Buns! But Suzanne, they sell those at the store in handy packages. I was almost into your bread thing and now you have to go and be perfectly ridiculous. Okay, which one of you said that? Homemade buns are SO GOOD. Plus, like if you’re snowed in? You can’t go to the store and get buns so you need to know how to make them. You might have a cheeseburger emergency. It could happen! Even if you never get snowed in, they are still better than store-bought buns. And don’t we want to be better? Of course we do! And besides, if you are already baking homemade bread, you already know how to make buns because it’s that easy.
And if you aren’t already baking homemade bread, stick around. I’ll talk you into it eventually.
Homemade buns come with endless possibilities. Want onion buns? Stick some onion in the dough. Want herb buns? Toss some herbs in. Cheese buns, garlic buns, “garden buns with minced carrots and parsley, sun-dried tomato buns, hot pepper buns–you can do anything because this is a Grandmother Bread recipe. Generally (other than for oil and egg), I use one cup for add-ins to the dough. (Always include your add-ins with the water-yeast (or milk-yeast) mixture, before adding flour.) To replicate the texture of store-bought sandwich buns, this is one of those recipes where I add egg, oil, and milk. When using egg and oil particularly, you’ll need more flour than in the original recipe as you are adding to the liquid.
Read more about Grandmother Bread here. See Grandmother Bread with Egg and Oil (and Milk), too.
If you want to make whole wheat buns, use homemade dough enhancer. You can also make sourdough buns.
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How to make Homemade Hamburger & Hot Dog Buns:
Start with the one-loaf standard Grandmother Bread recipe, with extra flour. (Add-ins: egg, oil.)
1 1/2 cups warm milk* or water
1 teaspoon yeast
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1 egg*
1/3 cup oil*
4 cups flour
*Any time you add egg or oil to Grandmother Bread, calculate the add-ins in the quantities listed here. Per one-loaf standard recipe, add 1/3 cup oil and 1 egg, with about 1/2 cup more flour. Per two-loaf standard recipe, add 2/3 cup oil and 2 eggs, with about 1 cup more flour. When using milk, replace the water in the recipe with an equal amount of milk.
In a large bowl, combine milk or water, yeast, salt, sugar, egg, and oil. Let sit five minutes. Stir in the first cup and a half of flour with a heavy spoon. Add the next cup of flour a little at a time as needed, stirring until dough becomes too stiff to continue stirring easily. Add a little more flour and begin kneading. The amount of flour is approximate–your mileage may vary! Continue adding flour and kneading until the dough is smooth and elastic. Let dough rise in a greased, covered bowl until doubled. (Usually, about an hour.) Uncover bowl; sprinkle in a little more flour and knead again.
Shape into hamburger or hot dog buns (or even sub rolls!). Brush egg white over the tops if you want to add sesame seeds, minced garlic, or sauteed minced onions. Let rise again about 30 minutes.
Bake at 350-degrees, approximately 20-25 minutes. (Baking time depends on size of buns.) If I add cheese to the top of the buns, I pull the buns out after about 10 minutes and top with shredded cheese then put them back in the oven.
You can, of course, also make buns without adding egg, oil, or milk, using the traditional Grandmother Bread recipe (and standard flour measure). The texture is more rustic and I love buns this way, too. However, if you have little kids who might whine expecting more of the store-bought texture to their hamburger and hot dog buns, or just if you prefer that texture, egg, oil, and milk is what will do it.
Here, have a hamburger on a bun made with traditional Grandmother Bread.
Or would you like a shredded pork and swiss on a sesame seed bun?
Or maybe a hot dog? (Homemade buns elevate the simple hot dog to gourmet!)
Makes anywhere from six to ten buns, depending on size of buns. (Double the recipe if you need more!)
See this recipe at Farm Bell Recipes and save it to your recipe box.
Leah says:
UMMM….Those look good and easy to make. A hamburger sounds good right now!
