought buns and neither will your family!  So, once you make them, you will always be making them!

 

For your convenience you can click here for a printable recipe.  Enjoy!