The recipe for buns, the bread for hot-dogs and burgers

If you’re making homemade hot dogs or burgers, why not bake your own buns too? The bread for hot dogs and burgers is quite specific. In New York, it’s called a bun—a variation of enriched bread. Here’s how to make it.

Ingredients for 6 hot dog buns or 6 burger buns

• 425 g bread flour (T45 type)
• 50 g butter, at room temperature
• 25 g sugar
• 7.5 g active dry yeast
• 1 egg
• 120 ml (½ cup) milk and water combined
• ¼ teaspoon salt

Tip for the bun dough

• Make the dough the day before you plan to bake the buns.
• An electric mixer works best for this dough. If you don’t have one, you can knead by hand.

Recipe steps for buns

• 1/ Remove the butter from the refrigerator and cut it into pieces.
• 2/ Let the butter sit at room temperature for at least 1 to 2 hours until it reaches a creamy consistency. Let it soften naturally—don’t use a heat source or microwave, which would break down the fat.
• 3/ Mix 60 ml (¼ cup) milk and 60 ml (¼ cup) water in a bowl and warm slightly.
• 4/ Stir the yeast into the warm milk and water mixture.
• 5/ Add the flour, sugar, and salt. Mix well.
• 6/ Add the egg and mix.
• 7/ Using a mixer, blend for several minutes until the flour is fully incorporated.
• 8/ Continue kneading for about 10 minutes.
• 9/ Gradually add the butter while continuing to mix or knead by hand until the dough is smooth and elastic.
• 10/ Oil the inside of a bowl, place the dough in it, and cover with plastic wrap.
• 11/ Refrigerate overnight.
• 12/ The next day, remove the dough from the refrigerator and move to the second part of the recipe.
• 13/ Dust the dough lightly with flour and deflate it. This means gently pressing the dough by hand to release the air that formed during fermentation.
• 14/ Weigh the dough and divide the total weight by 6. Cut the dough into 6 equal pieces.
• 15/ Shape each piece into a ball.
• 16/ Let rest for 15 minutes.
• 17/ Using the palms of your hands, roll each ball into an oval shape for hot dog buns or keep them round for burger buns.
• 18/ Let rest for about 10 minutes.
• 19/ For hot dog buns, roll the dough on your work surface, gently flattening the ends to create a tapered shape.
• 20/ Line a baking sheet with parchment paper lightly brushed with butter. Place 3 buns on the sheet, leaving space between them as they will rise. Repeat for all buns, baking 3 at a time.
• 21/ Cover the baking sheet with a damp kitchen towel and let rest for 2 to 3 hours, depending on your kitchen temperature, until the buns have doubled in size.
• 22/ Using a pastry brush, brush the buns lightly with water before baking. For a golden finish, use egg yolk diluted with water instead.
• 23/ Bake at 180°C (350°F) for about 15 minutes.

Tip for storage

• You can freeze the dough and bake it later. This way you’ll always have fresh buns ready to use.