Hamburger Potato Buns

Homemade soft Hamburger Potato Buns are a staple in my kitchen. I make these fluffy and moist Hamburger Buns every other month. They freeze well and are great for burgers and sandwiches alike.

updated post from 2013

HOW TO MAKE HAMBURGER POTATO BUNS

• TABLE OF CONTENTS
• Ingredients
• Prepare Yeast Mixture
• Prepare Potato Yeast Dough
• How to Create Warm and Draft Free Spot for the yeast dough proofing
• Shape Hamburger Buns
• Egg Wash
• Bake the Buns
• How many buns does this recipe make?
• Can I use instant yeast in place of dry yeast?

POTATO BUTTERMILK YEAST DOUGH INGREDIENTS

• All Purpose Flour or Combination of Bread and All Purpose Flour
• Yellow or Sweet Potatoes, peeled, cooked in water till very soft (or mashed potatoes will work, too)
• Eggs
• Buttermilk (don’t have buttermilk?) Use one of these 6 Homemade Buttermilk Substitutes
• Butter, soft
• Ground Black Pepper
• Dry Yeast
• Salt
• Water

YEAST MIXTURE

First into a bowl add warm cooked potatoes with about ¼ cup of potato water, (step 1). Mash with a fork or puree cooked potatoes with an immersion blender,(step 2). Measure generous ½ cup of potato mixture and whisk it into room temperature buttermilk, (step 3-4).

Pour in honey, dry yeast. Whisk to combine and let sit for 5-8 minutes, until yeast mixture is bubbly on the top, (step 5-8).

TIP :  Do you have leftover mashed potatoes? You can use them to make potato yeast dough.

Wait 5 -8 minutes for the yeast to get bubbly on the top.

PREPARE POTATO BREAD DOUGH

In a bowl of your stand mixer whisk together flour, salt and ground black pepper.

Make a well in the flour. Pour in room temperature eggs, soften butter and buttermilk yeast mixture.

Stir with a wooden spoon to combine and to moisten the flour.

Then using a stand mixer fitted with a hook attachment knead the dough until soft and smooth. Knead for 8-10 minutes.

This dough is soft and it will not pull away from the sides. It’s okay. However if the dough is overly wet and very very sticky, you can add additional flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, up to 3 tablespoons should be sufficient.

FIRST PROOF

Invert soft potato yeast dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knead with your hands for a minute to shape it into a ball.

Grease the mixing bowl and return the ball of dough into a greased bowl. Cover with a plastic wrap or a damp paper towel and let rise for an hour in a warm, draft free spot.

HOW TO CREATE WARM, DRAFT FREE SPOT?

I’ve been using this method for years and it has given me the best result thus far.

• Bring 3 cups of water to boil. Place the pot with boiling hot water on the bottom rack in the oven.
• Place the bowl with the dough on the rack above or next to it. Close the oven door and let the dough rise as directed in the recipe.

FUN FACT : My grandmother covered the bowl with yeast dough with blankets.

HOW TO SHAPE HAMBURGER BUNS

Once the dough has risen and doubled in volume invert it onto a lightly floured parchment sheet or silicone mat, (step 1-4).

Weigh the dough and divide the weight by 8 or 9 for standard size buns. Or if making slider buns divide by 18-19. Weigh the dough into equal portions.

Shape each piece of a dough into a ball. Place each bun onto a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat.

SECOND RISE

Cover shaped hamburger buns with a kitchen towel and let rise for 45 minutes. Preheat oven to 375F.

EGG WASH

Prepare egg wash : whisk together 1 room temperature egg and 1 tbsp water.

Brush each bun with an egg wash, make sure there are no puddles of egg wash underneath the buns.

Avoid brushing too much egg wash onto the buns at once. If you add too much egg wash at once there will be egg wash puddles around the buns. As the buns bake so does the egg wash around the base of the bun, turning into scrambled egg.

TIP : Dip the pastry brush into the egg wash, Then let the excess egg wash drip back into the bowl as you lightly brush it of on the edge of the bowl.

HAMBURGER BUNS TOPPINGS

Sprinkle topping of your choice on the buns brushed with an egg wash : poppy seeds, sesame seeds, caraway seeds, coarse salt on the buns, or leave them plain.

TIP : If you don’t have an extra egg, simple spray buns with a little water to make the toppings stick.

BAKE POTATO HAMBURGER BUNS

Bake buns in the preheated oven at 375F.

Large buns bake for 18-20 minutes.

Smaller, slider buns take about 15-16 minutes to bake.

As soon as you remove buns from the oven cover them with a  dry kitchen towel for 15 minutes. Then remove the towel and let them cool completely.

HOW MANY HAMBURGER BUNS DOES THIS RECIPE MAKE

This recipe makes about 8-9 regular size Hamburger Buns And approximately 18-20 mini buns (Slider Buns).

CAN I FREEZE HOMEMADE HAMBURGER BUNS?

Absolutely. I freeze them for up to 2 months. Let defrost before using.

TIP : These soft delicious buns are great for sandwiches. And you can slice the buns across and you have yourself sandwich bread slices.

CAN I USE THIS RECIPE TO MAKE SLIDER BUNS?

Yes, you can use it to make sliders. This recipe makes about 18-20 slider buns.

CAN I USE INSTANT YEAST IN PLACE OF ACTIVE DRY YEAST?

Absolutely. Use the same amount of yeast, 1:1 ratio (instant yeast : dry active yeast). When using instant yeast you don’t need to prepare a sponge (it’s a step where you add dry active yeast to buttermilk). Instead add all the ingredients into a bowl, add instant yeast, stir and knead till it comes into a soft dough. Instant yeast can cause your dough rise a little faster, so check on the dough after 45 minutes.

Here are my delicious Chicken Bacon Meatball Sliders made with homemade potato buttermilk hamburger slider buns.

TO MAKE HAMBURGER POTATO BUNS YOU NEED

• TOOLS
• Get all the tools you need in my Amazon Shop
• Stand Mixer
• Baking Sheets
• Parchment Paper
• Pastry Brush
• Round Cookie Cutters
• Immersion Blender
• Sesame Seeds, Poppy Seeds, Pretzel Salt (I love this stuff on soft pretzels!)

MORE BREAD RECIPES :

• Delicious Rum Raisin Challah
• Fast Bread Recipe
• Sweet Bread Dough
• Cinnamon Rolls with Vanilla Bean Glaze

PIN IT for later

This recipe was originally published in 2013. On May 25th 2019, I updated this post with new step by step photos, written text and a video.

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