Soft & Fluffy Sourdough Hamburger Buns#BreadBakers

These easy sourdough hamburger buns are light and fluffy, simple to make, they’re perfect to make the day before you want to use them. They are the ideal hamburger bun for a soups or burgers.
What I like about these buns
- You do not knead a food processor or kitchen aid to make the dough.
- They do not need a baking stone or Dutch oven for this, since the enriched dough will bake directly in a baking pan and it won’t require steam.

Makes 9 Buns
Ingredients
For Feeding The Sourdough Starter
25 Grams Sourdough Starter
50 Grams All Purpose Flour
50 Grams Water
For The Buns Dough
450 Grams All Purpose Flour
150 Grams Water
100 Grams Milk
20 Grams Fresh Yogurt - optional
25 Grams Granulated Sugar
10 Grams Pink Himalayan Salt
100 Grams Active Fed Sourdough Starter
55 Grams Salted Butter
Method
For Feeding The Sourdough Starter

Take 25 grams of leftover sourdough starter out of the fridge and feed it 50 grams all purpose flour and 50 grams of water. Stir the ingredients thoroughly to combine and mark the top of the starter with a rubber band.

Cover the starter loosely with a lid and let it rise at room temperature for 5-8 hours, or until it doubles in size.

Mixing The Dough

When your starter has doubled in size and it’s ready to use.

Add the following ingredients to a large mixing bowl, the water, milk, yogurt, sugar, salt, and sourdough starter. Stir the liquid ingredients together with a spoon or a dough whisk to break of up starter and to dissolve the salt and sugar.
Next, add all of the flour to the mixing bowl and stir the ingredients together until a rough dough forms. At this point, cover up the bowl with a kitchen towel or shower cap and let the dough rest for 30 to 45 minutes.
To prepare the butter to be added to the dough

Cut the butter into cubes and let it rest at room temperature so that it can soften.
After the 30 to 45 minutes rest, uncover the dough and add all of the softened butter cubes right on top of the dough. Squeeze the butter into the dough with your hands until it is thoroughly combined with the dough and the dough starts to hold together again. Cover the dough and let it rest for 30 to 45 minutes.
Stretch & Folds

Next, give the dough it’s first set of stretch and folds. Uncover the dough and grab an edge of the dough and stretch it upwards, then when the dough begins to resist, fold it over the top of the dough. Continue stretching and folding the edges of the dough about 10 - 12 times total, or until the dough starts to resist stretching and firm up. After that, cover the dough up again and let it rest for 30 to 45 minutes.

Give the dough a second set of stretch and folds. The dough should be smoother and hold together better than it did during this next set of stretch and folds. Cover the dough and let it rest for another 30 to 45 minutes. I have done 3 sets of stretch & folds after every 30 to 45 minutes.
Finally, give the dough one last set of stretch and folds and then flip the dough over so the smooth side is facing up and the seam side is facing down.
The First Rise (Bulk Fermentation)

Cover the dough with a layer of plastic wrap or shower cap (or close the bowl with an airtight lid) and then let the dough rise at room temperature, or for at least 8-12 hours , If you are staying in warm climate like Mumbai then dough rises in 3 to 4 hours. You want the dough to completely double in size, which can take more time than usual since this is a heavy, enriched dough.

The dough should be doubled in size and ready to shape.
Dividing & Shaping

Take the dough on a just lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into nine equal-sized pieces. If you want to use a scale to weigh the dough balls precisely, scale them to nine dough balls.
Shape them directly into individual balls. Stretch and fold each piece of dough into a ball, and then roll the dough into a tight ball on the surface of the kitchen counter with your hand in a circular motion.

Arrange the dough balls in a 9×13″ baking pan lined with parchment paper. When evenly spaced out, the dough balls should be close but not touching each other.

As the sourdough hamburger buns rise, they will touch and press into each other like pull-apart rolls.
Sourdough hamburger buns divided, shaped, ready to proof, kept them on the counter covered with an oiled cling wrap for 2 hours then refrigerated for overnight ( for 12 hours).

Here they are out from the refrigerator and kept for further proofing for another 2 hours or until they are almost completely doubled in size . They make take more time or less depending on the temperature in your kitchen.

Buns finally & fully proofed, ready to go into the preheated oven.

Brush them with egg or milk wash and bake in preheated oven at 200°C for 20 to 30 minutes. In my oven they got baked in exactly 20 minutes. Each oven temperature may differ so check accordingly.

Remove the baked rolls from the pan onto a cooling rack then brush them with butter or neutral oil. Let the the rolls cool for at least 30 minutes before serving for dinner.
My Notes

If you don’t want to make pull-apart hamburger buns, you can arrange them further apart on two sheet pans. This will prevent the buns from rising into each other and they will each be round and uniform after baking. Using a pastry brush, brush the buns with a tablespoon of melted butter or neutral oil. This will help keep the buns from drying out while they rise and it will stop them from sticking to the plastic wrap.

You want the buns to almost completely double in size during the final proof, so this might require an extra long proofing time. Hamburger buns that are proofed for less time tend to tear open on the sides/top during baking. Proofing them until they are very puffy, soft, and delicate will fix this issue.

Properly proofed hamburger buns will also be softer and more airy on the inside, which is exactly what you want in this type of bread.

Softest & fluffiest, pull-apart sourdough hamburger buns. that are sure to be a hit at your burger party.

Labels: Sourdough, Dinner Rolls, Buns,Bread Bakers, Eggless, Breads

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all our of lovely bread by following our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated after each event on the #BreadBakers home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send Stacy an email with your blog URL to foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com.
We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.
This month’s theme is Rolls & Buns.