Bread Machine Hamburger Buns

This easy bread machine hamburger buns recipe creates soft & delicious hamburger buns with a wide variety of toppings (such as sesame seeds, onion flakes, poppy seeds & more).

Your family will love these freshly made hamburger buns… because they are so much better tasting than packaged supermarket buns (that might have been sitting on the shelf for days). You will love them because the bread machine does a lot of the hard work such as mixing & kneading!

Bread Machine Hamburger Bun with Onion Flakes Topping

Recipe Sections

1. Ingredients
2. Instructions
3. Helpful Tips

Recipe Rating 4.92 from 45 votes Featured Comment Paula “These hamburger buns are so very soft and delicious and easy! I have made dozens already and I know the recipe by heart . They’re just so GREAT…I have used them for cold and hot sandwiches as well as hamburgers. Absolutely FABULOUS recipe.”

With this recipe, you will make the hamburger bun dough in your bread machine and then shape the dough by hand into hamburger buns. Finally, you will bake the bread machine hamburger buns in your oven. The recipe also discusses different toppings such as sesame seeds & onion flakes.

Bread Machine Hamburger Bun with Sesame Seeds

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 Cups – Buttermilk (warm) – 296 milliliters – If you do not have buttermilk, you can use regular milk (but the buns will not be as soft)
• 1 – Large Egg (lightly beaten) – 57 grams – Not extra large or jumbo-sized eggs
• 4 Tablespoons – Unsalted Butter (sliced & softened) – 57 grams
• 2 Tablespoons – White Granulated Sugar – 25 grams
• 3 1/2 Cups – Bread Flour – 420 grams
• 1 1/2 Teaspoons – Salt – 9 grams
• 1 1/2 Teaspoons – Bread Machine Yeast – 4.5 grams – Not active dry yeast
• Optional – Before baking the buns, add an egg wash to the top of each bun and sprinkle on sesame seeds, onion flakes, poppy seeds, etc. Or right after baking, brush melted butter on the buns while they are still hot.

Servings – 8 regular-sized hamburger buns or 12 sliders

Equipment – Measuring cup & spoons, flexible spatula, oven mitts, baking sheets, large cutting board, oven… and of course, a bread machine!

Hamburger Dough “Balls” (BEFORE Pressing Them Into “Patties”)

After Pressing Dough Down Into Patties, Cover & Let Buns Rise

Instructions (for Bread Machine Hamburger Buns)

Make The Dough

• Remove the bread pan from your unplugged bread machine.
• Lightly beat the egg.
• Soften the butter in a microwave.
• Place the buttermilk (or milk), egg, butter and then the rest of the ingredients into the bread pan. You can make a little indent on top of the flour to hold the yeast (until the machine starts). Place the yeast & salt in separate parts of the bread pan (because the salt will slow yeast growth too much if the salt is placed right next to the yeast).
• Place the bread pan (with ingredients) back into the bread machine and then plug in the bread machine.
• Put your machine on the “Dough” setting and press the start button. In my bread machine, the kneading & rising on the dough setting takes approximately 1:30 hours.
• When your bread machine has finished, unplug the machine & pour the dough onto a cutting board. Wear oven mitts. Sprinkle some flour on the cutting board (before you pour out the dough) in order to avoid the dough sticking to the cutting board. FYI – Do not add too much flour to the cutting board or it will be harder to shape the dough into balls/patties later. You do not want the dough to be too dry.

