100% Whole Wheat Hamburger Buns AGAIN! (Bread Machine)

Hi everyone!  Just wanted to quickly share a recipe I've made several times this summer.  I know I already have a 100% Whole Wheat Hamburger Bun recipe on the site, but that recipe has a few ingredients that are a little more processed than I prefer (e.g., dried milk, potato flour, vital wheat gluten) and also might be harder to have on hand.  So here's another variation that I have been very pleased with!

Normally it's best to stay away from pastry flour when it comes to making bread - pastry flour is lower in protein (gluten), which helps form the stretchy bonds that gives bread its wonderful chewy texture.  So conventional wisdom says to use high protein flour for bread, and to reserve pastry flour for more tender baked goods like muffins or pancakes.  However, the best hamburger buns are more soft than chewy, so I think the combination in this recipe achieves a fabulous result without the need for the add-ins!  I've posted my bread machine version below, but if you do not have a bread machine, follow the link back to Deliciously Organic to find alternate instructions.


Homemade Whole Wheat Hamburger Buns
adapted from Deliciously Organic

1 cup water
3 tablespoons milk (whole, or whatever you have on hand)
2 tablespoons honey
1 large egg

2 cups (white or regular) whole wheat flour
1 1/2 (rounded) cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 3/4 teaspoons fine sea salt

2 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces

2 teaspoons SAF instant yeast

Optional
1 egg and sesame seeds


Add ingredients to your bread machine pan in the order prescribed by your manufacturer.  Set machine for dough cycle.  If you have a chance, check the dough a few minutes after it starts kneading.  If it seems very sticky and is not coming together in a cohesive ball, sprinkle in a little more flour (1-3 teaspoons) until it just comes together.

Prepare a large baking sheet by lightly greasing or covering with a silpat or parchment paper.

After the dough cycle is complete, turn the dough out on a work surface, very lightly floured if the dough is very sticky - but be careful not to add too much more flour into the dough.  Using a pastry scraper or large sharp knife, divide the dough into 8-10 pieces, depending on if you want larger or smaller buns (I tend to go with smaller ones).

Form each piece into a bun by flattening into a disk about 3/4 inch thick, and working your way around pinching the edges into the center until it is round and smooth on one side (for pictures of what I mean here check out this post, which also has instructions for making hot dog buns!).  Place bun seam side down evenly spaced on your prepared baking sheet.

Cover with a clean dish towel and let rise 1-2 hours until nicely puffed up.  While the buns are rising, preheat the oven to 400, and when they are ready, bake for 12-14 minutes until lightly browned on the tops and bottoms.  (Optionally, before baking, brush with a beaten egg and sprinkle with sesame seeds.)

Remove hot buns to a cooling rack to cool completely before slicing.  Store leftovers in the freezer, defrosting on the countertop for a couple of hours.

Makes 8 large or 10 medium-sized buns

White Whole Wheat Bread (Bread Machine)

Would you believe me if I told you that you could make a sandwich bread at home that's 100% whole grain, simple as can be, and is light and fluffy?  If you took my advice and have a bread machine, you can try this recipe for yourself and see if you agree!  As I have told you over and over, white whole wheat flour is a whole grain baker's best friend, especially if you don't always want your baked goods to be heavy and dense.  I am a huge fan of a traditional whole wheat bread, but sometimes I just want something lighter, and that's where this recipe comes in.  It's great for sandwiches, as a side for soup, as the basis for croutons, or even to make delicious french toast.  And if you are cooking for others who are not whole grain converts, or are trying to ease your family into a more wholesome lifestyle, I promise you won't get any complaints!

White Whole Wheat Bread
adapted from The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook

1 1/4 cups water
1/4 cup agave, honey, or maple syrup
2 tablespoons oil

3 1/4 cups white whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon vital wheat gluten
1 1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons SAF yeast (2 1/2 tsp bread machine yeast)

Add all ingredients to bread machine as directed for your model.  Set for whole wheat cycle (on my machine with SAF yeast I use quick wheat).  When bread is done, remove from pan immediately and allow to cool completely on a rack before slicing.

