I spent over a year developing this recipe, and I think I nailed it. These are soft, semi – sweet, well rounded hamburger buns that are made with butter, flour, sourdough discard, and commercial yeast. I’ve tried many recipes in the past and couldn’t get the texture just right – until these. I believe everyone has the capacity to make these hamburger buns for your next grill night!
❤️ Why You’ll Love Discard Hamburger Buns
These are soft, subtle and simple. The perfect summer hamburger bun! And with the combination of sourdough discard and commercial yeast, I believe anyone can make these, and make them all in one day. The second rise is also very forgiving, so if you make them in the morning, you can pop them in the fridge until the evening, when you’re ready to bake!
🍲 Ingredients
Sourdough Discard – Unfed, inactive sourdough starter.
Flour – We use Kirkland’s organic, all-purpose flour for all of our recipes, but you can use whatever you have on hand. Organic isn’t always necessary, but I do recommend using unbleached flour.
Yeast – I use this brand of instant yeast and have zero complaints. I highly recommend.
Water – Warm filtered water can activate the yeast.
Milk – Whole milk makes the hamburger buns more enriched with sweeter flavor, but you can use another 3/4 cup of water instead.
Egg – I go back and forth with the egg, but I think it makes a difference with the supple texture. But if there is an egg allergy, you can absolutely leave it out.
Butter – Room temperature butter.
👩🍳 How to Make Sourdough Discard Hamburger Buns
- In a stand mixer add ¾ cup warm water, 1 tsp of honey, and 2 tsp of instant yeast. Stir together until all the yeast is submerged. Let sit and rest for 5-10 minutes until the yeast has bubbled and become frothy.
- Add 4 cups of all purpose flour, salt, egg, honey, milk, and sourdough discard to the bowl and mix on low speed until it starts to come together. Add the softened butter to the bowl one tablespoon at a time until it fully incorporates. Add the last ⅔ cup of all purpose flour to the bowl slowly, until the dough fully comes together. Leave in the stand mixer on low, or use your hands to knead the dough for 5 – 6 minutes.
- Place a cover over the bowl and let rest for 2 hours in a warm space until it has doubled in size.
- When your dough has doubled and rested, turn it over onto a lightly floured work space. Use your bench scraper (or large knife) to separate the dough into 8 equal pieces. Pinch the edges of the dough pieces into the middle and roll into a ball.
- Transfer the dough balls to a parchment lined baking sheet and cover with a damp towel. Let rest on the counter for 1 hour until puffy (or in the fridge for up to 8 hours until you’re ready to bake).
- Preheat your oven to 390 degrees.
- Brush the tops of the buns with an egg wash mixture (one egg whisked with a splash of water).
- Bake your hamburger buns at 390 degrees for 23 – 25 minutes.
- Transfer to a wire cooling rack and let cool for 20 minutes before serving 🙂 Enjoy!
🪄 Tips and Tricks
- If you’re not ready to bake the buns after the first rise, utilize popping them in the fridge until you’re ready! I like to make the buns in the morning, put them in the fridge for their second rise, and then bake them before dinner and it works great 🙂
🗒 Substitutions
There are a few substitutions you can make with these hamburger buns, while still keeping the deliciousness and integrity of them. You can use water instead of the milk, leave out the egg, or substitute bread flour for all-purpose flour for a chewier hamburger bun.
- Milk – Water
- No egg
- Bread flour – All-purpose flour.
🗒 Best served with
- Burgers
- Chicken salad sandwiches
- Breakfast Sandwiches
- Summer BBQ
👝 How to Store Leftovers
Store your leftover hamburger buns in a paper bag (or Ziplock bag) on the counter for 3-4 days. You can also freeze your leftover hamburger buns in a Ziplock bag for up to 3 months. When you’re ready to eat them, let them thaw on the counter in the bag for 2-3 hours.
🤔 Common Questions
Yes! you can use active starter instead of sourdough discard, and still use the yeast. But if you want to use active starter instead of commercial yeast. Use 150 of bubbly starter and let it ferment on the counter overnight. Then shape, let it rest for 1-2 hours, and bake in the morning.
Sourdough Discard Hamburger Buns
Ingredients
- 4 ⅔ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp instant yeast
- 1 tsp salt
- ¾ cup warm water
- ½ cup sourdough discard
- 2 tbs honey
- 1 egg
- ¾ cup whole milk
- 2 tbs softened butter
- 1 egg for egg wash
Instructions
- In a stand mixer add ¾ cup warm water, 1 tsp of honey, and 2 tsp of instant yeast. Stir together until all the yeast is submerged. Let sit and rest for 5-10 minutes until the yeast has bubbled and become frothy.
- Add 4 cups of all purpose flour, salt, egg, honey, milk, and sourdough discard to the bowl and mix on low speed until it starts to come together. Add the softened butter to the bowl one tablespoon at a time until it fully incorporates. Add the last ⅔ cup of all purpose flour to the bowl slowly until the dough fully comes together. Leave in the stand mixer on low or use your hands to knead the dough for 5 – 6 minutes.
