KANSAS CITY — Hamburgers have cult status in the United States. The toasted bun halves with a lavish filling of meat, sauces and salads are an indispensable feature of meals outside the home and meet the taste of a whole nation.
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For many Americans, the regular pit stop at a burger restaurant is a cherished part of daily life — and there is a reliable supply throughout the country. McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, In-N-Out-Burger, Culver’s, Fuddruckers … the arterial roads of the towns and cities are lined with a Who’s Who of the catering trade. And “burger with French fries” tops the menu in most school canteens, diner restaurants and cafes, too.
The heart of every burger is the patty. The unchallenged favorite is the beef variant, followed by fillings made with chicken, fish fillet, pulled pork or vegetarian quinoa.
But not only the filling defines the quality of a burger. It is the bun that gives the popular fast food the final culinary touch. The meat, the toppings and the baked product must form a harmonious triad — that is the only way to ensure ultimate enjoyment.
The quality of a hamburger reveals itself at the first bite. The overall chewing feeling should be soft and homogeneous. So, the optimal burger bun is a small white product made from wheat flour, with a relatively high sugar and fat content.
Burger buns must meet a number of sensory requirements and must not break, crumble or become soggy. Their production demands flours with a high protein content and soft gluten. In the United States, mixtures of hard red winter wheat and hard red spring wheat are most commonly used.
Many bakeries work with sponge doughs, since the intensive swelling and fermentation processes improve the flavor and shelf life of the finished goods as well as the structure of the crumb.
In the United States, industrial burger bun production is carried out on an extra-large scale. It is not unusual to produce 1 million buns a day. The factories therefore use fully automated, high-output baking lines that guarantee maximum reliability and continuity.
Care must be taken to ensure optimum dough development even at the mixing stage. In order to keep the temperature of the burger bun dough as low as possible despite intensive mixing, iced water or flake ice is used. In continuous mixing systems, technical equipment such as jacket cooling of the mixing container or cooled mixing tools also is used.
Preparation of the dough is followed by a brief dough rest under defined processing parameters. Then, the doughs are portioned and smoothed. Individual proofing takes place in the characteristic bun pans, usually at about 80% humidity and a maximum temperature of 38°C. To ensure that the round moulds in the baking trays are completely filled, the doughs must be soft and relaxed. The buns are baked for a maximum of 10 minutes at 210°C to 260°C, depending on the type of oven.
Uniformity is a must in bun production. Whether it’s weight, diameter, height, degree of browning, or consistency, burger buns must be as alike as peas in a pod. That is not only important for reasons of appearance. Standardized basic products make it easier for the personnel of burger restaurants to comply with the strictly timed procedures for preparation.
From the baker’s point of view, the quality of the crumb presents the biggest challenge. On the one hand, the bun should have a woolly, fluffy consistency in order to ensure the soft chewing impression. On the other hand, it needs a stable, fine texture that enables it to hold the juicy fillings and sauces. When the bun is toasted, the sugars in it caramelize and close the pores on the cut surfaces. If the texture is too coarse, the crumb could soak up the meat juice from the hamburger or the ketchup and become saturated.
The nature of the crust is equally important. Cracks and blisters must be avoided. The surface must be baked to a golden yellow color throughout, and some varieties have to be coated evenly with sesame seeds. Moreover, the characteristic white ring that comes about through baking in the special burger bun moulds must have no irregularities or gaps.
Special care also must be taken with the shape of the products. The height of a standard bun, for example, is 4.6 to 4.9 centimeters. The buns must be neither larger nor smaller than these standard measurements in order to ensure that the halves can be toasted or roasted evenly within the given time.
The phase after baking is important for the shape, too. At many bakeries, the buns emerging fresh from the oven run through a spiral cooling tower so that they cool down as quickly as possible to a packaging temperature of about 35°C. But because of the steep temperature gradient, this procedure involves a risk that the sensitive products may shrink and bend.
The stability of the goods is yet another important quality criterion. Since the buns usually are packed on top of each other, they must be highly elastic in order to maintain their original shape.
Flour and dough improvement play a key role in meeting the complex requirements of burger bun production. Fine tuning of the flour with highly specific compounds of enzymes, ascorbic acid, hydrocolloids, emulsifiers and other agents is essential for strengthening the structure of the dough, improving machinability and enhancing the quality of the baked products.