Makes a 1.5 lb loaf

100% Whole Wheat Hamburger Buns (Bread Machine)

Have you looked at the ingredient lists on hamburger buns inthe grocery store lately?  Even "wheat" buns are not entirely whole grain and include things like calcium proprionate and monocalcium phosphate - anyone have any idea what these are?  The options at stores like Whole Foods and Trader Joe's are a little better, but finding an organic bun with a reasonable ingredient list is a bit like playing the lotto.  So after a lot of frustration and avoiding hamburgers because I was unhappy with the bun options, I decided to try making my own!  I had come across a recipe on the King Arthur Flour website for 100% Whole Wheat Hotdog Buns, and figured the recipe should be able to be adapted for bread machine use and hamburgers.  I took advantage of the live chat feature on that website to get some advice from KAF's bakers, and gave them a try.  It took 2 tries to get it right, but wow, are these buns ever tasty!  I was so impressed...they are soft and flavorful but held up well to some thick hamburgers and turkey burgers.

I can already hear you saying that it seems crazy to make something like hamburger buns, but it is so worth it.  Elapsed time for this recipe is about 4 hours, but active time in all that is closer to 30 minutes.  Plus, the batch makes 12-16 and they freeze well, so for a family of 4 you could make this once and have them last for 3-4 meals - 10 minutes or less of effort to have homemade, high quality buns is totally reasonable!  This recipe would also be great for a dinner roll or hot dog bun - see the notes at the bottom of the recipe for a little more info.  I hope you'll give these a try!

100% Whole Wheat Hamburger* Buns
adapted from King Arthur Flour

1 1/2 cups water
1 large egg

3 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
1/4 cup dry milk
3 tablespoons potato flour or 1/3 cup dried potato flakes
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon vital wheat gluten
2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast

2 tablespoons (1 ounce) butter


Add all of the ingredients to the pan of your bread machine** and set for basic dough cycle.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly greased or floured work surface.  Pat into a symetrical shape, adding a sprinkle of flour if dough is really sticky (don't overdo it on the flour here as the stickiness will help in shaping the buns).  Using a pastry scraper or large sharp knife, cut dough into 12 even pieces for large buns, or 16 for smaller, buns.  Shape each hamburger bun by patting the piece of dough into a flat disk about 3/4 inches thick and pinching the edges into the center to form a round shape (for great pictures of what I mean here, check out Itty Bitty Bistro).

Here you have 2 options, depending on how big you want your buns.  For 12 thick buns, them into a lightly greased 9x13 baking dish after shaping.  For 16 smaller (and lighter) buns, place them on a parchment or silpat lined half sheet pan.  I have found the smaller buns are plenty big for a 1/4 pound burger.

Cover the shaped buns with a lightly greased piece of plastic wrap and let rise for another 1 1/2 hours.

Preheat your oven to 375°F with enough time to heat up before the end of the  rising time (I set a timer for 1 hour, turned on my oven, and then set the timer for another 30 minutes).  Remove the plastic wrap and bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown.  Remove from the pan and let cool completely on a rack before breaking apart into separate buns.

Serve that day or store in a zip top bag in the freezer until needed, defrosting for a couple of hours on the counter top or in the microwave.  They are also great as a general purpose sandwich roll, or warmed in the microwave with a little butter (or your favorite topping) as a snack.

Makes 12-16 burger buns

* This recipe would also be great for dinner rolls (just make them a little smaller - probably 20 would be a good amount - and use the 9 x 13 dish so they don't spread out too much), or hot dog buns (see Itty Bitty Bistro for how to roll hot dog buns, too!)

** For non-bread machine instructions, see the original instructions on the King Arthur website

Basic 100% Whole Wheat Bread (Bread Machine)

As I talked about in great detail in my post about why I love my bread machine, over the last few months I have learned that it is entirely possible to feed my family homemade bread without tons of effort - all I needed was a little help from a cumbersome but very useful appliance!  I am committed to having our daily bread be 100% whole grain, and so far I've found 2 recipes that are really nice.  This one is a pretty basic whole wheat - definitely a more dense choice, but really nicely textured and is even good toasted after several days sitting around.  This has full approval from the munchkin, and all of the grown-ups in my life seem to love it!  Although recently I have actually been lightening the loaf a bit by replacing 1 cup of the whole wheat flour with white whole wheat flour, and have been very happy with the results.

Most bread machines have a specific order that you need to add the ingredients - mine calls for liquids, then dry ingredients, and yeast last, so that's how I've listed the ingredients here.  But please make sure you read the instructions for your specific machine!

Basic 100% Whole Wheat Bread
adapted from The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook

3/4 cup water
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup agave or honey
2 tablespoons oil

4 cups whole wheat flour (or 3 cups whole wheat plus 1 cup white whole wheat flour)
3 tablespoons vital wheat gluten*
1 3/4 teaspoons salt

1 tablespoon SAF instant or rapid rise yeast** (or 1 tablespoon + 1/2 teaspoon bread machine yeast)

Add all ingredients to bread machine as directed for your model.  Set for whole wheat cycle (on my machine with SAF yeast I use quick wheat).  When bread is done, remove from pan immediately and allow to cool completely on a rack before slicing (if you can wait that long!).


