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How to make Sourdough Buns with sourdough starter (or discard) – that turn out light and airy (like a brioche bun) in 2 1/2 hours from start to finish, with only 20 minutes of hands-on time!
Grilling season has officially begun and many of you have been asking for a good Burger Bun recipe. Here is one we’ve been using with our sourdough discard. This brioche-style Sourdough Bun is soft, light and airy and turns out delicious every time!
We add a little bit of yeast to hasten the rising time, but you could absolutely leave this out.
Ingredients in Sourdough Buns
- sourdough starter or discard (unfed)
- milk- plant-based milk, regular milk or half & half
- egg
- olive oil
- instant yeast (or rapid yeast -use fast-acting yeast works best here)
- all-purpose flour
- salt and sugar
- Optional Eggwash: 1 egg whisked with water
- Optional seeds: sesame seeds, “everything spice”, etc…
How to make Sourdough Buns
Step One: It starts with 1/2 cup of your unfed sourdough starter or discard. (120 grams)
Step Two: Mix the milk, unfed sourdough starter, oil and egg in a large bowl ( or stand mixer). Mix bread flour, salt, sugar and instant yeast(or rapid yeast) in a small bowl. Add dry mixture to wet, to form a ball and kneed for 5-6 minutes with a wet hand.
TIP: YES, the dough will be sticky – resist the temptation to add more flour or you will end up with heavy dense buns. Alternatively, use a stand mixer and dough hook. (Or you could do “stretch and folds” like from the first set of folds in the sourdough bread recipe- 2 sets 15 minutes apart )
Step Three: Oil the dough in the bowl, cover, place in a warm spot ( 70-80 F) and let it double, about 1 hour.
Step Four: On a floured surface, divide into 6 balls and place on a parchment-lined sheet pan. Let rise again, 30-45 minutes.
Preheat oven to 375F
Step Five: Brush with an egg wash, sprinkle with salt and seeds and bake 20-22 minutes, on the middle rack until perfectly golden!
They will come out perfectly puffed, golden, light and airy!
Store cooled buns in a sealed zip lock bag, or freeze.
New to sourdough starter/discard?
Sourdough Starter is often referred to as “wild yeast”, made from flour and water and the wild yeast in the air around us,and it is typically used as the “yeast” when baking Sourdough Bread. The sourdough “discard” – the part of the starter that often goes to waste- can be used to make flavorful biscuits, waffles and pancakes.
More sourdough starter/discard recipes
- Make Sourdough Waffles!
- Make Sourdough Pancakes!
- Make Sourdough Scones!
- Make Sourdough Biscuits
- Make Sourdough Tortillas!
- Make Sourdough Crackers!
- Make Sourdough English Muffins!
Need some Burger Inspiration? Here are my favorites:
- Smoky Chipotle Black bean Burgers
- Miso Portobello Burgers!
- Grilled Lamb Burgers with Harissa Mayo!
- Thai Turkey Burgers
- Falafel Burgers with Tzatziki
- Sprouted Lentil Burgers!
- Chickpea Quinoa Veggie Burgers
Give the Sourdough Buns a try this weekend and let me know what you think!
xoxo
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Sourdough Buns
- Prep Time: 120
- Cook Time: 22
- Total Time: 2 hours 22 minutes
- Yield: 6 1x
- Category: bread, baking
- Method: baked
- Cuisine: american
Description
How to make Sourdough Buns with sourdough starter (or sourdough discard) that are light and airy (like a brioche bun) in about 2 1/2 hours from start to finish, with only 20 minutes of hands-on time.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup sourdough starter or discard (unfed) ( 120 grams)
- 1/2 cup milk (slightly warm 100F)- plant-based milk, regular milk or half & half
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon instant yeast (rapid yeast -use fast-acting yeast here, or see notes!)
- 2 cups flour (240 grams) All-purpose flour or bread flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- —–
- Eggwash: 1 egg whisked with 1 tablespoon water
- optional seeds: sesame seeds, “everything spice”, etc…
Instructions
- Mix warm milk, unfed sourdough starter, oil, and egg in a large bowl (or stand mixer).
- Mix in salt, sugar, instant yeast and flour.
- Combine with fork to form a ball and kneed for 5-6 minutes with a wet hand, (or dough hook). YES, the dough will be quite sticky – resist the temptation to add more flour (which will result in a heavy bun). (Alternatively, if mixing by hand, you could do the “stretch and fold ” technique (see 1st video) from the sourdough bread recipe. Do 2-3 sets, 15 minutes apart )
- Oil the dough in the bowl, cover, place in a warm spot (70-80 F) and let double, 1 – 1 1/2 hours.
