Homemade Mini Hamburger Buns {or Slider Rolls}

TGIF TGIF TGIF!!!!!! Ahhhh! It’s about time the weekend got here! My week seemed to drag on forever! BUT, glad I made it through!

Anyways, when we first moved to Portland, I was mostly super excited about all the shopping I could do! Malls, grocery stores, gas….everything within 3 miles or less. Basically Trader Joes and Target = mecca. Those stores seriously make me as happy as a clam. {PS- are clams really happy? I mean, they get eaten ALL the time….just sayin’} Last week I went to Trader Joes to pick up some mini hamburger buns and to my shock and horror they didn’t have them nor had they heard of them!

*insert gasp here*

My initial instinct was to be extremely rude and say “What do you mean you don’t have them? I know for a fact that Trader Joes sells them because Jenny made some sliders with them years ago!!”

But instead I said “Ok, thanks anyways.”

I’m such a nice person. I hate it.

Ok, not really.

So I came home and made my own. {Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Trader Joes….}

Making your own isn’t difficult in the least…it’s just time consuming. Just like any other bread product, you knead it, let it rise, shape it, let it rise again and bake. 2-ish hours. Easy work, but annoying because you have to wait. Worth the wait though, because you’ll know every ingredient you put into these and they will be fresh and warm and moist and delicious and fabulous and tasty little devils! Stay tuned for Monday to see what I fill mine with!

Here’s how you make them-

Start out with half a cup of warm water.

To that, pour in some yeast

and honey. Honey seems to work better than straight up sugar, in my opinion. If you don’t have honey, then use what you got!

Stir everything together to dissolve the honey and moisten the yeast. Leave that alone for a few minutes.

Meanwhile, grab a hunk of butter

and melt it down.

To the hot butter, pour in 1/2 cup cold milk to make everything warm instead of hot. You never want to add something hot to yeast. Extreme heat = death…quite literally.

Plop in an egg too and whisk that around to break it up.

Now back to the yeast which should be looking rather foamy and fluffy. That means your yeast is working! So, pour this yeasty liquid into the bowl of a stand mixer with the milk, melted butter and egg.

Measure out some salt,

and pour in 2 cups of flour. I finally bought more flour!! Woo-hoo! After using the last of mine on this recipe, and then not even adding any to this recipe….it was about time I got some. {PS- Hi Bob! My daughter asks to go to your red mill ALL the time! We love your stuff!}

On the bag of this flour it said “superb for bread baking” and I would have to agree! Some of the best flour out there.

So, this is what the dough looks like after that 2 cups of flour was incorporated. Still too sticky, so add in more and keep mixing.

This is after another 1 cup of flour. The dough is smoothing out but still a bit too sticky. So, I added in 1/3 cup more and kneaded it in the machine for 5 minutes. You want the dough to be slightly tacky, but strong enough to hold it’s shape and smooth after kneading.

Grease the bowl and the dough, cover and let rise 1 hour.

It should be doubled by then!

After the hour, punch down the dough and form into your mini buns.

Brush with a little egg

and sprinkle on some sesame seeds.

Aren’t they cute? Now, mine didn’t quite double in size again before I baked, but feel free to let yours rise more.

After 15 minutes in the oven, they were all ready! Warm, fresh and soft!!

Truth be told, I had a few plain before I ever thought to stuff them. I cannot resist fresh bread out of the oven. Make sure you check back on Monday for part II of this recipe along with an amazing giveaway! Have a great weekend!

Homemade Mini Hamburger Buns
yield: 18 approximately
 Print This Recipe

Ingredients:
1/2 cup warm water
2 1/4 teaspoons quick rise active dry yeast
1 teaspoon honey
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs, divided
1 teaspoon salt
3 1/3 cups unbleached all purpose flour
3 tablespoons sesame seeds

Directions:
Stir warm water with yeast and honey. Set aside to proof. Place butter into microwave safe bowl and cook on high until completely melted. Pour milk and 1 egg into butter and stir together to incorporate. Pour into stand mixer. Yeast mixture should be foamy. Pour into stand mixer bowl. Sprinkle salt and 2 cups of flour overtop and knead until flour has been incorporated. With mixer on low, add in remaining flour. Finished dough should be smooth, but still slightly sticky. Grease dough and bowl; cover and let rise 1 hour or until doubled in size. Punch down dough and form into 18 small dough balls the size of golf balls. Place on parchment paper lined or silicone baking mat covered baking sheet. Let dough rise another 30- 60 minutes. In a small bowl, beat remaining egg with 2 tablespoons water. Brush tops of buns and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake at 350 degree for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. Use as desired.