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Full of flavor, these Simple Homemade Whole Wheat Hamburger Buns are hearty and delicious. They are so easy to make, you’ll never buy store-bought again!
Burger buns are one of the simplest homemade bread recipes you can make. They’re easy to customize, taste amazing, and the options for how to use them are endless. What’s not to love?
What If I Don’t Have A Stand Mixer?
No stand mixer? Add the flour cup by cup if mixing by hand. And congrats, because your arms are about to be cut and totally on point. Invest in tank tops.
What Kind of Yeast Should I Use?
I prefer active dry yeast (Bob’s Red Mill is my favorite) in all of my bread recipes. If you use instant yeast, you don’t need to wait for the yeast to “proof” (double in size) in step one below.
What Kind of Whole Wheat Flour Is Best?
I have a grain mill and am lucky enough to be able to grind my own. I know, I know, I’m exceptionally obnoxious. If you use store-bought flour, find a whole wheat flour that is marked as “pastry”. The grind will be finer which means your burger buns are going to be fluffy AF!
We also use the pastry flour for our Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies and Homemade Whole Wheat Pizza Dough.
Can I Freeze These Whole Wheat Hamburger Buns?
You betcha! And there are two different routes you can take with freezing them.
First option: freeze the dough before the second rise (step 3). Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment, freeze completely and then transfer to a freezer bag. Thaw in the fridge overnight (or on the counter for a few hours) and allow to rise until doubled in size. Bake according to the directions.
Second option: Bake the hamburger buns as directed and allow to cool completely before transferring to a freezer bag. Thaw overnight or microwave for 30 seconds.
Here’s How to Make them
Add the yeast, water, and honey to the bowl of a stand mixer. Whisk together by hand. Let sit until doubled in size and foamy.
Add the rest of the ingredients and mix on low until the sides of the bowl are mostly free of dough. If the dough is too sticky, add flour 1 tbsp at a time. Cover with a damp rag and place in a warm part in your kitchen until it has doubled in size.
Pro tip: if your house is cold, place the bowl over a heat register (yep, I put bread dough in a bowl on my floor). You can even turn your oven on to the lowest setting and then turn it off once it had has preheated. Add a bowl of water onto the bottom rack of the oven. Place your bowl of dough in the oven and it should rise just fine.
Pro tip #2: you can also proof your dough in an Instant Pot using the yogurt setting and a glass lid. Drizzle a bit of olive oil into the instant pot insert and add the dough. Cover with the glass lid and press “yogurt” and set the timer for 30 minutes. Check after 15. It took mine about 35 minutes to double in size.
Gently punch down the dough and knead it by hand a few times.
Pinch off pieces of dough and cup your hand around the dough in a “C” shape. Keep the base of your hand on the counter and gently roll the dough until it is round. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. See the video below for how I roll…
Place another piece of parchment over the top of the dough. Lay another baking sheet on top of the parchment and gently press down until all the burger buns are about the same height. Skipping this step will result in big fluffy dinner rolls instead of a classic burger bun shape. Let the homemade burger buns rise until they are doubled in size. Pro tip: this parchment lasts forever so I use it over and over.
Bake in a 375-degree oven on the middle rack for 15 minutes. Optional: brush hot burger buns with melted butter after you remove them from the oven.
Pro Tips/Recipe Notes:
- I can’t tell you why, but bread rises and is more pleasant to bake on a rainy day. It’s the perfect activity when you’re stuck inside and want your house to smell like angel farts.
- If you don’t want to use whole wheat flour, sub in bread flour and don’t add the vital wheat gluten.
- Want to make these whole wheat hamburger buns vegan? Sub out the honey for an equal amount of white sugar.
- I have not experimented with gluten-free flour for this recipe. Results cannot be guaranteed.
- Want to make smaller buns for sliders? Reduce baking time to 12 minutes.
- For a shiny finish on top of the hamburger buns, mix 1 egg with 1 tsp of water and brush over the top prior to baking.
More Recipes Like This
- Check out all these Pantry Staples You Can Make Yourself
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- Red Lobster Cheddar Bay Biscuits From Scratch
- Overnight Cinnamon Rolls
- Air Fryer Biscuits
- Cheesy Garlic Bread
- No-Knead Dutch Oven Bread
- Honey Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread
WEIGHT WATCHERS POINTS
One serving has 6 WW Freestyle SmartPoints.
Simple Homemade Whole Wheat Hamburger Buns
Ingredients
- 2 cups hot water ~110 degrees F
- 1 tbsp + 2 tsp active dry yeast
- 1/3 cup honey
- 1 tsp sea salt
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 1 cup bread flour
- 5 cups whole wheat flour
- 5 tbsp vital wheat gluten
Instructions
- Add the yeast, water, and honey to the bowl of a stand mixer. Whisk together by hand. Let sit until doubled in size and foamy.
- Add the rest of the ingredients and mix on low until the sides of the bowl are mostly free of dough. If the dough is too sticky, add flour 1 tbsp at a time. Cover with a damp rag and place in a warm part in your kitchen until it has doubled in size. See Notes in post above about how to rise bread in a cold kitchen.
- Gently punch down the dough and knead it by hand a few times.
- Pinch off pieces of dough and cup your hand around the dough in a "C" shape. Keep the base of your hand on the counter and gently roll the dough until it is round. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet.
- Place another piece of parchment over the top of the dough. Lay another baking sheet on top of the parchment and gently press down until all the burger buns are about the same height. Skipping this step will result in big fluffy dinner rolls instead of a classic burger bun shape. Let the homemade burger buns rise until they are doubled in size.
- Bake in a 375-degree oven on the middle rack for 15 minutes. Optional: brush hot burger buns with melted butter after you remove them from the oven.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Follow up comment re Canadian flours. I used 1 cup allpurpose white flour, 2 cups Anita’s Organic WW cake and pastry flour and 3 cups Robin Hood WW best for bread flour. Because i can’t resist fiddling with a recipe I used 1/4 cup instead of 1/3 cup honey. The taste and texture is delicious. Despite the tray flattening down the buns before rising some of mine are more like dinner rolls but at least half are hamburger bun shape. I’ll make these again for sure. Next time I’ll freeze some in their unrisen dough stage. Thanks for this recipe!
You have quite the stock of flour in your house, Heather! 🙂
So glad they turned out well for you, and I think freezing some is a great idea.
Since Canadian flour has more gluten that American flour I’m thinking not to add this to my hamburger buns. I’m not sure how our ww cake and pastry flour compares but my instinct is to use half regular Canadian ww flour and half Canadian ww cake and pastry. Any thoughts on this on this beautiful weekend?
By “this” do you mean vital wheat gluten?
I honestly have no idea how it will turn out but if you try it please let me know how it goes.
White sugar is generally not vegan
Most are if they’re not processed with bone char. And most vegans know which brands are safe for them.
I’m just learning about flour and all its variations. If I use regular ground whole wheat flour instead of whole wheat “pastry” flour, do I still need the vital wheat gluten?
Thank you!
Yes! Any time you use (any style) whole wheat flour, the VWG is going to give you a much better final product. I highly recommend it.
I cut the recipe in half and used the bread machine to knead the dough.  Also added  3 Tbsp harvest grains blend for added crunch.
Thanks for sharing ! Â Â
Love the idea of the harvest grains blend! Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a review. 🙂
Might want to specify whether the temperature of water is in Fahrenheit or Celsius. 110f is warm not hot and anything above 138f kills yeast.
Thanks, I’ll note that and update the recipe. Since I use cups and not weights, my “American” recipes default to F.
These look great! Â What seasonings did you sprinkle on top of your burger buns?
It’s just a hodge podge of black sesame seeds, dried onion, white sesame seeds, kosher salt, parsley, and garlic powder.
Dude, you totally read my mind. I was just thinking today that I needed a hamburger bun recipe and BAM! Thanks!
I also know what you’re going to wear tomorrow. Love those shoes! ;-D
Oh my god I love that you went there with the boob comment. 42 months of breastfeeding and counting (between 2 kids) and I completely understand.
I wish I could go back 4 years and tell myself to stop bitching about my little boobs. They were little but SO perky and cute. Sigh.
I usually leave my bread stone in the oven (it does look as well used as yours), but here it seems you are allowing the buns to rise on the stone, and then placing in the oven. Do you get adequate browning on the bottom of your buns putting the cool stone in the warm oven?
It browns up just as much as homemade bread. I don’t want the buns crispy (and I’m lazy) so I don’t preheat the stone.