Shape & Bake Buns

• Flatten the dough by hand until it is a large rectangle.
• Divide the dough into 8 equal parts. FYI – I like to use a large knife to cut the dough horizontally in the middle and then I make 3 more cuts vertically in order to come up with 8 sections of dough. Try to make all of the 8 sections roughly equal in size.
• Roll the dough pieces into balls with your hands. Then place the dough balls on a baking sheet and press the dough balls down into flat “patties”. FYI – I like to shape each dough “section” by pulling the corners together & pinching off any seams (and then rolling the dough into balls). I use the smooth “top” of the dough “section” as the top of the bun. I hide any seams or pinched-off areas (if still slightly visible after rolling the dough into a ball) on the bottom of the bun.
• Optional – Use a pastry brush & coat the top of each dough patty with olive oil. This keeps them from drying out & cracking as the dough rises.
• Cover the dough patties with plastic wrap to protect the dough from dust, etc.
• Let the dough patties sit on the baking sheet for 60 minutes (as this will allow the dough to rise again).
• While the dough is “resting” on the baking sheet, preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. FYI – I like to do this at least 20 minutes before the dough finishes rising (so about 40 minutes after I cover the dough patties on the baking tray).
• Optional – After the dough has finished rising (at the 60 minute mark), use a pastry brush to coat the top of each bun with an egg wash. Then sprinkle your favorite toppings (e.g. sesame seeds or onion flakes) on top of the egg-washed buns. The egg wash acts like a “glue” to hold your favorite topping.
• Place the baking tray with dough buns into the preheated oven. Wear oven mitts. Bake the buns at 375 degrees F for 15-17 minutes.
• Remove the baking sheet from the oven. Wear oven mitts. Then place the buns on a wire cooling rack to cool down. FYI – Do not slice the buns in half until the buns have completely cooled.
• Optional – If you did not add the egg wash before baking, you can brush on melted butter while the buns are still hot (right after they have been removed from the oven). FYI – This adds an extra buttery flavor to the buns (but be aware that the butter will not hold any special toppings). You will need to do the egg wash before baking if you want to add any toppings (e.g. sesame seeds).
• Please read the tips section below to avoid common hamburger bun & bread machine problems.

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Bread Maker Hamburger Buns With Different Toppings

Helpful Tips

• The tips below are designed to help bread machine “novices” and those who haven’t touched their bread machine in years.
• Click on this “print recipe” link if you want to print out this recipe. It includes all of the recipe’s ingredients and instructions. However, the recipe print function does not include my tips section. Please read the tips section in order to avoid common recipe problems.
• This recipe is part of Bread Dad’s series on easy Bread Machine Recipes such as banana bread, extra soft white bread, bagels and French bread.

• Visitors – What toppings do you like to add to your bread machine hamburger buns? Sesame seeds? Onion flakes? Poppy seeds? Something else? Also I hope you are willing to share your favorite tips & secrets on how to make the perfect burger. Please leave your burger advice & topping suggestions in the comment section below.
• Topping ideas – 1. Before you place the buns in the oven, add an egg wash to each bun top and sprinkle on your family’s favorite toppings such as sesame seeds, dry onion flakes, poppy seeds, dry garlic flakes, hot pepper flakes, etc. 2. Or brush melted butter on top of plain buns (right after you remove the hot buns from the oven) for a more buttery-tasting top. FYI – Don’t try to brush melted butter on top of an egg wash version bun as you are likely to brush off a lot of the sesame seeds, etc.
• FYI – Some other topping ideas for bread machine hamburger buns (to use with an egg wash) include coarse salt, bacon bits, dried rosemary, chia seeds and bagel everything mix.
• If you do not know how to make an egg wash – Mix or whisk one egg together with one tablespoon of water. Mix until completely combined. Some people like to use only the egg white (versus using a whole egg) when doing an egg wash… but that is too much work for me!
• FYI – The optional egg wash is separate from the egg added to the bread pan in order to make the dough. So 1 egg for the dough and an extra egg for the egg wash.
• Some amazing visitor suggestions – Linda “made 2 plain, 2 with sesame seeds, 2 with everything bagel and 2 with Italian herbs”, AL “added chopped jalapenos and grated cheddar cheese to one batch. Next batch I added dried cranberries and black walnuts”, Rick stated “My favorite topping is “Everything Bagel” seasoning”, Paula turned the buns into “hot dog” & “bratwurst buns”, Holly “turned your recipe in to cinnamon rolls! So soft and fluffy!”, etc.

