Flavorful Sourdough Burger Buns

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If there is anything that you should learn to make, apart from bread of course, that would be the bread rolls. Be it simple dinner rolls, fancy hot cross buns or versatile burger buns, it is a skill any baking enthusiast would love to have.

sourdough burger buns
20% whole meal and bacon fat in this one




I have tried many recipes and tutorials, prior to my culinary education and bakery experience. To be honest, I struggled to get it right mainly because I didn’t know what I was looking for. I wasn’t even trying sourdough versions.

sourdough burger buns
only 60 g milk in this one

That was 7 years ago and a lot have changed since then. You can actually find good, quality resources on the internet. But, I may have slightly different approach/method, so here is my journal. I will try to mentions every little detail along the way, but feel free to reach me for questions/clarifications either through comment here or IG.

sourdough burger buns
200 g milk and 60 g bacon fat 2 tbsp honey in this one

Ingredients and alternatives:

Flour:
You can of course use any glutenous flour or a combination. All purpose, strong bread flour should be the base. You can mix other flour verities to change texture, flavor at 5 – 20% ;
Rye
whole meal
Buckwheat
Teff etc.

burgers

Fat:
Fat is what makes rolls softer and help keep soft for longer.
Fat is usually introduced as fat itself, but eggs and milk has fat too. Keep that in mind when you mix and match. You can use any of the fats below;
Butter
Oil (Vegetable, canola, olive oil, grape seed, avocado)
Bacon fat ( Inna @flourfloozy should get credit for this idea)
Lard

Eggs:
Adding eggs is optional. You can totally skip this process or opt to add just egg yolk for a richer texture. You can also use tofu instead of eggs and get all the effects of adding eggs. 1/4 cup tofu is equal to an egg, but make sure to drain well to remove excess water out.

Milk:
Optional again. Milk, just like eggs adds extra richness. Increases softness, and sweetness. Keep in mind different milks have different sweetness and flavors. So use a in less % if you are not sure. Use following alternatives;
Cows milk (any fat %)
Nut milk (check if it is sweetened)
Coconut milk (beware of flavor and fat content)
Soy milk
Oats milk

Sugar:
Need only very little. Interchange with any of the following;
White sugar
Brown sugar
Honey
Coconut sugar
Maple syrup
Rice malt syrup etc.

Moisture:
Water is the most basic and easy solution here. Feel free to use alternatives as replacement or mixed with water to get extra flavor;
Beer varieties
Coconut water etc.

Topping:
Use either eggs or milk to brush the top. This gives a nice color and shine. Use any of the following to decorate or keep it plain;
Sesame
Poppy seeds
Line seeds etc.

dough

Mix everything except the water and start to mix. Add water gradually, until a soft dough is formed. Use a stand mixer with dough hook or use a spatula. Once everything comes together kneed a further minute until dough is smooth. Take the dough out on to a floured surface. Finish kneading by hands. Its okay if the dough is bit sticky. Fold the dough to create a smooth dough ball. check next picture.

dough

Use flour to stop the dough from sticking to your hands. Once it looks smooth like in the picture, place it in a lightly greased bowl.

dough

Cover the bowl loosely with a lid or a tea towel and place in a warm place for the bulk fermentation. (3-4 hours)

Note:
I use my oven for this, with a cup of boiling water placed on the bottom rack. Replace with new boiling water once every 1.5 hours.

dough

This is how the dough would look after the bulk. We are looking for a softer puffed up dough which has almost doubled the original volume.

dough

Punch down the dough and fold it back to a tight ball and place back in the same bowl. Cover tightly and place in the fridge until next day.

You can continue to make rolls without retarding. In that case let it ferment a little further and continue the rest of the steps.

dough

Next day, take the dough out and let it thaw for about an hour. When the dough is soft enough to handle, you can move to the next step.

divide the dough

Divide the dough in to 8 equal pieces. The total dough weight might be different each time so weight the whole dough and divide that by 8 to get how much a piece should weigh.

Let the dough pieces rest for about 10 minutes once divided

shaped sough

Shape them into tight rolls. Check this video to get an idea on how to shape rolls. Make sure to get most of the air out from the dough as you roll.

shaped dough

Place the rolls on a tray and once everything is shaped, press each roll to squash it to flatten a bit. (press down on the roll with your palm or fist) check the picture. Notice they are a bit flatter than the roll in the picture above.

Now loosely cover these and place in a warm place until doubled. ( 3 – 4 hours again or might be longer)

proofed

Once proofed, place a pizza stone/cast iron tray and preheat the oven to 425 F 0R 220 C. It’s okay if you don’t have a pizza stone, you can still get good results.

decorate

Once the oven is ready, egg wash the rolls and decorate the top with sesame. And place the rolls in the oven.

Spay a little water using a spay bottle to create a bit of steam. This is optional.

bake for about 10 minutes, rotate the tray, reduce temperature to 400 F and bake for a further 5 minutes.

baked burger buns

Once fully baked, remove from the oven and leave on a wire rack to cool.




sourdough burger buns


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24 comments

  1. These are amazing. Even though my main oven failed on me and I had to use a combination one that only does 200C they still came out great. Best burger buns I ever had!

  2. Excellent recipe, and explained in detail. Thank you so much. Just started my sourdough baking journey. Definitely going to try this soon.

  3. Hey Very Nice recipe
    We tried it came our beautiful

    We have guest coming over is there any egg substitute available they are vegetarians

    1. Thanks Anju.
      You can skip the egg in the dough and may be use extra milk(dairy or plant based)/water to replace the moisture.
      Instead of the egg wash on top you can brush with milk(dairy or plant based)

  4. Great sourdough buns and prefect directions! Making my second batch today. We love them and they freeze great!
    Thank you Vindi for sharing your recipes!

  5. Making this today =D I have rendered chicken fat, I have been wanting to use this in a burger bun. No milk though… I used it up just now for Clever Carrot’s Sourdough Banana Bread =D! I’ll go with IPA. Can’t waiiit!

  6. Thank you for making this so easy to understand. My daughter and I made these this weekend and they were so yummy! I’m already back, checking out more of your SD recipes 🙂

    1. Aww I’m stoked to hear that! 🙂
      Hope you’ll find other recipes interesting too.
      Happy baking!

  7. Hi Vindi,
    I am back 😀
    I did this a couple of times last year with lovely result but now I wanted to report a success, I was brave and did half white bread flour and half wholemeal.
    They are gorgeous…
    Hope to do them with rye also..when I find some rye flour here in the middle of nowhere :))
    Have a great weekend!

    1. That’s wonderful Alice 🙂
      Yes, these are great with whole meal or even wholegrain(high extraction). Good job!
      When using Rye however, may be try 10% at first and then increment overtime to find the perfect balance. Rye makes he dough extremely sticky.
      Cheers!

  8. I made a double batch is past weekend! They came out picture perfect and everyone agreed the hamburgers were delicious because of the buns!! I love your passion for baking, clear and thorough directions and I hope for more videos!!

    1. Thank you Anita. I am so glad that they turned out perfect 🙂
      This recipe has never failed me!
      Cheers!

  9. Did a batch today, it was awesome. The best burger buns I’ve had so far 🙂

    I mixed 100gr whole wheat flour with 300gr APF, the texture was so good.

    Thank you for sharing the recipe.

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