It depends on how large you make your burger buns as much as the recipe you use. Cup for cup, whole wheat flour and white flour have about 400 calories.

Simple enriched bread recipes don't vary all that much in the calorie department, and nearly any enriched 100% whole wheat or light wheat bread recipe can be used to make burger buns. It doesn't take a "special" recipe, so if you already have a favorite recipe, use it.

Where you may see a difference is in how brown the buns get. Commercial buns have excessive amounts of liquid sweeteners in them to make those dark brown tops. You will get a darker crust if you use a liquid sweetener, like honey or agave nectar, in the dough, or a little extra sugar.

Most commercial burger buns are at least 2-oz. or larger (baked weight), and 2-oz. is equal to two servings of bread whether it's sliced bread or made into a burger bun.

Scale your dough balls to between 2-1/4 and 2-1/2 oz. for making buns and they will be close to 2-oz. when baked. If you make lovely jumbo burger buns, they can have 3 or 4 servings of bread in them.

-Grainlady

Amen, to what Grainlady said. I make cracked wheat sandwich buns on a regular basis. However, the recipe I use is for two standard loaves of bread. I just make buns instead. I do the same with Ann T's rye bread recipe. And sometimes I make half the recipe into a loaf of bread and the other half into buns. I really don't think you need a separate bun recipe.

The key to controlling calorie intake is measuring your dough before shaping into buns. I use a digital scale covered with plastic wrap. I use my metal bench knife to cut blobs of dough. I weigh each blob individually, adding or removing dough to get my desired weight. Once I've processed about 4-6 blobs, I shape them and place them on a parchment lined baking pan. In the meantime, the rest of the dough is covered with plastic wrap or an upside down bowl. By the way, I always shape the buns on a Silpat. That way I don't add more flour to the dough which could make the buns dense & dry. Usually I rub oil on my hands to keep the dough balls from sticking.

It sounds more difficult than it really is. The procedure really moves quickly. And this way I know that my buns are uniform in size -- no weird tiny ones next to gargantuan ones.

True confession time -- I usually make 3 oz rolls but 2 oz. or 2-1/2 oz. would definitely be lower in calories. As Grainlady mentioned, grocery store whole wheat products use a lot of sweetener. You can always lessen the quantity called for in a particular recipe. Or you can find a recipe that isn't overly sweet.

pwm, as has been said, there are about the same calories in white and in wheat bread, so you won't save calories but you'll get more fiber, more nutrition, more whole grain from whole wheat. It's not lower in calories but it is often higher in nutrition so at least you're getting something for your calories.

As mentioned, you can use any whole wheat bread recipe and shape it as you wish, you don't need a special recipe. If you want a tried and true recipe, I use this one:

HONEY WHOLE WHEAT BREAD
3-1/2 to 4 cups all purpose flour
2-1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 pkg. active dry yeast
2 tsp. salt
1 cup milk
1 cup water
1/2 cup honey
3 Tbsp. oil
1 egg

In large bowl, combine 2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 cup whole wheat flour, the yeast, and salt and mix well.

In saucepan, heat milk, water, honey, and oil until a thermometer reads 120-130 degrees F (warm)

Add liquid mixture and egg to flour mixture and stir to combine. Beat this batter for 3 minutes. Then, gradually stir in rest of whole wheat flour and enough remaining all-purpose four to form a firm dough.

Sprinkle work surface with flour and knead dough, adding more flour if necessary, for 5-8 minutes until smooth and satiny. Place dough in a greased bowl, turning the dough in the bowl to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place about 1 hour, until double in bulk.
Punch down dough and divide into 2 pieces. On lightly floured surface, roll or press each piece of dough to a 14x7" rectangle. Starting with shorter side, roll up tightly, pressing dough into roll with each turn. Pinch edges and ends to seal and place dough, seam-side down, into greased 9x5" bread pans, making sure short ends of bread are snugly fitted against the sides of the pans. Cover and let rise in warm place until the dough fills the corners of the pans and is double in bulk, 30-40 minutes.
Bake in preheated 375 degree oven for 35-40 minutes, until bread is golden brown. Remove from pans and cool on wire racks. I like to brush the bread with butter when it's still hot from the oven for a softer crust.

Instead of making loaves, just make buns whatever size you like. Usually I use half and half white and wheat flour, which makes 3 cups of each kind, and some extra whole wheat if it looks like the dough needs it during the kneading process. I put it all in the bread machine, wet ingredients first, then dry, and turn it on "dough". When it's done I turn the dough out and make buns, let them rise and bake them for anywhere from 15 - 18 minutes, depending on the size.

Annie

Annie, I use that recipe all the time too. It makes great sandwich buns. I do the same as you too -- 3 cups white AP & 3 cups white whole wheat. Sometime I even bump up the whole wheat to 4 cups with only 2 cups white. It's very soft and easy to work with. Makes lovely bread and wonderful sandwich buns. Depending on my mood, I'll divide the dough into the two sections and make half dinner rolls and half sandwich buns, or half a bread loaf and half buns, or any other combination.

Such good encouragement to use a t&t favorite loaf recipe for rolls and buns. Double your recipe and use the other half. I had a pumpernickel swirl left over and in the fridge a couple days...this was the first time using my digital scale early last month. In a hurry, did the quick 'dump in a bucket' method. -Divided, formed in balls with a bit of olive oil, dumped into a hot enameled cast iron, parchment and all, then baked covered.
Made burger sliders that night and used for pulled pork and smoked chicken sandwiches for DH that week. I actually removed most of the inside crumb and made breadcrumbs that i just used this past weekend for meatballs, (found in the freezer). The bread that keeps on giving, lol...

Many thanks for all the experienced help. Can hardly wait to experiment.