• Use WARM buttermilk or milk. If you add cold buttermilk (e.g. right out of the refrigerator), you will slow the yeast growth. Of course, if you add super hot buttermilk, you will also impede yeast growth! Yeast likes things not too cold or too hot… sort of like Goldilocks.
• FYI – You can usually find cartons of buttermilk in the dairy section of major supermarkets. Or you can buy powdered buttermilk from major online retailers. I tend to use powdered buttermilk because of its longer shelf life (versus liquid buttermilk).
• Optional – If you don’t have buttermilk, you can use regular milk (either dairy or plant-based). I prefer to use buttermilk because its slight acidity “tenderizes” the gluten in bread and makes the buns softer than regular-milk based buns.
• One of my visitors (thanks Michael) posted a nice buttermilk alternative and stated “When I don’t have buttermilk I use 1 cup of milk and 1/4 cup of sour cream, all other ingredients remain the same and they turn out just awesome”.
• You can also use 1 cup of milk and 1/4 cup of plain yogurt as a substitute for the 1 1/4 cups of buttermilk.
• Optional – If you don’t want to use dairy-based milks, you can use non-dairy milks such as soy milk or oat milk. Just be aware that the buns will be a little less fluffy as most non-dairy milks usually lack the slight acidity found in buttermilk.

• Optional – If you do not have bread flour, all purpose flour works well too. The bread maker hamburger buns will be a little less “fluffy” versus bread flour buns but they will still taste great.
• Optional – Out of butter? Then you can replace the butter in the recipe with an equal amount of vegetable oil such olive oil, corn oil, etc.
• Optional – You can use these bread maker hamburger buns to make Sloppy Joes, soft dinner rolls (sprinkle some salt on top of the egg wash instead of sesame seeds), breakfast sandwiches (e.g. egg, sausage & cheese), etc.
• Visitors – If you have any great hamburger or sandwich ideas, please comment below. I am always looking for fun ways to use these bread machine hamburger buns. Got to keep my hamburger-loving family happy!!!
• Visitor sandwich & burger ideas – Linda made buns with Italian herbs on top in order to use for “meatball sandwiches” and Stacy used the buns to make “bacon wrapped meatloaf” sandwiches!

• Optional – You can add some fiber to your bread machine hamburger buns by using a 50/50 blend of whole wheat flour and bread flour. Therefore instead of using the 3 1/2 cups of bread flour (as called for in the recipe), you would use 1 3/4 cups of bread flour and 1 3/4 cups of whole wheat flour (so they equal in total 3 1/2 cups).
• Optional – By dividing the dough into 8 equal pieces, you can make buns that are roughly 4 inches in diameter. However, if you want to make smaller slider-type buns, you can divide the dough into 12 equal portions and make buns that are roughly 3-3.5 inches in diameter.
• Ever wonder how some online “homemade” buns look so perfectly round and uniform in size? Well, maybe you haven’t… but Bread Dad did!! The baker “cheats” (okay, maybe cheats is not the right word)… they use technology to improve the shape of the hamburger buns. They use what is called a hamburger bun mold which looks like a muffin tray (or sometimes like a large circular cookie cutter) to shape their buns and achieve a uniform size for each bun.
• Since most people don’t have hamburger bun molds, my recipe details how to make bread machine hamburger buns without a hamburger mold. Your homemade & “moldless” buns might not be perfectly round but they sure will be delicious. IMO – It is much more fun to shape hamburger buns by hand (versus just squishing them into a mold). Also once you get the hang of shaping the dough balls by hand, the buns will come out nice & round.

• If you are having trouble shaping the dough, here is a nice YouTube video that shows you how to make a dough “ball”.
• During the shaping & rolling process, press out any bubbles that appear on the surface of the dough buns. “Popping” these bubbles in the dough will make the finished baked buns look better. You want to have smooth dough balls (with no large bubbles on the surface of the dough) at the end of the shaping process.
• To make my bread machine hamburger buns, I like to use a nonstick baking sheet/tray. If you do not have a nonstick baking sheet/tray, you should place a sheet of baking parchment paper over the baking sheet/tray & place the buns on the baking parchment paper.

• Always use FRESH ingredients (e.g. bread flour and yeast) for the best results. Ingredients that have been sitting in the pantry for months can become stale or pick up weird smells & flavors.
• Try to keep your ingredients (e.g. flour) in airtight food containers in order to extend their shelf life. Airtight containers protect ingredients from moisture (in the air), pests, dust, etc.
• Old flour (when not stored in an airtight container) can absorb a lot of moisture from the air. This extra moisture throws off recipes and can lead to bread collapses, etc.
• This recipe will NOT work with gluten free flour. Gluten free flour differs significantly versus flours with gluten and requires you to use recipes specifically designed for the use of gluten free flour. If you use gluten free flour in this recipe, you are likely to have a baking disaster.

