I like the King Arthur Flour recipe.

Beautiful Burger Buns - King Arthur

NOTES : The following recipe created quite a stir when it was first posted on our message board page, www.bakingcircle.com. Baker after baker tried these buns and declared them THE BEST. Soft, vaguely sweet and golden-yellow from the butter and egg, these simple buns are perfect for burgers, but also fine for any kind of sandwich.

3/4 To 1 Cup Luke Warm Water
2 tablespoons butter
1 large egg
3 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached
-All-Purpose Flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon instant yeast

1) Mix and knead all of the dough ingredients by hand, mixer, or bread machine to make a soft, smooth dough.

2) Cover the dough, and let it rise for 1 hour, or until it's doubled in bulk.

3) Gently deflate the dough, and divide it into 8 pieces. Shape each piece into a round 1" thick (more or less); flatten to about 3" across. Place the buns on a lightly greased baking sheet, cover, and let rise for about an hour, until very puffy.

4) If desired, brush buns with melted butter. Or brush lightly with egg wash (1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water), and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

5) Bake the buns in a preheated 375F oven for 12 to 15 minutes, till golden. Cool on a rack.
Recipe summary

I use the King Arthur recipe all the time. I can't buy burger buns at the store anymore. DH loves these. They are soft, moist and don't fall apart the ones you buy in the store.

Linda

The recipe that Sharon posted is excellent.

So is this one shared by Lori of All That Splatters.

These buns can be made in about an hour.

Hamburger /Hot Dog Buns

Source: All That Splatters
1 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoons honey
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 egg, room temperature
4 1/2 cups flour
(unbleached, whole wheat, or a mix)
1 package instant yeast (2-1/4 teaspoons)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Heat the milk, water, honey and butter until
butter is melted.
Check temperature. Depending on the temperature, let cool to 120F. Carefully beat in egg.

Mix 2 cups of the flour, yeast, and salt.
Mix into the milk mixture. Stir in the rest of the flour,
1/2 cup at a time. Beat well after each addition.

When the dough pulls together, (it will form a soft ball) turn it out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic. This should take about 5 minutes.

Divide dough into 12 -16 equal pieces. This will depend on the size you want for the finished bun. Shape into smooth balls, flatten slightly, and place on a silpat (or Parchment) covered baking sheet.

Let rise for 30 to 35 minutes. When buns have almost doubled bake at 400 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes.

If you are making hot dog buns I find it easiest to roll the dough out into a large rectangle and cut into smaller rectangles. Let rise with sides touching.

You can brush the tops with egg wash and sprinkle with poppy seeds, sesame seeds, coarse sea salt, or whatever you like.

Here's a picture of the King Arthur buns.

Linda

If you want something a bit different, Ann posted a Potato Roll recipe some time ago that I have used for hamburger buns and pulled pork when I want something "special" for a party.

Particularly amazing for meatball or sausage and pepper sammies!

Potato Rosemary Rolls - Use For Hamburgers Or Sandwiches

1 potato, cooked and mashed
1 Lb (3 1/2 cups) bread or all-purpose
-unbleached flour
3/4 - 1 cup water, Ann Used A Little More Than A Cup
2 Tsp instant yeast
2 Tsp salt
1 Tbl butter, Mash With The Potato
1 Tbl dried rosemary or 2 tablespoons fresh
-rosemary
1 Tsp ground black pepper
1 Tsp ground sage leaves, Optional

Combine the flour, mashed potato, yeast, salt, pepper and herbs in a large bowl. Add 3/4 cups water and knead or mix for 5 to 10 minutes, adding more water or flour until a consistency you are comfortable working with is reached. I added close to a full cup of water and ended up with an extremely sticky dough that was difficult to work with. I was only able to shape the rolls by repeatedly dipping my fingers in flour. The end result was wonderful though.

Place the dough in a greased bowl, cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a moist towel and let the dough rise until it has doubled in size, typically 60 to 90 minutes.

Remove the dough from the bowl, gently degas it, and shape it. For rolls or buns you can weigh them if you like or just eyeball them. I cut racquetball sized chunks of dough (larger than golf balls, smaller than tennis balls) then rolled them into balls in my well-floured hands. I placed them on a baking sheet covered with parchment, placed the entire sheet in a plastic trash bag, and set it aside to rise for approximately an hour again.

While the dough rose, I preheated the oven to 375 degrees.

If you have a spritzer, spray the top of the rolls with water right before placing them in the oven. Place them in the center rack and bake them for 10 minutes. Rotate the pan 180 degrees and bake them for another 10 to 20 minutes, depending on size. My large hamburger bun sized rolls took close to half an hour to bake. You'll know they are done when the bottom of the rolls is solid and slightly crispy. If you have a probe thermometer, check the temperature inside one of the rolls. When the internal temperature is approaching 200 degrees F, they are ready to pull out of the oven.

