My cooking and pantry-stocking habits changed years ago when we moved from in-town to a little way outside of town. The grocery store was really not that much farther away, but making a 4 PM visit to the grocery store to pick up just a few things for supper no longer made sense.
Hamburger buns seemed to be the thing I was forever needing to pick up at the last minute, but I determined this should not be the case anymore and finally found a recipe that produced “soft and chewy dinner rolls*” that also function as delicious homemade burger buns.
*The original recipe was from Cook’s Illustrated and they called it “Soft and Chewy Dinner Rolls”. I’ve adapted it from the original.
Here’s the recipe, which I’ve now made so many times I could tell you the whole thing from memory. I strongly recommend measuring by weight rather than volume for the perfect dough every time. (No need to “add additional flour or water” once you figure out the exact weights, which could vary slightly if you are in a very humid climate.)
Everyday Homemade Burger Buns
1 1/4 cups warm water (about 110 degrees)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons instant or rapid-rise yeast
3 cups or 360 g all-purpose flour
1/2 cup or 36 g potato flakes*
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
Lightly spray a large bread bin or bowl with cooking spray. Add all ingredients to bowl of a stand mixer fitted with dough hook and mix on low until just combined. Increase speed to medium and knead until dough is very smooth and has a little “bounce” to it, about six minutes.
Shape dough into a large, smooth ball and place into bread bin. Cover and let rise in warm place until doubled in size, about 1-1.5 hours depending on the temperature of your kitchen** (see below).
Preheat oven to 400º and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. lightly spray (or flour) kitchen countertop and place dough on top. Divide into twelve pieces and shape each into a smooth, round ball.
Place onto prepared baking sheet and let rise in a draft-free place until nearly doubled in size, about 40 minutes. Bake for 13-16 minutes or until golden brown, rotating baking sheet halfway through unless your oven heats super evenly.
Cool buns on wire cooling rack until firm enough to slice, at least 20 minutes.
* Potato flakes are used to give the dough a soft texture. Be sure to use potato flakes and not instant mashed potatoes that have other ingredients.
** The speed of the rising process varies dramatically based on the temperature of your dough (which you can affect with the water temperature) and the temperature of the environment it’s rising in.
You can accelerate the rise a little by putting it in a cold oven with the light turned on (mine maintains about 80º this way), or accelerate it even more by preheating the oven to 150-200º for ten minutes while you are making the dough and then turning it off. (Don’t forget to turn it off or you will have a mess in all sorts of ways!)
If you’re not in a hurry at all, the dough will rise just fine in a cooler environment; it will just take longer.