Having guests over for a bbq tonight? Impress them with these simple whole wheat hamburger buns! Now before you cringe and assume that “whole wheat” means gross and that that one picky friend you generally have to cater to won’t like these, you are wrong. Moist and light, these are the perfect accompaniment for either a meat or veggie patty. This bun can also be made with all-purpose flour. But using whole wheat gives it a little sophisticated edge.
Ingredients are the same as my Simple Bread Recipe. But the key is the change in the flour and the portion size to make these buns.
Ingredients:
3 2/3 cups Whole Wheat Flour
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast (or one envelope)
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon honey (liquid is best, but you can use any type as it dissolves in water)
1 1/4 cups warm water
Start with a metal or glass bowl. Measure out your flour, yeast and salt and gently mix together – about 30 seconds. Make a little indentation in the middle of the dry ingredients as shown here.
Take 1 1/4 cups of warm water (not hot, but more warm than cold) and mix in 1 tablespoon of (liquid) honey. Pour immediately into the middle of the dry ingredients. Use a rubber scraper to mix the wet and dry together for about one minute. Then turn out onto a dry floured surface (counter or cutting board) and knead for about 2 minutes. Whole wheat flour tends to be sticky so make sure that you keep adding flour to your surface as you work. I used all-purpose flour on my work surface although the dough is made with whole wheat.
Place the ball of dough back into your mixing bowl and cover loosely with plastic wrap and a tea towel and set aside for 5 minutes.
Time is up!
Turn the dough back onto your floured surface and cut pieces of the dough into evenly sized buns. For Kaiser bun size, I cut this portion into 8 buns. I rolled each piece lightly and rounded them as best I could. But remember rustic is not perfect and they are supposed to look homemade… at least that’s what I tell myself.
Place the buns evenly spaced on a baking sheet and cover loosely with plastic wrap and a tea towel again and place in warm, dry area where no one will disturb their them.
*SIDE NOTE: I place the baking sheet on top of my stove. I usually preheat my oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and as soon as it reaches the preheat temperature, I turn it off. The top of the stove will be slightly warm from the heat inside and I also turn on the hood fan light for added warmth. These things probably don’t make a lot of difference in the rising process, but every little bit helps!
Set your timer for 55 minutes. When timer goes off, preheat your oven to 450. Remove tea towel and gently peel back the plastic wrap off the buns. It will probably stick a little bit. Once removed, brush the tops lightly with a bit of vegetable oil. You can slash a little X across the tops if you want to. But the whole wheat flour is sticky and it does not always come out looking like a clear X. Do not use olive oil as it will burn quickly. Slide the sheet onto the middle rack in the oven and set the timer for 13-15 minutes. The buns bake quickly. Every oven is different. Keep your eye on the buns but don’t keep opening the door to let the heat out and disturb the baking process.
And here you have your finished product! If you have a larger party, double up the dough ingredients to make 16 buns. If you really want to be creative, add garlic powder to the dough before you shape it into buns. Or sprinkle the tops with oil and a bit of Parmesan or Asiago cheese.
Lolita Bakes! 