{Quick & Easy} Homemade Whole Wheat Hamburger Buns

I’ve been holding out on you.

Yes, I have an amazing quick and easy hamburger bun (or sandwich bun) recipe that I haven’t shared with you.  I’ve been making them for at least a year now.  For some reason, I had never gotten around to taking pictures of them until now.

Maybe it’s because I am lazy, but I like to think it’s because they are so tasty.

Either way, I’ve made them healthier for you!  I always make them with all-purpose flour, but the last time I made them I ran out of all-purpose flour, so I decided to use some white-whole wheat flour (you can just use whole wheat flour if you don’t have any white-whole wheat).  They turned out just as good as they normally do and rose wonderfully.

I know you’re probably not going to believe me that homemade hamburger buns are quick to make, but they really are.  I dump the ingredients in my Kitchenaid mixer and let it knead the dough for several minutes.  The most tedious part is splitting the dough up into buns and placing them on a parchment or silicone-lined baking sheet.  Seriously.  Then you just let them rise for 30-40 minutes and pop them in the oven.  Easy as pie!

Besides being easy, they are super delicious and add so much to whatever meal/burger/sandwich you eat them with.  If you’re like me on a budget, I usually go to the grocery store and buy one of the cheapest hamburger buns I can find.  (Because, hello, I’m on a budget!)  Anyway, they’re usually fine, but nothing all that great.  It’s nice to know that I have an easy, tastier, and cheaper solution than buying cheap-o hamburger buns from the store.

To illustrate my point that they really are easy…

We were planning to have friends over for dinner one night and I was going to mix up hamburgers, make homemade {slow-cooker} pork and beans, homemade french fries, and dessert.  I didn’t have any homemade hamburger buns in the freezer anymore, so I decided I would need to make those as well.  Plus, I had to run to the grocery store and get all the ingredients, and I have a {almost} 10 month old that demands a lot of attention.

My hubby suggested that I buy the hamburger buns instead of planning on making them since I had so much other stuff to do.  I thought that was probably wise, so I went ahead and bought the hamburger buns at the grocery store.  I ended up throwing the rest of the food together pretty quickly and decided to go ahead and make the buns.  They were done in no time, and I didn’t have to use the hamburger buns I bought. Easy Peasy!

• Servings: 12 rolls
• Print

Adapted from Wives with Knives

Ingredients

• • 1 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1 Tablespoon honey
  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 1 egg, at room temperature
  • 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast (also called bread machine yeast)
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 egg, beaten, optional

 

Directions

1. In a small saucepan, heat the milk, water, honey, and butter over low until the butter is melted.  Cool to 120°F. (If your egg isn’t entirely to room temperature yet, the mixture can be a bit warmer since the egg will cool it down some.)  Beat the egg into the mixture.
2. In your stand mixer bowl, add whole wheat flour, yeast, salt, and half of the all-purpose flour.  Pour in the milk mixture and beat well.  Continue adding flour until dough pulls away from the bowl and is no longer sticky (slightly tacky, but not sticky).  Knead for about 5 minutes in the stand mixer.  (If kneading by hand, you may need a few minutes longer.)
3. Shape dough into 12 pieces for small burgers.  I weigh mine out to about 3 ounces, but they are pretty small burgers, so if you like larger burgers, go for 4 ounces each.  Smooth dough ball, flatten slightly (like a hamburger bun!) and place on a parchment or silicone-lined baking sheet.
4. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm-ish place for 30-40 minutes or until buns have doubled in size. (Optional: In a small bowl, beat an egg.  Add a few sugar granules.  Brush egg evenly over risen hamburger buns.)
5. Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned.