No-Knead Hamburger Buns -

No-Knead Hamburger Buns

Quick and delicious hamburger or hotdog buns.

Prep Time 3

Cook Time 12

Course Bread

16 ounces bread flour - If using King Arthur Bread flour, this is approximately 3 1/2 cups.
1 ounce sugar - This is approximately 2 1/4 tablespoons of sugar.
1 tsp salt
4 tsp instant yeast - Or, 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon.
12 ounces water, lukewarm - Or, 1 1/2 cups.
2 ounces olive oil - Or, 1/4 cup.
1 egg - For egg wash during baking.

In the bowl of the standing mixer, add the flour, sugar, salt, and yeast. Using the paddle attachment, mix the dry ingredients together.
With the mixer running on low speed, slowly add the lukewarm water and olive oil. You may need to stop the mixer to scrape the sides of the bowl.
Once everything has come together, increase the speed to medium and beat the dough (still with the paddle attachment) for 8 minutes. During this time, stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl and the paddle as needed. At the end of the 8 minutes the dough will be wet, but should come together.

Lightly oil a large bowl. Scrape the dough from the mixing bowl into the oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm location for about 1 hour. If you are using a proofer, the proofer box should be set to about 72 degrees.

After 1 hour, the dough should be double in size. Remove the dough from the bowl and place on a floured surface. A large cutting or pastry board works well here and helps with this next step. Again, if you are using a board, you'll want to flour the board. Have some extra flour handy.
This dough makes anywhere from 15 small to 7 large rolls. The image for the rolls shows 7 rather large rolls. In this step, we're going to make anywhere from 7 to 15 balls. Once you have the number of dough balls you want, let the balls rest, covered with a tea towel for 10 minutes (to let the gluten rest).
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment. Then, one ball at a time, using a rolling pin, roll the ball into the shape of a hamburger or hotdog bun. It should take only a couple of swipes with the rolling pin. Place the bun on the parchment lined baking sheet.
Cover the baking sheets with oiled plastic wrap. It's important to oil the plastic wrap or the wrap will stick to the buns. It will stick a bit anyway, but the oil helps. Let the buns now rise again in a warm location for about 1 hour.

Close to the end of the rising time, set the oven racks to the lower and middle location in the oven. Set the oven temperature to 450 degrees.
When the buns are puffy, bake for 5 minutes. While the buns are baking, beat the egg in a small dish. After 5 minutes, gently (and really gently!) brush the buns with the egg wash. Bake for another 5 to 7 minutes longer.
After the buns have finished baking, let them cool are racks. Enjoy!

For the bread flour, you can substitute some whole wheat flour. I used 4 ounces (or about 1 cup) of whole wheat flour. In that case, you will have 12 ounces of bread flour plus 4 ounces whole wheat (or 2 1/2 cups bread flour and 1 cup of whole wheat.

Keyword Baking, No-Knead