50% White Whole Wheat Hamburger Buns
A few weeks ago I made hamburger buns that we loved. They were easy to make and better than store bought buns by a long shot. With those buns under my belt I decided to give hamburger buns another go but replaced half of the all purpose flour with King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour. We also loved these buns and like that the nutritional profile is slightly improved. They aren’t as light and fluffy as the all purpose flour batch, but they’re still very good, and with 50% whole wheat flour their slight heaviness is an acceptable trade off. We ate these with hamburgers, and used them for sandwiches, and I’m pretty sure my husband ate them out of hand as a snack on more than one occasion.
I like my buns on the small side, so I divided the dough into twelve pieces when it was time to shape them. For more normal size hamburger buns you’ll want to divide the dough into just eight pieces.
I weigh flour as much as possible when I bake. If you’re measuring with measuring cups, you want a combined total of 3.5 cups of the two flours.
50% White Whole Wheat Hamburger Buns (adapted from King Arthur Flour)
3/4 to 1 c. lukewarm water
2 T. butter
1 large egg
7.5 oz. unbleached all-purpose flour
7.25 oz. King Arthur Flour White Whole Wheat Flour
3 T. honey
1 1/4 t. salt
1 T. instant yeast
3 T. Melted butter for brushing on top
Place all of the ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer and stir together. Use the dough hook and knead on speed 2 until you have smooth elastic dough. About five minutes.
Place the kneaded dough in a plastic container that has been lightly sprayed with spray oil and cover lightly. Place in a warm place and allow it to double in volume. This takes anywhere from 1-2 hours.
Take the risen dough and gently flatten it into a circle. Divide the dough into 8 or 12 pieces depending on how big you’d like your buns. Shape the dough pieces into round balls, and flatten slightly. The idea here is you want hamburger buns, not dinner rolls. You’re looking for slightly flattened not flat as pancakes. Place the buns on a lightly greased baking sheet, cover with oil sprayed plastic wrap and let rise for about an hour. After an hour they should look puffy.
While the buns are rising preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Brush the buns with half of the melted butter.
Bake the buns for 12-14 minutes if your buns are small. 15-18 minutes if your buns are large. They should look golden. Remove the buns to a wire rack to cool. Brush them with the remaining melted butter while they’re still hot.
Basically Baked 