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4.9 from 84 votes

Burger Buns

Soft, vaguely sweet, and golden-yellow from the butter and egg, these simple buns are perfect for burgers (whether beef or plant-based), or any of your favorite sandwich fillings.

Prep Time
25 mins
Cook Time
25 mins
Total Time
1 hr 45 mins
Servings: 12 buns
Calories: 198 kcal
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: American

Ingredients

  • 3/4 to 1 cup lukewarm water
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter cold, cut into pieces
  • 1 large egg
  • 3 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
  • 1 tablespoon instant yeast
  • 3 tablespoons butter, melted plus more for the baking sheet

Instructions

    Cup of Yum
  1. Mix and knead all of the dough ingredients except for the melted butter by hand, mixer, or bread machine until a soft, smooth dough forms.
  2. Cover the dough and let it rise for 1 to 2 hours, or until it's nearly doubled in bulk.
  3. Gently deflate the dough and divide it into 12 pieces.
  4. Shape each piece into a round ball, then flatten it to a squat round blob about 2 1/2 inches (8 cm) across. (Another easy way to shape buns, besides rolling them into balls and flattening, is to gently deflate the dough and form it into a smooth 8-inch (20-cm) log. Using a serrated knife, slice the log into 12 pieces. Gently tug the edges of each piece underneath the ball of dough to form a squat ball.)
  5. Place the buns on a lightly buttered or parchment-lined baking sheet, cover, and let rise for about an hour, until noticeably puffy.
  6. Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C).
  7. Brush the buns with about half the melted butter and bake until golden, 12 to 18 minutes.
  8. As soon as you remove the buns from the oven, brush them with the remaining melted butter, which will lend the buns a satiny, buttery crust. Place the buns on a wire rack to cool completely. Proceed as desired.

Notes

  • If you’d like sesame or poppy seeds sprinkled atop your buns, brush the buns with the egg wash rather than the melted butter prior to baking as it’ll make the seeds adhere. Sprinkle the buns with the seeds and bake as instructed. (When you separate the egg, feel free to add the extra egg yolk to the dough for slightly richer results.)
  • Leite’s Culinaria reader and food blogger Sarah of The Cook’s Life has tweaked this recipe into loaf form. According to her, “We call it bun bread around here.” Well, we call it brilliant around here. Sarah says to follow the recipe through the first rise. Shape the whole batch of dough into 1 loaf and bake it in a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan for about 30 minutes at 350°F, or until it is browned, sounds hollow when tapped, and tests 190°F to 200°F in the middle. You may need to tent the top with foil if it starts to get too brown. And she mentions that if you don’t like sweet bread, you can reduce the sugar to 2 tablespoons or even 1 tablespoon with no other changes to the recipe. [Editor’s Note: Sarah makes a few other tweaks to the recipe, substituting white whole-wheat flour for some of the all-purpose. You can read about her changes in her comment below the recipe. We haven’t tested this variation yet, but we’re literally preheating our ovens now…]
  • We all know that one-size-fits-all cliché is a bunch of baloney. Take hamburger buns. Sometimes you need something that’ll accommodate a brontosaurus-sized burger. Sometimes you need something that’ll suit wee sliders. And sometimes you need something that’s perfectly in between. We understand. So do the folks at King Arthur Flour, who suggest that, for slightly larger buns, you divide the dough into 8 pieces instead of 12 and bake the buns for 15 to 18 minutes. And for those wee slider buns—about 3 inches in diameter–divvy the dough into 24 pieces and bake for 12 to 15 minutes.

Nutrition Information

Serving 1burger bun Calories 198kcal (10%) Carbohydrates 32g (11%) Protein 4g (8%) Fat 6g (9%) Saturated Fat 3g (15%) Monounsaturated Fat 1g Trans Fat 1g Cholesterol 28mg (9%) Sodium 275mg (11%) Fiber 1g (4%) Sugar 4g (8%)

Nutrition Facts

Serving: 12buns

Amount Per Serving

Calories 198

% Daily Value*

Serving 1burger bun
Calories 198kcal 10%
Carbohydrates 32g 11%
Protein 4g 8%
Fat 6g 9%
Saturated Fat 3g 15%
Monounsaturated Fat 1g 5%
Trans Fat 1g 50%
Cholesterol 28mg 9%
Sodium 275mg 11%
Fiber 1g 4%
Sugar 4g 8%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.