* I'm not sure if this is available at regular grocery stores, but you can definitely find it at Whole Foods or other health food stores.

** I have only used SAF instant yeast for bread making, which allows me to use the "quick" cycle on my machine. This cuts the process down from close to 4 hours to a little more than 2, which is great! But bread machine yeast will also work if that's what you have or prefer.

Why I Love My Bread Machine

I can't believe it's taken me this long to tell you all about my bread machine, and for that I apologize!  This is an appliance I never thought I'd buy until 2 things happened.  First, I read Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle (inspiration for my pizza obsession, too!).  As a quick summary, Kingsolver's family decided to spend a year eating only what they could grow themselves or procure locally.  So as you can probably guess, this family is hardcore in food preparation - growing during the warm months to can, freeze, and dry for the cold months, forgoing tropical fruit imported from across the world, the works!  So of course when she wrote about the homemade bread her husband made for the family, I wasn't surprised they they would go to those lengths.  Then I got to the sidebar written by her husband that was titled something like "how to impress your wife with a machine" - he was using a bread machine!!  Well, if a bread machine was hardcore enough for this family, who was I to judge??

The second thing that happened was that I got increasingly picky about bread that I would buy - I wanted something that was 100% whole grain, organic, didn't have tons of filler ingredients, and TASTED GOOD!  Apparently this was a virtually impossible request.  I could get 3 out of 4 criteria, but couldn't quite find everything.  I tried making bread by hand, and while it's certainly not as difficult as I might have expected, it's messy and I found I needed to get the timing exactly right so that I could be around for all of the steps, which meant it would sometimes be days before a bread actually got made.  So when we moved out of the city last summer and finally had a reasonably sized kitchen, my birthday request was for a bread machine.  And I am proud to tell you that I have not bought bread in months!  Along with my Zojirushi machine, I also bought a cookbook with tons of recipe ideas.  I have to confess I haven't branched out much past the 100% whole grain section (although I did make homemade white bread for my Thanksgiving stuffing), but my mom has made a bunch of other breads in the book that are equally delicious.

So here is my sales pitch (which, by the way, is totally unendorsed by anyone and 100% my own opinion expressed solely because I love my bread machine and this blog is the best place for me to go on rants about my views without having to see the eye rolling in person!). 

• EASY - all that's required for most basic breads is to dump ingredients in the pan and turn on the machine.  Clean-up consists of throwing a few measuring cups/spoons in the dishwasher and, after the bread is done, washing a non-stick loaf pan and paddles, which barely require a sponge.  You do not need to do anything in the middle (for most recipes), or even be home except when it's time to take out the bread.  There's no watching the clock for rise times, transfering from bowl to bowl, kneading, or wondering.  Just dump, press start, and come back to fresh bread.
• FAST - after a little practice, all ingredients can be in the machine in about 10 minutes, and then all you have to do is take the bread out when it's done.  On the quick cycle (which you can use as long as you have instant yeast), this means 2 hours 8 minutes on my machine and bread is done.  Most machines also have timer functions so that you can, for example, set up your ingredients in the evening and have the bread ready when you wake up.  And I already told you how easy clean-up is!
• HEALTHY - you control the ingredients!
• CHEAP - even with relatively expensive organic ingredients, the cost of a loaf is less than half of its closest equivalent in the store.  This helps to make up for the fact that the machine itself is NOT so cheap :)
• DELICIOUS - you really can't beat the smell of fresh bread baking, and I have gotten rave reviews about my loaves, even though they are 100% whole grain.

The only downside I feel obligated to mention is that the baking pan is non-stick, and non-stick coatings have a questionable reputation regarding toxins and eco-consciousness.  This bothers me a little bit and I have been trying to minimize my use of non-stick pans in general, but at the same time if the alternative is buying store-bought bread (which is ALSO likely made in a non-stick pan), the benefits certainly outweigh the risks!  If this is concerning to you, one option would be to use the machine for making dough and transfer the bread to a glass pan and bake in your oven instead (since most reports say that it's heat which makes non-stick pans potentially dangerous).  But for me, until I can find the time to learn how to make bread by hand, I will happily continue to use my machine :)

Ok, now that I've told you about my new favorite kitchen appliance, it's time for some recipes.  The two breads I make the most are a basic whole wheat and a lighter version using all white whole wheat flour (the same flour I use in my pizza dough, another wonderful use for this machine!).  I'll post those separately so you can skip this whole rant when you want to refer back to the actual recipes :)

Update: Here is the listing of all of my bread machine recipes!

100% Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

Well, the time has finally come for me to share the pizza dough recipe that I have been blogging about since April!!  After much practice and many pitfalls, I have finally gotten good enough at this that I can easily whip it up at any time and feel very comfortable sharing with you all what I have learned - hopefully that will mean your learning curve will be much faster than mine!  As a little background, this recipe is designed to rise slowly in your refrigerator overnight.  The advantage here is that the active prep time is minimal and you don't have to be watching the dough at all, but it does require a bit of advance planning.  On the plus side, the dough can easily sit in your fridge for several days or the freezer for weeks (months?), so it's easy to make some dough if you might want it that week, and you can always throw it in the freezer for another time if you change your mind!

Also, notice that the recipe includes White Whole Wheat Flour - read here for a little background on what this is if you haven't heard of it before.  It is really amazing stuff - all the nutrients of whole wheat flour, but with a much softer texture, closer to an all-purpose flour.  I have seen both organic and non-organic at Whole Foods, non-organic at Trader Joe's, and various versions in some other select health food stores.  The most common brand is King Arthur Flour.  It is by no means the cheapest flour, but still less expensive than buying pizza and way more healthy!

I'm including two methods for dough preparation below - the bread machine and a stand mixer.  If you have been following this story, you may recall that I also tried to make the dough in a food processor, but this was a bit of a disaster, so I wouldn't recommend that method!  My preference is definitely the bread machine version - it's easy as can be to add the ingredients, the machine doesn't budge while kneading, and the clean-up couldn't be easier.  However, I understand that many of you may not want to invest the money or space for one of your own (although I highly recommend you reconsider if you have the means!!), and you can definitely make this dough in a stand mixer as well.

Now the only problem is that my little munchkin DOESN'T LIKE PIZZA!!  She likes coffee, goat cheese, and tuna fish, but will not eat pizza.  I don't get it, but in the mean time instead of pizza being a weekly staple in our house as I'd hoped, it's become more of a twice a month treat for hubby and me when we are eating together after the little one goes to sleep.  But if you have a house full of pizza eaters, this is a great way to have a wholesome, delicious, and easy meal any time you're in the mood!


100% Whole Wheat Pizza Dough
adapted from 101 Cookbooks

1 3/4 cups cold water
1/4 cup olive oil
4 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
1 3/4 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon instant yeast*

Bread Machine Method

Place all ingredients in your bread machine according to the prescribed order for your brand (mine requires adding liquids first, followed by dry ingredients, with yeast going in last).  Create a custom cycle or manually set machine to knead only for 10 minutes - you do not need the preheating or rise time included in most pre-set "dough" cycles.

Continue with "In both cases..." directions below.

Stand Mixer Method

Stir together the flour, salt, and instant yeast in the bowl of an electric stand mixer. By hand, stir in the oil and the cold water until the flour is all absorbed.  Place in machine with the dough hook and mix on medium speed for 5 to 7 minutes, or as long as it takes to create a smooth, sticky dough.  Add a touch of water or flour to reach the desired effect. The finished dough will be springy, elastic, and sticky.  If it is so sticky that you wouldn't be able to handle it easily, add more flour.  On the flip side, a dough that tears easily is too dry and/or needs additional kneading time.

In both cases...

Remove dough to a smooth surface drizzled with olive oil (I use a piece of parchment paper for easy clean-up!).  Pat the dough into a symmetrical shape and cut into 4 equal pieces using a pastry scraper or large knife.  Drizzle the top with a little more olive oil, form each quarter into a ball, and drop them into individual sandwich sized storage bags. 

Place all 4 dough balls in the refrigerator at least overnight, or up to a few days until ready to use.  We generally cook two the next day, and at that point put the other 2 in the freezer for future use - this way the rising is already done when you are ready to use the dough and all you need to do is defrost.

Read on for instructions on how to cook pizzas in your oven or on your grill!

Makes four 9-ounce pizza crusts, and each pizza is enough for 1-2 people - when eating this for a normal weeknight dinner, we can easily split a pizza if we make a big salad to go along with it, but when serving to company we have averaged almost a whole pizza per person!

*You should be able to substitute 1 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast for the instant; just warm 1/4 cup of the water to dissolve yeast according to package instructions before using.