- Place a cover over the bowl and let rest for 2 hours in a warm space until it has doubled in size.
- When your dough has doubled and rested, turn it over onto a lightly floured work space. Use your bench scraper (or large knife) to sperate the dough into 8 equal pieces. Pinch the edges of the dough pieces into the middle and roll into a ball.
- Transfer the dough balls to a parchment lined baking sheet and cover with a damp towel. Let rest on the counter for 1 hour until puffy (or in the fridge for up to 8 hours until you're ready to bake).
- Preheat your oven to 390 degrees.
- Brush the tops of the buns with an egg wash mixture (one egg whisked with a splash of water)
- Bake your hamburger buns at 390 degrees for 23 – 25 minutes.
- Transfer to a wire cooling rack and let cool for 20 minutes before serving 🙂 Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
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Any milk alternative options?
You can use any milk subsitute you like, or just add more water and leave it out entirely 🙂
OMG hands down the best bun recipe I’ve used! The only thing I’ll do different is make 10 buns instead of 8! There soft, fluffy and delicious!! 🤤
I’m glad you liked them!
The best bun recipe I’ve done do for! Subbed the milk for a non milk sub and delicious. We’ve also made with raw milk and they’re so good regardless. My husband thinks they’re similar to a Texas roadhouse roll so he’s a fan.
They turned out great! The best hamburger buns i have baked 🙂 Thanks for the recipe.
I’m glad you liked them!
I usually don’t leave recipe reviews because I have to scroll through the ads, etc etc. 😉
But these have just made my day! So glad I made them, they super easy, and will make again. I used half cream/half almond milk because I didn’t have whole, and it worked.
I’m so happy you loved them 🙂
Hi! I only have active dry yeast packets not the instant yeast, does that affect the tise times? Thanks!!
No it should be the same. Active needs to be bloomed first though.
Hello! Do you bloom with those same ingredients? Or additional water and sugar?
Made these today and they are marvelous. I was low on milk so I substituted 3 tbsp. powdered buttermilk to 3/4 cup water. I also needed to add an additional 2 tbsp. flour and the dough was still quite sticky. I used quick rise yeast and they puffed up beautifully. I ended up with 12 large rolls. Will definitely make them again
This is a great idea! I have some buttermilk that I need to use up, I think I’ll try that!
Is the amount of honey you add an additional 2 tbsp or do you subtract the 1 tsp that you added to the yeast in the beginning?
Additional 2 tbs. I hope you love them!
Made these for the first time and they are SO good! They taste amazing (my husband had an extra one with butter after dinner!). They did turn out very dense and I’m wondering if I did something wrong. I hand mixed/kneaded the dough and maybe I over did it? Any suggestions are greatly appreciated 🙂
I only have yeast packets. Is it okay if I use a whole packet? I believe it’s a bit more than 2tsp.. I would just hate to waste some.
Yes! That would work, just reduce the rise time slightly. More yeast means a quicker rise <3
I don’t have a stand mixer. Will these still turn out good if I just hand mix?
Yes!
My husband is ridiculously picky about his burger buns. Bakery buns only. 🙄 So when we had my parents over the other night for burgers, I let him buy his buns (eyeroll) and I made a batch of these. First, I CRIED at how beautiful they were when they came out. Why was I so freaked about about making burger buns?? And THEN, he said they were so good I can always make them. Thank you, brilliant lady!
If you put them in the fridge, do you wait for them to come to room temp before baking or bake right away? Thanks!
I would bake them when you take them out of the fridge. You don’t want them to overproof.
I’ll never use another bun recipe! These are the best. Thank you so much for spending the time to perfect the recipe for us.
Awee thank you.
Made these tonight, literally the best buns ever! I tried a different recipe in the past but they turned out very dense and stiff. These buns were so soft and tasty! I added sesame seeds on top of the egg wash. My family loved them!
Thanks for sharing the recipe!
I’m so happy you and your family loved them.
Thank YOU for these kind words!
So delicious and a million times better than store bought!
I totally agree! I’m glad you enjoyed them <3
This hamburger bun recipe was perfect! I did substitute regular sugar for molasses. Still came out amazing! My husband loves these buns. I’m one to double recipes so he was ecstatic I made more so he can eat just the bun later, haha. I will be keeping this recipe for future burgers! Thank you for sharing.
I’m happy he loves them.
The recipe was easy to follow and the hamburger buns turned out perfectly. I did double the recipe and made 22 large buns. My past experience in using discard bun recipes is that the dough in the final rise more then doubles, so I shaped the dough into disc like shapes and they were still thick enough for burger buns. I also added 3 cups of whole wheat flour, did not use a stand mixer, and did not bake for as long as the recipe stated based on the way my oven bakes. I will use this recipe again. Thank you!
Thank you for the tips in this review! I’m glad you enjoyed the buns 🙂
I’ve made these so many times and love them! Would this recipe still turn out well if I half it?
So good!! Mine came out looking like softball though. Did they rise too much, or did I shape wrong? 😅 thank you for all you do!