On February 26, 2009 at 2:07 am
CindyP says:
Yummmmmmmmmmmmmm!! I just use the normal GM recipe for everything…. :french:
I remember when my mom and dad first split up (Mom made homemade bread always!! We never had storebought bread anything!) My dad decided he needed to bake bread b/c store bought just wasn’t working for him…….he didn’t make the buns small enough to give them room to raise, we had buns big enough for a pound of burger!!! His whole recipe was used up in 3 hamburger buns!!! But wonderful!!! Now that I’m making homemade bread, I’ve turned 2 brothers onto it, working on my dad again……..Mom, I just make hers for her, she can’t knead it anymore.
Oh, Thank You for that memory!
On February 26, 2009 at 4:47 am
Cathy J. says:
When I would go to my Grandma’s the first thing to greet us, after Grandma, was the smell of her buttermilk- brown sugar cookies, and cast iron cooked hamburger and homemade buns ! They are the best!
On February 26, 2009 at 5:17 am
SkippyMom says:
These are gorgeous! I need to make GM bread so I can make these for Dad’s homemade Big Macs. mmmmmmmm
On February 26, 2009 at 6:26 am
Fe says:
Yum!
I’ve been making bread for the last few years… including rolls for lunches, but I haven’t ever made the leap to hamburger buns… The last time we had hamburgers I started to think that I really should give it a go—this is very timely:-)
On February 26, 2009 at 7:05 am
Heidi says:
Uh-oh, I think I feel a cheeseburger emergency coming on. I better get that dough started.
On February 26, 2009 at 7:07 am
Becs says:
Dang it! It’s 8:00 in the morning and now I’m hungry for a hamburger! :hungry:
On February 26, 2009 at 8:11 am
IowaCowgirl says:
mmm these look wonderful. I make alot of homemade buns….sooo good!!
On February 26, 2009 at 8:18 am
nytesong says:
Glad to see I’m not the only one who believes with my whole heart that homemade buns are the best!
Yours look great!
On February 26, 2009 at 8:19 am
Nancy in Atlanta says:
OMG, you’ve gone back to making me drool on my keyboard. I’ll never look at the store’s bread shelves the same way again! They look creepy now. But – I’m still not ready to get into the whole baking thing. Guess I’ll just read your blog and dream. I was about 16 when I first made MY grandmother’s bread, but I don’t think even she thought of using it for rolls.
Princess looks great – what a fantastic sports figure she cuts! :sheepjump:
On February 26, 2009 at 8:43 am
Linda says:
Those look wonderful. I have made buns before but they didn’t look as good as yours.
On February 26, 2009 at 8:55 am
trish says:
Suzanne your are amazing! Those pictures are magazine worthy. Can I come and live with you?? Yum!!!
On February 26, 2009 at 9:45 am
kacey says:
Doggoneit! I’m now craving hamburgers and I’m stuck with no car to get to the store. Maybe I could just make the buns and eat them…
On February 26, 2009 at 10:00 am
trish says:
Great action shot of Princess in the daily photo. I felt like I was right there.
On February 26, 2009 at 10:50 am
Abiga/karen says:
These look delicious. I want to make them but I think my son in law prefers that white fluff from the store. And then there is the beef problem Once I tasted grassfed beef I just do not like the taste of any other burger meat. I hope we can get a baby steer to raise for meat next, I hope, I hope. I made your sourdough grandmother bread yesterday and it was perfect. We had some friendship bread sourdough starter left so I used that and it worked fine.Blessings.
On February 26, 2009 at 11:02 am
catslady says:
:hissyfit: It’s lunchtime and I want to be at your house!!!!!
On February 26, 2009 at 11:06 am
brookeamanda says:
I love homemade bread! It looks delicious.