- On a floured surface, gently divide into 6 pieces, form into balls and place on a parchment-lined sheet pan.
- Let rise again, 30-45 minutes, while you preheat oven to 375F
- Brush with an Egg Wash, sprinkle with salt and seeds, and bake 20-22 minutes, on the middle rack until perfectly puffed and golden!
Notes
If using regular active dry yeast, mix the yeast with warmed nut milk first until dissolved, let stand 10 minutes before adding starter, oil and egg. NOTE: Rise time will double.
If you rather not use yeast, leave it out, and let the dough rise until it almost doubles. Rising time will vary depending on kitchen temp, but I’d plan on roughly 6 hours.
If making ahead store in a zip lock bag, for freeze for later.
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 212
- Sugar: 0.5 g
- Sodium: 222.4 mg
- Fat: 4.2 g
- Saturated Fat: 0.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 35.6 g
- Fiber: 1.5 g
- Protein: 7.2 g
- Cholesterol: 31 mg
Keywords: sourdough buns, sourdough brioche buns, sourdough discard recipes
Worked so well! I had never made buns with BOTH sourdough discard AND yeast, I was so happy. Seemed like the best of both worlds. It was so easy to make in the afternoon before dinner! These came out slightly crusty, yet soft on the inside. Absolutely perfect for my turkey burgers! I am so grateful; I will definitely make these again. Thanks so much! Note: I used my pretty starved discard which had not been fed in a long time, the dough took a bit longer to double, but it worked GREAT!
★★★★★
Cool, great to hear Mireille! Thanks for sharing your process.
This recipe turned out great! It took about 8 hrs for mine to rise without commercial yeast so I didn’t have time to bake them right away and put them in the fridge overnight to bake in the morning. It took about twice as long to get the final rise in a warm kitchen. I used a form pan (skulls for the Halloween season) and they took well to the shape. My 2yo loves helping roll the balls and doing the wash too! One thing that was confusing- I doubled the recipe and the gram measurements didn’t change so I had to flip back and forth to verify which took too much time/energy. I appreciate your recipes and recommend to everyone who I give starter. Thank you so much for another keeper!
★★★★★
Thanks Diana- appreciate the rising time notes without yeast- helpful! I can’t get that multiplier to be consistently accurate- sorry.
Excellent, soft buns. Great recipe. I like this this recipe calls for sourdough starter and milk to achieve pillowy, soft buns. I divided into 8 buns easily. Note that when doubling recipe, the automatic double algorithm does not double the quantity in grams. …thanks for sharing this recipe!
★★★★★
Thanks Rosemary, our recipe multiplier is a bit glitchy.
Would I be able to use this with discard straight from the refridgerator? Or should I feed it 1-2 times before?
If you starter is healthy, active and fed within the last 5 days, it should be fine using unfed!
Great recipe!
★★★★★
Glad you enjoyed these!
Very easy to make! It was my first time to use the discard starter. I’m glad that I tried it and it was easier than I thought! And it taste great! I know for sure that I’ll make it again!
★★★★★
Awesome to hear!
Has anyone made these into ‘slider’ size rolls? Would I do 12 rolls instead of 6?
That sounds like it would work to me!
but for 12 slider rolls does the cooking time change?
Yes, I would shorten the time- bake until internal temp reaches 200F
Hi
What does AP flour stand for? Thanks.
All-purpose Flour. 🙂
Ap stands for all purpose flour. Just regular flour. Not bread flour.
All Purpose
I made these today and they were fantastic. My son and his family are coming for a visit and they are vegan. any suggestions on what I could use to replace the egg?
I wonder if a flax egg would work here? You could try?
Thanks! I’ll give it a try
Please let me know how it turns out- really curious!
I don’t usually comment but this was a really good recipe. Hamburger buns were a hit with my family.
Oh good Rain! Glad to hear it and really appreciate the comment. 🙂
Excellent as bread or buns…very light and delicious. My familys favorite.
★★★★★
Great to hear Maureen!
Just made these again for the second time. These will now be my go to buns! Way better than store bought. Turned out amazing and delicious !!
★★★★★
So glad to hear it!
Obsessed with these. Made them for my family and they said they were the best burger buns they ever tasted. Better than any restaurant! Made them about 6 times in the past few weeks!
Awesome Nikki!
This was my first sourdough artempt. It was super easy and turned out really good.
★★★★★
Yay Jean! Congrats!
Can you put dough after 2nd rise in the fridge until ready to bake?
That should work fine!
These turned out so soft. I will definitely be making these again.
Good to hear Stacy!