Easy 1 Hour Homemade Hamburger Buns Recipe

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You’ll love these easy 1-hour homemade hamburger buns! They’re soft, flavorful, and ready when you need burger buns quickly. Can it be done? Burger buns in an hour? Yes! All without compromising quality for the sake of speediness.

Typically I leaven my breads and doughs with my sourdough starter to make various breads like my sourdough oatmeal dinner rolls, sourdough pizza dough, and sourdough bagels. The benefit of a long ferment requires time, but sometimes you’re in need of bread quickly and need to use yeast for its lifting power.

This homemade hamburger bun recipe is made with dry active yeast for a quick rise so the buns are ready in minutes, often less time than it takes to run to the grocery store.

Our family loves grilling burgers throughout the summer months, and oftentimes it’s one of our quick, I didn’t prepare anything for dinner back-up plans. Since I keep well stocked freezers and pantry, I always have burgers in the freezer, and yeast, flour, and milk ready so that I can make homemade hamburger buns anytime. Not only are they so easy to make, but these buns will elevate your hamburger experience.

Why You’ll Love These Easy 1-Hour Homemade Hamburger Buns

• Why go through the effort of making homemade hamburger buns when store-bought buns are so convenient? In the same way when you make homemade bread or homemade dinner rolls, taking the time to make burger buns will provide a fresh, flavorful product that’s far superior to anything you can buy in the store. 
• These burger buns are soft enough to comfortably bite into, but with a stable structure to hold all of your juicy toppings and sauce without becoming soggy.
• You’ll have full confidence in knowing the quality of the ingredients that’s in your food. No mystery chemicals or preservatives. 
• Soft burger buns aren’t just for hamburgers! Use them for sloppy joes, brisket sandwiches, or deli sandwiches.
• You just can’t beat freshly baked food. Nothing compares to enjoying a bun that’s minutes from coming out of the oven.

Easy 1-Hour Homemade Hamburger Buns Ingredients

Hamburger Buns Dough

• Melted butter – Use salted butter
• Milk – Whole milk will provide the richest flavor
• Dry active yeast – Use either dry active yeast or instant yeast. Dry active yeast needs to be activated in warm water or milk
• Granulated sugar – Creates a soft dough
• A large egg – Eggs are added to enriched doughs
• Salt – Adds flavor to baked goods
• All-purpose flour – All-purpose flour will make the softest bun

Hamburger Buns Topping

• Egg yolk – Gives the bun a golden brown, shiny appearance similar to bakery style buns
• Water – thins out the egg a bit to make the egg wash easier to brush on
• Sesame seeds – Substitute sesame seeds or use a combination of the two for garnish. Or you can leave them off if you prefer.

How to Make Easy 1-Hour Homemade Burger Buns

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

Line a baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper. Use two sheet pans if they’re small to allow plenty of space for the buns to rise as they bake.

In a medium size pot heat the butter and milk over medium-low heat until the butter is melted and the milk is warm, but not boiling. 

Hand Mixing Directions

Pour the milk mixture into a large bowl. Test the milk temperature with a thermometer to make sure that it’s not too hot to kill the yeast, roughly 105-110 degrees.

Sprinkle the yeast over the milk mixture and whisk, incorporating it all together. Let the yeast rest to proof in the warm milk mixture for 5 minutes. The top of the milk will become foamy and the yeast will start to puff a bit. This is a good sign, it means that the yeast is alive and active. 

Add the remaining ingredients to the yeast mixture and mix well with a wooden spoon or Danish dough whisk. The dough will be shaggy and loose at first.

Knead using the stretch and fold method for 5 minutes. Grab the edge of the dough on the sides of the bowl, lift it straight up, and then fold it over onto itself into the middle. Rotate the bowl a quarter of a turn and repeat. Continue to stretch and fold the dough until it transforms from shaggy to smooth, indicating proper gluten development.

Stand Mixer Directions 

Add the warm milk and butter mixture to a stand mixer bowl, fitted with a dough hook attachment. Sprinkle the yeast over the warm milk mixture and allow it to bloom in the same way as mixing by hand directions. Add the remaining ingredients to the yeast mixture and mix well. The dough will be shaggy and loose at first.

Mix on low speed for 4-5 minutes until the dough transforms in the same way as if mixing by hand.  

Shaping the Bread Dough

Do not let the dough rise, but quickly move to the next step. 

Turn the soft dough ball out onto a lightly floured work surface and divide it into 8 equal pieces using a bench scraper. Shape each piece of dough into a ball by pulling the outer edges up and towards the center of the dough, all around. Gently pinch the pulled edges to seal together.

Place the buns 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Cover the buns with a clean dish towel and let rise in a warm place for 10 minutes. 

Egg Wash

While the buns are rising, prepare the egg wash. Crack an egg into a small bowl and mix it with 1 tablespoon of water to thin it out. 

After 10 minutes, check on the buns. They should be puffy and visible risen by this point. With a pastry brush or basting brush, brush the egg mixture over the tops and sides of each bun. Sprinkle the sesame seeds over the tops of the buns. 

Bake, Cool, and Store

Bake for 10-12 minutes. The buns will rise and become golden brown.

Remove the buns from the oven and move to wire racks to cool. For best flavor and texture, allow the buns to cool completely before slicing in half to enjoy.

Store leftover buns in an airtight container at room temperature. For the best flavor and texture enjoy the buns within 3 days. ​

Tips

• It’s a good idea to use a kitchen scale to weigh out the ingredients to help you achieve the perfect bun. Not only will it measure your ingredients accurately, but this tool is the easiest way to help you achieve consistent results each time you bake.
• If you don’t have a thermometer, test a few drops of the milk mixture on your wrist. The ideal temperature will feel warm, but not hot.
• Make sure you leave plenty of space between the buns when they bake. If they’re too close together, they will bake into one another, preventing a perfectly round bun.

I’d love to hear from you! Please leave a comment and rate the recipe. Tag photos #Lockremhomestead over on Instagram when you share pictures of your Easy 1 – Hour Homemade Hamburger Buns!