The Perfect Squishy Burger Bun
I've been working on a version of this burger bun recipe for 12 years and I can confidently say that this one is IT. My PERFECT burger bun. With the use of a simple secret ingredient, this recipe reaches new levels of soft squishiness previously unknown to my home kitchen.
Ingredients
- 200 g warm water, 86°F/30°C
- 70 g sugar
- 1 large egg
- 75 g melted butter + extra for brushing, not hot
- 8 g instant yeast
- 15 g dough conditioner
- 150 g riced baked potato, procedure below
- 625 g all purpose flour
- 12 g kosher salt
- egg wash, 1 egg + splash of water
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425℉
- Peel one large russet potato. Double wrap the potato in aluminum foil and roast it for 1 hour. Put the potato through a ricer and weigh it out to 150g/1 cup.
- Combine all ingredients but the egg wash into the mixing bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment. Mix on medium speed for 8-10 minutes. The dough will look very loose at around 4-5 minutes before it comes together into a nice ball that's no longer extremely sticky.
- Use a soaking wet hand and a grab and round dough in a 10 & 2 motion to tuck the dough into a taught ball. To do this, grab the dough at 10 o'clock and while moving your hand to the 2 o'clock postition, tuck the end underneath the dough. This will create surface tension on the dough. Repeat this process 3-4 times, until the surface of the dough is smooth and taught. Cover with a lid or plastic wrap and ferment at room temperature for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes the dough should have gassed up quite a bit. Use your hands and fingers topress down and aggressively de-gas the dough. Once the dough has lost 50% of its volume, grab a grip of the dough and pull it up until you meat resistance and lay it into the middle. Turn the dough 180° and repeat. Repeat this with the other two sides of the dough that have not yet been folded. These are called "Strength Building Folds."
- Next, flip the dough over and put the seam side down. Do another round of 10-2 and get the dough back into a nice taught ball. Cover the dough again and allow to ferment at room temperature for another 30 minutes.
- It will have risen a lot again after the second ferment, so aggressively de-gas it again. Using a dough knife, divide the dough into 12 equal pieces (about 100g each).
- Lightly flour your work surface and one at a time, de-gas and flatten each dough piece. Fold two sides into the dough and flip it over, seam side down. Using your hand in a circular motion, roll the dough into a taught ball on your work surface. Place the buns onto a baking sheet lined with oiled parchment. Do not overcrowd the buns. Leave it to no more than 6 per sheet tray, leaving about 3 inches between each bun. Spritz the shaped buns with water and cover with a damp towel. Proof the buns for 60-90 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 400℉/205℃.
- The buns are well proofed when they can take a poke and slowly bounce back. Brush top and sides of buns with egg wash (1 egg + splash water).
- Load the buns into your preheated 400°F/205°C oven, spritz the oven with 10-15 sprays of water, and bake the buns for 15-18 minutes until golden brown. Be sure to rotate the buns halfway through for even browning.
- Brush tops of the finished buns with melted butter.
For accuracy, I highly recommend using measurements in grams as listed rather than volumetric (cups/tsp.)
If you are new to making dough from scratch, I recommend watching my Youtube video linked above to familiarize yourself with the process.
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