On February 26, 2009 at 12:38 pm
Suzanne, the Farmer's Wife says:
I love the grandmother bread and so does my family. The Farmer however complains that when I make a sandwich with it, the bread kind of falls apart in his hands. Perhaps I’m allowing it to rise too much so that it’s “airy” and not so dense. Ideas?
Thanks for this post. I’m going to try this soon because I hate those stupid supermarket buns.
– Suzanne, the Farmer’s Wife
On February 26, 2009 at 1:11 pm
Susan says:
They look delicious! :hungry:
On February 26, 2009 at 1:39 pm
Estella says:
You really made me hungry!
On February 26, 2009 at 3:01 pm
Sandy says:
:sheepjump: They look incredible. I’ve been eyeing a recipe in King Arthur’s book. You’ve inspired me! Thanks. -Sandy
On February 26, 2009 at 9:20 pm
Destiny Doremus says:
Can I please just come and live at your house, and sit at your feet, for just a little while? Please…
On February 26, 2009 at 9:21 pm
Lori Anne says:
Learning to make homemade bread is on my ’09 to-do list. Thanks for this post. It looks yummy!
On February 27, 2009 at 9:07 pm
Organizing Mommy says:
Great idea! I’ve wanted to make these. Now I will!
On February 28, 2009 at 8:56 pm
TXLady says:
Suzanne, I make bread about every other day and can’t wait to try your recipe. I will be making the buns too. I make a lot of sourdough bread and keep two starters going all the time. I have two loaves rising at this very moment. I understand exactly where you are coming from …my friends all think I’m nuts for going to all the effort of making bread. Truthfully, there is only two of us and we couldn’t possibly eat all the bread I make but my animals and the deer love it too.
On October 26, 2009 at 1:24 pm
Ty Thomas says:
Very easy and flavorful, but wow, could get 12 hotdog buns. Tried dividing my dough into 6 pieces and ended up with 6 sub sized rolls which I just cut in to to make the hot dog buns. Used the rest for sandwich rolls. Definitely will make this again as everyone liked the taste and texture.
On October 29, 2009 at 8:12 am
Donna says:
I think it’s absolutely awesome that you make your buns. How cool is that? It would be so impressive at a cook out. I love the onion buns in the store but just don’t want to pay $3.00 a bag for them. Now I know how to make them! EVERY THING is better homemade!
On November 30, 2009 at 1:00 pm
Robert Uren says:
I just made your Bun recipe today and WOW they are great it made 6 very large buns I will probably make 8 large buns next time. Very good flavor and nice and soft with oil and egg! Thank You for the great recipe!
Bob U.
On January 30, 2010 at 2:46 pm
Denise says:
My co workers (for the most part) don’t even know how to cook, let alone bake bread. I make homemade hamburger buns all the time, and rolls, and bread, cinnamon rolls, pepperoni rolls, etc. They all think I am crazy, if they only knew how much better homemade is….and it really isn’ that difficult.
One day a couple of weeks ago, we had 10-12″ of snow predicted over the evening and the next day. There is a grocery store right next door to my office, so I went over and bought a gallon of milk – not because it was supposed to snow, but because I needed it. Several people commented to me that I had the milk, where was the bread? When I told them I had flour and yeast at home, I did not need to buy bread, they looked at me like I was crazy. I just smiled and walked out the door…. :happyfeet:
On February 6, 2010 at 2:20 pm
debbie says:
A few weeks ago I sent an email to several friends who love to bake asking for a recipe for hamburger buns. One friend sent me a link to your website and your recipe for hamburger buns. Along with the link, she sent the following message:
Disclaimer:
I am not responsible for the hours you may lose in your day perusing this website;) LOL
How true! (Thanks Michelle!) Anyway, I finally got around to making the hamburger buns today and they were WONDERFUL! My husband and kids were eating them before the burgers were done. Good thing I doubled the recipe! Thanks!
On May 3, 2010 at 7:28 pm
Suzanne McMinn says:
Hi, debbie! That’s funny! I’m glad you’re here!
