Yes, you can make soft, tender homemade hamburger buns in just an hour!
Years ago I was on a search for homemade hamburger buns. The only criteria that I had was that they needed to be soft like store buns (though not as squishy). You’d think I’d asked for the moon. Most recipes produced hard buns and simply making our sandwich bread into buns didn’t create the buns our family liked and my soft whole wheat rolls were too soft for us.
When I found a recipe for “quick and tender breadsticks” on a (now defunct) website and made them, I couldn’t believe how soft and easy they were – and I thought it might also make the buns we were searching for. So I adapted it, making both hamburger and hot dog buns, and we loved them! They’ve become a family favorite because they really are quick and soft with a great texture, which is especially surprising because they are not kneaded.
The original recipe produced a very wet dough which I found tough to work with and a bit frustrating. My changes included using less water and yeast, adding more whole grains, and using honey instead of sugar. With these changes, the buns produced are the best hamburger buns I’ve tried (and I’ve tried a lot)- I hope you think so, too!
How to Make Quick & Tender Hamburger Buns
The top left picture of the dough shows that the dough is still a bit wet- it should still stick a bit to the bottom of the bowl. I mix it about 1-2 minutes in the stand mixer (for a quick knead), adding about 1/4-1/2 cup more flour to make shaping a bit easier before letting it rest in the bowl.
To get semi-even buns, flatten the dough out on a floured surface (tip: use a tea towel with a bit of flour for easy clean-up) and pat into a squarish shape. Use a knife to cut 12 pieces, cutting a bit off of the bigger center pieces as needed and adding them to the smaller corner pieces before shaping.
To shape the buns, stretch the top towards the bottom on all sides and then turn it over and pull the ends together creating a nice smooth ball, similar to how I shape our soft dinner rolls. Notice the well-floured hands and doughy fingers? The dough will still be sticky even with floured surfaces, so you’ll want to keep your fingers floured.
Place the balls on a greased or silicone-lined (affiliate link) cookie sheet, flattening the dough balls around the edges- it’s okay if the edges touch. You’ll want to use a full half sheet baking pan to fit these, though – similar to this OXO brand half sheet on Amazon.
They’ll rest a second time and will rise some, though most of the rising will occur in the oven.
So after mixing, two 10-minute rises, about 15 minutes of shaping and 15 minutes baking you have easy, soft, beautiful hamburger buns – in an hour. Amazing, right?
And notice all the slightly different sizes? No matter how hard I try, the buns are never all the same size. It’s just fine, though, because Brian eats the bigger buns and I like them smaller…and a bit imperfect, of course.
Oh, and this recipe still makes great breadsticks, plus they are easily shaped into longer buns for hot dogs and sausages, and make terrific homemade pigs in a blanket. See? It’s a keeper for sure.
Click the arrow for the printable recipe!
I haven’t made homemade buns before, but this really makes me want to. Hopefully I can get them to turn out as good as yours seem to be. At what point during this process would you add sesame seeds if you wanted them?
During the last rise – brush with an egg wash and sprinkle with seeds!
I have been looking for this recipe for years…decades, actually. Just made a batch – 5 hot dog buns, 4 hamburger buns and 3 cheddar hot dog buns. amazing!!! Easy quick and very light bread. Thank you. This is my go to from now on.
So glad you found it, Gayle – I feel the same way as you!
Thanks Jami, these sound really good and I will try them. How long do they keep? Do they freeze well?
They freeze wonderfully, Sharon – I put a note in the recipe about how I freeze them. They’re like any homemade bread – they’re best a few days after baking, but are okay for about a week sealed at room temp.
Never good at working with yeast. I will give this a go. Fingers crossed 😉 xx
Jami, I just made these as a breadsticks for dinner. Although we will enjoy these WITH dinner, we all enjoyed one while still warm, cooled a tad out of the oven. This recipe is amazing. Thank you so much for sharing it. These will be in our rotation quite regularly!
I’m so glad you like it as much as we do! Still in regular rotation at our house, too. 🙂
Hi, just made them and they are great. I used almost only ww flour and just about 1/4 cup of all-purpose flour and they are unbelievably soft! Thank you for this great recipe. 🙂
Nice to hear, Petra – and thanks for sharing your adaptation!
I cant wait to try. i have been baking my own homemade bread for the past few years but very difficult for me to get a soft bread which my parent prefer. thanks and kind regards to you and family. From : Sarawak, East Malaysia.
I think you – and your parents – will really enjoy this bread, Sherlyna!
Hi,
I was just wondering what type of flour is called for in this recipe. Does it matter if it is bread flour or just plain all purpose flour? What is the difference between the two? Thanks!
I have been unsuccessful with all my home bread making attempts! Can’t wait to try this one!
I use half whole wheat and half all-purpose flour, Tyrysa. Bread flour has a higher protein content, making it good for yeast breads, but not as good for soda/baking powder breads. It doesn’t matter for this recipe – use bread flour or regular! I like adding the whole wheat, but when I’ve used all whole wheat, they haven’t been as tender.
Thanks, Jami! I have a few more questions. I’m sorry…I am so new at this. Do you let the dough rise just once? Does it matter how long you leave the dough to rise for? Which hook do you use for knead the dough with your stand mixer? I am reading more of your posts regarding meal planning and I am so glad I found your blog. I can’t wait to try them as I spend so much time in the kitchen preping meals for my family and feel like I have no time for my kids or myself since we moved abroad and no longer eat at my mom’s!!! I feel so frustrated at times! Thanks again!