Ann brushed tops with butter after cooking an spritzed them before

Ann used food processor,mixed everything except salt, let rest 20 minutes and then add salt and kneaded in the food processor. Then knead by hand a few minutes. Or 10-15- minutes in the mixer.

Thanks! I am making both of these recipes right now.

I have another question. My first batch buns have been rising for about an hour. They really aren't doing anything noticable in the way of rising. This has happened on my last couple bread endeavors (including a couple of *very* slow rising loaves and the very last one which *never* rose to an appropriate size, although it may have been that I killed the yeast with over hot liquids in that case)

I am obsessively checking the temperature of things (I brought it around 110-120 degrees for proofing the yeast). I'm using instant yeast. I suspect that the problem must be that the yeast is bad. Any thoughts?

The strange thing is that this is one of those bulk jars. It's about a month or two old. I *know* that the first few things I made with it came out fine (pizza doughs). It has been stored in my refrigerator. I seriously doubt my sweetie or my dog is going in without me knowing and taking it out or secretly replacing it with bad stuff :). How could there be something wrong with my yeast?? Or am I just impatient? Is it normal for buns to take a long time to properly rise? I don't know if it's relevant because I'm new to baking bread, but it's 70 degrees in my house right now and the buns are covered with a towel and rising in front of a sunny window.

Argh :) My car is in the shop, but I am wondering if I should literally run to the grocery store over lunch to get another jar and try again.

Oh no, now I want to make the potato rosemary buns too! And I have one leftover potato and a giant rosemary bush staring me in the face. I guess I am not going to get any work done today after all :)

Another question. If I am going to substitute a wheat flour in one of these recipes, what kind should I use? I have whole wheat, white whole wheat, and whole wheat pastry on hand. Or should I just stick with what is printed?

shawnalyn, I have had luck replacing about half of the all purpose or bread flour with either whole wheat or white whole wheat. Whole wheat pastry flour is a whole 'nother animal, and I use it in other pastry, but not in bread.

As for your bread rising, I don't think a 70 degree kitchen is necessarily all that warm in terms of a quick rise, and bread will rise in it's own time, not according to the clock, so I'd just let it be and see how long it takes, or move it to a warmer spot.

the potato rosemary bread is delicious, BTW!

Annie

I've been very happy with the beautiful buns, but I think I've now got two more recipes to try.

Sharon - No exaggeration within five minutes of seeing your picture I was at the pizza shop ordering a meatball sub!

The King Arthur recipe originally was posted by "Moomie" (Ellen) on the Baking Circle message board many years ago and it instantly became a favorite and eventually went viral on-line. They were also called "Moomie's Big Beautiful Burger Buns" and the recipe is still one of the most shared recipes anytime a recipe for burger buns is requested. I used to make this recipe in the bread machine and used half King Arthur Irish Wholemeal Flour and half unbleached all-purpose or unbleached bread flour, and add Penzeys FOX POINT seasoning. What lovely buns indeed!

You can actually make burger buns from any of your favorite enriched bread recipes - burger buns don't require special recipes. The sweeter the dough you use the browner the crust on the buns will be. That's why commercial burger buns are so brown - copious amounts of sugar. Try adding honey to the recipe for a darker brown crust instead of using sugar.

-Grainlady

If your water is closer to 120 than to 110....you are killing your yeast. Aim for 110 and under....like a baby bath...just a hair warmer than skin temperature.
Linda C

Turns out, it was the yeast. After waiting four hours for that last batch to rise (even after raising the temp in house a bit), I ran out and got new yeast. My new batch has risen more in 30 minutes than the first did in four hours.

shawnalyn, I'm sure those buns are done by now, how were they?

I'm astounded that one batch of yeast can be good and the next batch of yeast out of the same jar not good in just a month or so. I keep a quart jar of yeast in my fridge for months and in the freezer for longer than that and have never had one go "bad". Then again, I use it pretty quickly, I'd say a quart jar lasts me maybe 4 months...

I'm glad you got a good batch out of all that baking, finally!

Annie

I used to have trouble with yeast from the jar. After about a month, it would no longer rise. After about the 3rd time, I just went back to buying the packets. Much more expensive if you make much bread, but at least no wasted ingredients. Then over a year ago I spotted some yeast at S Club, packaged in 2 bags & each bag probably had 3 times what the jar held that I had tried before. It was more than I would use by the time it expired, but so reasonably priced that I bought it. I keep most of it in the freezer, with a small jar in the fridge & it is still working well. It is slightly outdated now, but as long as it still works well I'm happy. I still have no idea why the jars went bad so quickly.

ngraham, that's how I buy my yeast too, at Sam's Club in two bags, I think they are a pound each. One goes in the fridge in the quart jar and the other in the freezer until I need it. I've never had it not work.