On May 3, 2010 at 9:33 pm
sb158 says:
Made these yesterday, for the bratwurst I was cooking for dinner. They were outstanding!
Just found your place, via a link from another blog, and I love it. Thanks for sharing all this with us.
On July 1, 2010 at 2:57 pm
Robin Sampson says:
Cheeseburger emergency LOL! :shimmy:
On July 9, 2010 at 1:33 pm
Heather says:
I have a young, large family and have been making homemade bread for a little over a year now, but this is my first time making hamburger buns. For some reason it intimidated me. When deciding to have chopped bbq beef sandwiches for dinner and realizing we didn’t have any hamburger buns I thought, why not!! I am so glad i did!!!These are so easy, so delicious! They are going to be a staple in my home for sure.
On July 21, 2010 at 4:06 pm
tribyen says:
These were absolutely DELICIOUS.
I was looking for a recipe yesterday because I make french bread a lot but it always turns out fairly dense and crusty and I wanted something softer for a bun. These were PERFECT. They were softer, with a nice texture, and held together better than a store-bought bun would at the same time. I may even start using this recipe for my french bread loaves…
Definitely a keeper, this is going into my recipe book IMMEDIATELY.
Thank you!
On July 26, 2010 at 10:48 am
CarolLee says:
I love making my own bread and my own hamburger buns. But I admit to being truly lazy for the shaping portion. I roll the dough out after the first rise, then I use a large plastic cup for the shape. Kinda like a large biscuit cutter. Then let them raise again. It is nice for hamburgers or pulled BBQ sandwiches, and you can modify the size easily.
On January 26, 2011 at 9:12 pm
Holly says:
I’m a couple years late, but better late than never, right? I have been an avid reader ofyour blog for several months and when I was looking for a roll recipe I thought of you first to look!
Anyway, would this recipe be good to use in a bread machine? Just having recent carpal tunnel surgery, I rely on the machine for my kneading and mixing.
On February 16, 2011 at 9:26 am
Suzanne McMinn says:
Holly, I don’t have a bread machine, so I don’t know how to convert it to bread machine, I’m sorry!
On February 16, 2011 at 9:50 am
Holly says:
Suzanne – it worked GREAT making the dough in my bread machine! This is the roll recipe I have been searching for!! YUM!! Thanks for sharing!!
On February 20, 2011 at 12:16 pm
robandzoe says:
My three year old and I are making these for the first time today and we always make bread too! Homemade is the only way here at our farm and we love it! Cant wait to they them with the pulled pork that is cooking away in the crockpot right now!
On April 4, 2011 at 12:21 pm
Liz Pike says:
I am trying these today for hotdogs tonight, will report back on how well they turn out!!
On July 12, 2011 at 2:30 pm
Liz Pike says:
OMG!! These turned out great!!! I got 9 hot dog buns and 3 hamburger buns (why? because that’s all I needed 🙂 . I probably could have gotten more because they rose so well, but I’d need my scale to be more precise when shaping, even so, they are perfect!
(It is so nice to have to only remember 1 recipe and get so many different things out of it!)
On July 12, 2011 at 6:43 pm
pharmerphil says:
Grandma Had big buns!!
J/K
I made these the other day, they were great!
I bake bread all the time, went into this recipe with skepticism over the procedure being different than my typical bun recipe..
I was very impressed, as was my wife…and They looked like the pics!!
I must say though…the recipe said 6-10 rolls…
I made 8…
They were HUGE…
If Grandma made 6…she then; UNDOUBTABLY…had Big bunz 😉 :snoopy:
On March 11, 2012 at 10:08 am
feather314 says:
Just made these and they are AWESOME!!! We’re having hamburgers for dinner tonight but I could not wait and had to try one now… Oh Em Gee!!! Will definitely be making these again (and other incarnations of Grandmother bread) in the future. Thanks so much… :snoopy:
On November 4, 2012 at 4:23 pm