Whole Wheat Hamburger Buns

I had good luck last night making whole wheat hamburger buns. I’ve made the lovely light brioche buns from Smitten Kitchen several times, always with success and to acclaim, but I was trying out a recipe for 100% whole wheat bread last night, and wondered if I could adapt it to buns as well as a regular loaf.

The recipe came from my trusty Book of Bread (p. 78), and is pretty dead simple:

• 1 tbsp. active dry yeast
• 2½ c. warm water
• 2 tbsp. molasses
• 2 tbsp. honey
• 1 tbsp. coarse salt
• ¼ c. oil
• 6 c. whole wheat flour

I substituted in about ½ c. of all-purpose flour, and I also sprinkled white flour during kneading rather than whole wheat. So it isn’t 100% whole wheat any more, but it’s pretty close, and the little bit of white flour gives a lightness that you want when making buns.

Instead of making 2 loaves after the first rise, I made one loaf, and divided the other part into six pieces, each of which became one of the rolls. I folded them around and spaced them out on a greased cookie sheet, and made sure to press down firmly in the center of each—you want a hamburger bun to be wide, rather than tall.

When the second rise was done, I painted the tops of the buns with a beaten egg, and sprinkled with sesame seeds, as in the SK recipe. I also placed the pan of water in the bottom of the oven, to add more moisture to the oven and give a nicer crust. Then I put the cookie sheet with the buns and the loaf in together, both for the full 45 mins. I rotated the cookie sheet partway through, as our oven is not all that consistent, especially when more heavily loaded.

We both thought it was a winner: really nice wheaty flavour, but not overly-dense as whole-wheat sometimes is, and not so much flavour that my homemade 1/4-pound burger was overwhelmed.

Things I would do differently? Instead of making one loaf and six rolls, I would 1.5x the recipe and do two loaves and six rolls. It’s no more effort to multiply a bread recipe, and we typically eat through 1-2 loaves per week anyway, so it makes sense to just make and freeze the extra, and then it’s there and fresh when needed.