Cooperation with restaurants such as McDonald’s and Burger King presents the baking industry with a challenge of a very special kind. Each fast-food chain has developed product standards of its own to ensure that its burger buns always look exactly the same. They are baked according to individual recipes, templates and color charts. Buns that do not conform to the standard have to be rejected rigorously.
The following is a list of practical recommendations for avoiding defects in the products and keeping the reject rate as low as possible:
Problem: Uneven shape of the buns.
Possible cause: Dough structure too firm; poor pan flow.
Solution: Soften the gluten and increase the extensibility of the dough, for instance, with protease, cysteine or inactivated yeast (e.g. Alphamalt Pro, EMCEsoft P or EMCErelax 400, resp.).
Problem: Irregularities and holes on the underside of the buns.
Possible cause: Proof time too long; temperature of the proofing chamber too high.
Solution: Use less sponge dough; shorten proof time; increase the stability of the dough with improvers (e.g. EMCEGluten Enhancer 22).
Problem: Uneven or ruptured white ring.
Possible cause: Over-proofing or too much oven rise.
Solution: Adjust proofing and the baking process.
Problem: Wrinkled surface.
Possible cause: Baking temperature too low; collapse of the buns due to mechanical stress.
Solution: Adjust baking temperature; avoid vibration in the proofed dough portions; stabilize the dough matrix with ascorbic acid, glucose oxidase or datem (e.g. Elco P-100 K, Alphamalt Gloxy, Mulgaprime 16).
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Problem: Coarse texture
Possible cause: Insufficient mixing of the ingredients of the recipe; too much enzymatic activity; proof time too long; proofing too warm; doughs too warm.
Solution: Cooler doughs and proofing; homogenize the crumb structure with the aid of emulsifying enzyme systems (e.g. Mulgazym DFX, Alphamalt LP 10066).
Problem: Inadequate shelf life.
Possible cause: Low-enzyme, dry-baking flours. Fat or oil content too low.
Solution: Modify the recipe; increase water absorption. Use maltogenic amylases (e.g. Alphamalt Fresh) or combinations of emulsifiers (e.g. Mulgaprime SSL 6 in conjunction with datem Mulgaprime 16) to prolong the softness of the crumb substantially.
A lazy weekend afternoon. Friends and family are back together again, the long, lonely months of pandemic solitude gradually fading. Sun slants through the trees; smoke from a barbecue drifts lazily skyward. Soon you’ll hear the hot sizzle of burgers (beef or Beyond); people grab plates, scooping out pasta salad and pickles and potato chips as they gather at the grill in anticipation …
It’s time to break out the Beautiful Burger Buns!
So what makes these buns “beautiful” in the eyes of milions of beholders, who’ve made Beautiful Burger Buns the second most loved recipe on our website?
I love how perfectly round these buns turn out. The dough is a bit soft, but that slackness also makes it easy to shape.Partly it’s their golden good looks, their mild yet buttery flavor, and their large capacity for any kind of filling, from the expected burger to curried chicken salad or garlicky hummus and cucumbers.
But in my eyes, what’s most beautiful about these buns is their backstory.
Back in 2001, years before Facebook, Instagram, and the other social media platforms so widely used today, King Arthur created an online baking community called The Baking Circle. Bakers from multiple generations, stations in life, and cultures throughout the world connected in ways that only those who love to bake can understand.
People asked (and answered) questions; they made cookbook recommendations, shared favorite baking techniques, and vented when their bread didn’t turn out exactly as planned.
But mostly, people shared recipes. Beautiful Burger Buns, a.k.a. “Moomie’s Buns,” was originally posted by Ellen (screen name: Moomie), a Midwest farmer. These oversized (and surprisingly sturdy) buns, with their soft interior and tender, buttery crust, evoked a ton of responses. Eventually they became the Circle’s most popular recipe; and Ellen one of the community’s favorite members, a celebrity in her own quiet way.
The Baking Circle was shut down 5 years ago, a victim of ever-evolving technology. But Moomie’s recipe lives on: not just online, but in our newly reissued and revised Baker’s Companion cookbook, where it will continue to shine forever.