Have you made this recipe ahead of time, but baked them later, like the next day?
No, Trish, I haven’t tried that – they’re so quick to make that I haven’t felt the need. If you do try it, let us know how it works! 🙂
I, too, have tried other homemade hamburger bun recipes with discouraging results. Today, I decided to give these a chance and….WOW!! Thanks so much for taking the time to tweak a recipe to get it to be so easy (pretty much fool-proof!) and delicious. These truly are moist and tender and I love the hearty healthy taste that the wheat flour gives. Can’t promise “I will never buy store bought buns again”, but I will certainly think twice about it 😉
Happy to hear they turned out great for you, too, Jackie!
Found these a couple of days ago and am making them for the first time this afternoon- 1 Tb seems like a lot of salt for this- my white hamburger rolls recipe only uses 1 tsp salt for 12 rolls. Are you perhaps using kosher salt? (I’ve read that if using regular table salt, you’d need to use less than specified in a recipe that calls for kosher salt, since the crystals are finer and they pack more closely together.) Thanks!
Feel free to adjust the salt, Lynness! We use it as written with regular sea salt and it’s good for us. It makes 12 to 16 buns or sticks, so we don’t find it salty at all. 🙂
Oh and to the Anon, I also prefer baking recipes that use weight and not cups, as they are easier to double and less prone to fail. That being said if I refused to use any recipe except those by weight I’d be missing out on a lot of good ones!
I made this dough for sausage rolls (sorry can’t bring myself to call them pigs in a blanket as I don’t eat pork) and it was diviiiiiiine. 🙂 I can’t wait to make it again as either rolls or buns. It seriously was the most toothsome bread I’ve ever had.
Thanks for the comment, Yasmin! And whatever you call them, you’re right, they are good. 🙂
I have a stupid question… how do I get sesame seeds to stick to the top? I tried oil and they fell off for the most part….
An egg wash is your best bet for getting sesame seeds to stick, Yasmin. A milk wash also works to some degree, but not as well.
are these freezer friendly? and if so, how long do they last in the freezer?
Oh, definitely- I usually freeze half a recipe. As for how long, it depends on the type of freezer- auto defrost freezers produce freezer burn quicker on baked goods. Our manual defrost keeps bread with little burn for 2 to 3 months.
I made these today, using only unbleached white flour because that’s what I had on hand. I joined WW and so am making bread, ha ha! I cooked them a bit too long, but still quite good. I consistently like your recipes. Home cooks rule!
Dixie
I made these this week and WOWsers! Sooo good. They were great for burgers but even better for Breakfast sandwiches in my opinion. They are pretty dense and moist and almost taste like a biscuit 🙂 Thanks so much for this awesome recipe!
I shared it on my page and Pinterest.
I wanted to make your hamburger buns and hit my printer friedly button. At the bottom of the page it had a post it there and happened to hit it and it went right on my blog! That is so cool. Saved it as a draft till I make them. They look delish.
do you ever make this with 100% wheat flour instead of 1/2 and 1/2?
I have, Lyn, and they’re still good, maybe not quite as tender. I’ve used white whole wheat with good results recently, though. I’ve also used WW pastry in place of the all-purpose and then used regular WW for the rest and it was OK.
Play around with it and see what you and your family like best! We have these about 2x/mo with the rest of our bread products mostly WW, so I don’t feel bad about a little all-purpose for these. 🙂
WW pastry flour does not work well in yeasted bread reipes because it is made from soft wheat. White and Red whole wheat are made from hard wheat.
I want to try this in my bread machine!
Lizzy- All the time! We usually only easy half of whatever I’ve made (breadsticks or buns), so I freeze the other half of the batch. Works great!
This looks wonderful! I cant wait to try it. Do you ever make them ahead and freeze them for later use?
Sorry, Anon, I’m just a home cook doing the best I can.
I hate for you to miss out on these great buns, though- maybe you could make it and weigh the flour to find the exact amount and then share it with us? That would be helpful!
I can’t take any bread recipe seriously that doesn’t give the flour by weight.
This recipe looks like just what i have been looking for … I have a recipe that is similar, but reqires lots of kneading and takes ages … this one looks much less time-consuming. Its just gone into my recipe file.
Can’t wait to try this one. The one I’d been using is good but I like to try others too.
Becky- Wow, I’m surprised that the site isn’t up anymore! I will update this post with the recipe later today. Thanks for letting me know. 🙂
Hi there! I just found this recipe and would love to make these hamburger buns, but the site you linked is no longer up so I can’t find the recipe. Would you mind sharing?
Thanks! I am loving your helpful blog!
Becky
I believe I’m having bread envy!
I have been wanting to make buns for many months now. Thank you for the visual steps!
Thank you so much for this great recipe! You are amazing! I have a question about freezing these dogs, assuming they don’t all get eaten in one sitting 🙂 Do you freeze them in regular freezer bags? And do you thaw them first and then reheat them in the oven? At what temp and for how long?
I’m glad you like the recipe, Julie! I’m assuming you mean when I use this dough to make ‘pigs in a blanket’ with hot dogs? I just freeze in a ziplock baggie (I do suck the air out with a straw) and I usually do thaw them first and reheat at 350 for 10 or so minutes until they seem warmed (may have to cut one to make sure the centers are warm). You probably can cook from frozen if you covered them with foil for the first 10 minutes and then cooked as regular – but I actually haven’t tried it. 🙂