Easy fail-proof Sourdough Burger Buns recipe with detailed step-wise pictures. These Sourdough Burger Buns are vegan and are simple to make at home!

The next in my Sourdough bread series is this super simple recipe of Sourdough Burger Buns! Ever since I started baking bread a few years ago, I have experimented a lot with bread recipes. Apart from making Sandwich Bread and Semolina Bread, I persisted hard to make Whole Wheat Bread. There was a phase, I wanted to bake breads that were different. I got around making Cheesy Rolls, Brioche Flower Bread and Stuffed Buns. And I also made Subway Sandwich Bread. In my list were Burger Buns and Baguette, both recipes pending. Working on recipes and food blogging for me, has its own charms. When it comes to cooking, I take an intuitive approach rather than a thorough planning. Believe it or not, if I make solid plans, the universe somehow conspires against me and I have many instances to prove the point. So, I never got around making Burger Buns until recently and it feels like they were awaiting my bubbling sourdough starter 🙂

When I made the Sourdough Pav Buns, I used butter and milk to make them soft. I was itching to make them vegan, without butter or milk. As an experiment over the weekend, I used my master recipe (the one that I have been using in many ways now) but substituted the butter for olive oil and milk for water. I decided to shape them to buns and leave them on the counter for lesser time than the pav buns. The results quite surprised me. With just a couple of hours of proofing over the counter, the buns doubled in volume. They rose beautifully well and the Sourdough Burger Buns had the best oven spring I ever got with the Sourdough baking.

With any bread-baking, there are no shortcuts. Yes, you can experiment and explore but it is exact science. You will have to persistently try the recipe over and over to perfect it. So, with these Sourdough Burger Buns, I wanted to be sure that the recipe was not a one-time lucky charm. I made the recipe over the next weekend and they were so good. I repeated the recipe four times in total, before sharing it out here. The burger buns are soft, fluffy and with a delicious crumb making them perfect for homemade burgers.

While I have been having great successes with my Sourdough Baking, I still have a lot to learn. The Sourdough enthusiasts or purists may not even agree to some of my methods and no-knead techniques. My Sourdough bread is neither sour nor chewy (two important characteristics of sourdough) and it may not even be authentic. But.. it works and that’s important for me. I love the flavor of the natural wild yeast. I enjoy creating these recipes with nothing but plain flour and water. No commercial yeast. I wouldn’t let anyone define the boundaries of recipes and as long as you enjoy the process, it is valid.

As with my other sourdough recipes, this recipe for Vegan Sourdough Burger Buns follows a schedule. Here is how I do it –

Take out the starter from fridge and leave it on the kitchen counter between 8-9am on Day 1.

I start by creating a levain out of my mother starter at 12.30pm on Day 1.

In 3hrs, my levain doubles in size. I mix the dough without salt.

After 20-30mins, I mix in the salt. Let the dough proof at room temperature on kitchen counter for 3 hrs. I do 4 envelop folds within the bowl every 30-45 mins totaling to 16 folds at the end of 3hrs. The dough is very smooth and soft at the end of folding.

I weigh the buns at each 130-133gms, roll them to balls and set them in baking pan, leave for proofing on the counter until they are doubled in volume. It took me about ~2 hours. Bake them until golden brown.

How to make Sourdough Burger Buns | Vegan Sourdough Burger Buns –

📖 Recipe

Detailed step-wise picture recipe of making Sourdough Burger Buns | Vegan Burger Buns –

12.30pm: begin making the Sourdough Starter from your mother starter. To make 168 grams of Ripe Sourdough Starter, I mix equal amounts – 60 grams of starter, flour and water and let it double in 3 hours.

3.30pm: measure all the ingredients and keep them ready. In a mixing bowl add all purpose flour, sourdough starter, oil and sugar. Add room temperature water.

Mix the dough roughly and knead for 4 mins gently. If using kitchenaid stand-mixer, run it on the lowest speed for 2-3 mins until the dough comes together. Make it into a ball and add salt on top. Leave it covered for 20-30 mins. This is called autolyze.

4pm: knead the salt into the dough. Fold multiple times to incorporate salt into the dough.

For the next one hour, keep it covered with a clean shower cap and let it raise at room temperature. It increases in size, although not drastically.

5pm: Now pick the dough from below and pull it over to the top, called as envelop fold. We will do exactly 4 folds. Overturn the dough and let it raise again.

5.45pm, 6.30pm, 7.15pm: Tuck the dough, smoothen and let it rest for 45mins. Again, we will do 4 folds. Repeat this over next 1.5 hours with two more folds. In total, we will do 16 envelop folds on the dough. The dough should look very smooth and shiny at the end of this. Leave it to rest for 30-45mins. The dough should be airy and light. Make sure not to knock out the air while folding.

7.45 to 8pm: Carefully remove the dough from bowl and onto a lined/lightly floured kitchen counter.

Cut the dough into half by using a dough scrapper/sharp knife and further cut into 5-6 equal pieces. I used a weighing scale to ensure each ball of dough weighed around 130-133 grams (for 5 large buns)

Tightly roll each piece of dough into a ball as smooth as possible without any creases.

Place the folded ball of dough smooth side facing up on the lined baking pan. Repeat this with rest of dough balls and place the prepared buns into a lined greased baking tin at equal distance from one another. I used a flat pan.

Leave them to proof on the kitchen counter for about 2 hours or until the buns have doubled up in size. It is important for the dough to dough up in volume for soft and fluffy buns.

Apply a thin coating of oil on top and sprinkle sesame seeds. You could also do this before proofing the buns.

In the last 20 mins of proofing time, Preheat the oven at 180°C. Bake the buns at 180°C for 25-30 mins until there are golden. Remove from oven. Apply a layer of oil on top and bake again for 5 mins on broil (both top and bottom filaments turned ON) to get the golden color.

Let the buns come to room temperature before slicing them through for making burgers. To store them, place in airtight container in fridge. Reheat in microwave for 20 secs or toast on a pan before making burgers.

Note –

You can use any vegetable oil or even butter at room temperature (of course it wont be vegan), in this recipe.
I find that the sourdough baking works better when ingredients are measured, so be cautious in converting them to standard cup measures.

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