Our Baker's Companion, James Beard Book of the Year back in 2004, has been revised and reissued and is now better than ever. (Photo by Kristin Teig)The All-Purpose Baker’s Companion is a collection of thoroughly tested recipes that not only work well and taste good, but are (or once were) someone’s specialty, a family favorite. Every recipe in the book comes with its own sweet story, and even though we couldn’t print all the stories, the employee-owners at King Arthur Baking know them. In many cases, we lived them.
Take Scandinavian Gold Cake. This recipe comes from Sue, longtime leader of our research and development team. Sue's grandmother brought the recipe from Sweden a century ago and made it regularly for a hungry family growing up in America’s Great Depression. Sue continues to make her grandma’s cake to this day — and will no doubt introduce it to her first grandchild, born this past summer.
Our Baker's Companion offers a heaping helping of just about everything baked, from family favorites to our 2020 Recipe of the Year, Crispy Cheesy Pan Pizza — a brand-new classic. Along with tips, techniques, and teaching moments, over 450 recipes in The Baker’s Companion (many not available online) await your discovery. Let me tempt you with Beautiful Burger Buns, an old favorite that’s become one of the book’s newest additions.
Simple ingredients and basic techniques yield mouthwatering buns: what’s not to like?
*For best results (a smooth, soft, slightly sticky dough), use the smaller amount of water in summer (or in a humid environment); the greater amount in winter (or in a dry climate); and something in between the rest of the time. Want details? See this post: Winter to summer yeast baking.
*For added richness and color, add the yolk left over from separating the egg to the dough above.
Mix and knead all of the dough ingredients — by hand, mixer, or bread machine — to make a soft, smooth, somewhat sticky dough.
See how the dough is slightly rough, and sticking just a bit at the bottom of the bowl? Resist the urge to add more flour: That's the perfect texture for tender, moist buns.Cover the dough and let it rise until it's nearly doubled in bulk, about 1 to 2 hours.
Per its namesake, the dough rises beautifully: Just 90 minutes is all it takes to more than double in size. A clear shower cap (left) or bowl cover is the perfect reusable cover for your bowl.To shape the buns: Gently deflate the dough and divide it into eight pieces (about 100g each).
Portion the dough by dividing it first in half, then the halves in half again (twice) to make eight rough pieces.Shape each piece into a ball. Place the balls on a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet, and flatten each one with the palm of your hand until it's about 3" across. Don't skip this step! You want buns that are wide rather than tall, ideal for burgers or other sandwich fillings.
Note the arrangement: 3-2-3. This allows the buns to rise and bake without crowding one another too much.Cover the buns and let them rise until noticeably puffy, about an hour. Toward the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 375°F.
Brush the buns with about half (21g) of the melted butter.
Used to a bristle pastry brush? Try a silicone brush instead; it won't stiffen or "shed," and is super-gentle on your risen rolls.To make seeded buns, brush the egg white/water mixture right over the melted butter; it'll make the seeds adhere. Sprinkle buns with the seeds of your choice.
Some people like seeds, some don't; half seeded, half not usually does the trick!Bake the buns for 15 to 18 minutes, until golden. Remove them from the oven and brush with the remaining melted butter; this will give the buns a satiny, buttery crust. If you've made seeded buns apply the melted butter carefully, to avoid brushing the seeds off the buns.
Cool the buns on a rack and, when cool, store airtight for a few days at room temperature. Or freeze the buns for longer storage; I like to wrap each bun individually, then stow them all in a large bag.
Upon reading this post one of my blogging colleagues, Posie, offered the following good news for those of you eating vegan: “My mom and I both regularly make these either without eggs or fully vegan. We substitute 3 tablespoons of aquafaba [the liquid drained from a can of chickpeas] for the egg, and 2 tablespoons of olive oil for the butter. Another King Arthur colleague makes them vegan by subbing 3 tablespoons of sweet potato purée for the egg, and oil for the butter.”
Ah, the end result: a perfect summer evening, supper in the backyard. Note how this beautiful bun is plenty big enough for even its large-ish Beyond Burger!Looking to supplement your burgers with sides and dessert? Check out these one-stop recipe collections: Summer Cookout Recipes and Classic Summer Desserts.
Cover photo by Liz Neily
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