• Place the buns in the middle of the oven to bake. Do not place them near the heating elements in the oven. This results in a more even baking (top & bottom).
• This bread recipe uses instant yeast or bread machine yeast. It is not focused on active dry yeast. This recipe is targeted towards instant yeast & bread machine yeast as many of our visitors are bread machine users.
• Active dry yeast is different from instant yeast & bread machine yeast. Instant yeast & bread machine yeast are added directly to the recipe’s ingredients. In contrast, active dry yeast must be activated in water before being added to a recipe’s ingredients. Many bakers find it quicker to use instant yeast because you just add it to the dry ingredients. With active dry yeast, you need to spend roughly 10 minutes “proofing” (activating) the yeast with a liquid & sugar.
• If you would like to read my review of the bread machines that I own & use to create my bread machine recipes, please visit my Best Bread Machines page. It covers bread machines such as Hamilton Beach, KBS and Zojirushi. The page provides my thoughts on the machines’ strengths and weaknesses.

• Cooler home temperatures in the winter can cause rising problems for bread dough. Ideally, your room temperature should be around 75-80 degrees F. Colder winter room temperatures can significantly delay the rise of the dough. You will need to raise the temperature of your kitchen (if you like a cold house in the winter) or find a warm spot for the dough to rise. I often put my dough (covered of course) next to a heating vent in the winter to make sure it is getting enough heat.
• Conversely, dough can rise faster than expected in a very hot kitchen.
• Kitchen humidity can also impact a recipe. A winter kitchen tends to be drier due to your heating system drying out the air. In contrast, a kitchen in the summer can be much more humid. This change in humidity impacts baking as flour can soak up humidity from the air. Therefore, you might have to add 1-2 teaspoons of liquid in the winter if the dough is looking too dry. Or you might have to add 1-2 teaspoons of flour in the summer if the dough is looking too wet. If your kitchen is very dry or humid, you might have to add even a little more (but start with 1 teaspoon at a time until you achieve the right consistency).
• Of course, excessive kitchen humidity or dryness can impact a recipe at any time during the year (not just in the summer & winter)!

• Other factors that can impact the rise of the dough include old or expired yeast, contaminated yeast (e.g. the yeast was left in an open jar & air moisture contaminated it), water that is too cold or too hot, using heavily chlorinated tap water, placing salt next to or on top of the yeast (salt can kill yeast or inhibit its growth), not covering the dough during the rising period (as the exterior of the dough can dry out & limit the ability to rise), etc.
• It takes roughly 15-20 minutes to preheat most ovens with some variability due to the size of the oven, planned baking temperature (hotter takes longer), etc. If an oven is not properly preheated, your baked goods will come out underbaked and/or take longer to bake.
• Optional – I like to use a hanging oven thermometer to see if my oven has been preheated to the correct temperature. Moreover, some ovens can be 25-50+ degrees F hotter or colder than the number you set with your oven dial. Therefore, an inexpensive oven thermometer (which usually costs less than $10) is an easy way to measure the actual temperature inside your oven. This helps to prevent over or undercooked baked goods.
• Can you freeze hamburger bun dough? You can but I would not recommend it. Some of the yeast will die when frozen (this results in a less soft bun), the crust of dough dries out in the freezer, thawing frozen dough takes almost as long as making fresh dough in your machine, etc. IMO- Freshly made hamburger buns are softer & taste much better than buns made from frozen dough.

• You can also use this homemade bread to make one of Bread Dad’s delicious & toasty Panini Recipes.
• My recipes are based on US ingredient measurements (e.g. US cups & tablespoons). However, as a courtesy to our European visitors, I have also included some very ROUGH European equivalents (e.g. grams & milliliters). Since I rarely use European measurements when baking, please let me know in the comment section below if any of the European ingredient measurements need to be changed (e.g. for XYZ ingredient, milliliters are more commonly used versus the grams information listed in the recipe).
• Always wear oven mitts/gloves when dealing with a bread machine and/or oven. Both can get very hot!
• For more easy bread ideas, please visit Bread Dad’s sections on Bread Machine Recipes and Homemade Bread Recipes.

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