I wonder what the difference would be in those small and extremely overpriced jars and the stuff in the big packages from Sam's Club? If I paid that exorbitant price for a jar and it was only good for a month, I'd be yelling at the company, that's for sure.

Annie

I remember reading, I think on this forum, that some companies were adding stuff to the yeast & it didn't work as well. I really hesitated buying the Sam's yeast because it does have an additive, but I've not regretted it. I think they are 1# each & obviously lasts a long time. I only make bread once a week since my kids are grown & gone, but it is cheaper to buy these bags than a single jar.

I tried the King Arthur recipe today. It's a keeper!

I'm going to try it next time with WW flour.

I made both the King Arthur and the Potato Rosemary bun recipes on Sunday. Loved the KA buns. (I goofed and used 4T. of butter instead of 2T...prolly made them all the better!) Same as you Susytwo, next time I'm going to try it with about 1/3-1/2 WW flour.

We didn't like the other recipe much but I did overbake them so I'm sure that had something to do with it. Also, I think that we just don't much care for rosemary.

I have copied Lori's recipe to try...esp. cause it's fast & I'm not good at planning ahead most of the time.

I'm going to make the King Arthur buns and appreciated grainlady's suggestion of adding seasoning. I don't have Penzy's Fox Point seasoning, but their Murial of Flavor looks to be a good addition, too.

This is a very belated update, but the buns turned out fairly well. The slow rising batch eventually did rise into the size of small buns (although it took probably 6+ hours). The new yeast rose very quickly (in fact so quickly that the potato rosemary buns I made rose too much before I caught them and were ruined). The party (my sweetie's 30th birthday) I was making them for went well. There were plenty of buns to go along with my sloppy joes :) We then left for vacation the next day, thus my missing the request for an update.

Now I am thinking once again about making those potato rosemary rolls. I will have to get some potatoes at the grocery store this weekend!! We are having a moving away party for a friend next week and serving pulled pork sandwiches, so this is perfect timing for me to see this thread again!

I have no idea what was wrong with that yeast. I am glad though that I trusted my instinct and went out to get a new jar. I've had no problems with the current jar.

This is another bun that makes a great burger bun.

Ann

Home Cookin Chapter: Recipes From Thibeault's Table

Swiss Breaded Bread
===================
Source: http://chefinyou.com/2009/06/zopf-braided-bread/

Ingredients

3 and 3/4 cups bread flour (see substitutes)
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg (see substitutes)
1 tablespoon active dried yeast
1 teaspoon honey
1 cup lukewarm milk
4 tablespoons melted butter

Method

Combine the wet ingredients (except the egg), Stir and let it stand for 15min until dissolved.

In a large bowl, mix together the flour and salt. Make a well and add the egg and the yeast mixture.

Combine well to obtain a rough dough.

Transfer to a floured surface.

And knead until smooth and elastic.

Place in a clean bowl, cover with plastic wrap.

And let it double about 2 hours (depending on climate you enjoy).

Grease a baking sheet. Punch the dough and divide into 3 equal pieces. Roll each into a long thin rope.

Bring one of the ends together.

Start braiding by bringing right end across the center rope. Now the right rope comes to the center and the center ones goes to the right hand side.

Now bring the left most rope on top of the center one.

Repeat the process.

Till you reach the end of the rope.

Tuck the ends beneath the braid.

Follow the same process to make small breaded buns.

Cover them loosely.

Preheat Oven 375F. Now brush the braid and the knots with egg yolk and bake them for 30-45min or until golden. Let them cool and slice them.

shawnalyn-

Perhaps this yeast test will come in handy for you - especially if you use yeast purchased in bulk amounts, don't use it frequently, and are uncertain of the strength of the yeast.

Yeast Test:
In a 1-cup glass measuring cup place 1-1/2 t. yeast, 1 t. sugar and 1/4 c. warm water. Wait 10 minutes. The mixture should be up to the 1/2 c. line if the yeast is active enough to raise bread dough.

Overproofing doesn't mean they are ruined, just rehape and let 'em rise again! Liek a Phoenix, from the ashes....er....flour. (grin)

Annie

Well, lost the first message. Let's try again.

I made the buns that Ann posted (from Lori). They are magnificent! I had grilled a turkey breast yesterday, so turkey sandwiches were in order today. Hubs raved about the buns--they are keepers! I added a tablespoon of Penzy's dried minced onion and I'll do it again.

Thanks for posting this recipe, Ann!