Sourdough Discard Hamburger Buns Recipe
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These quick sourdough discard hamburger buns are perfect for grilling season. Make these speedy sourdough discard hamburger buns in around 2.5 hours - and use your sourdough discard. Winning right? They are soft and tender with a rich, buttery crumb yet will wow you with their golden brown, glossy sheen. Honestly, you'll never want (or need) to buy store-bought buns again!
Just like this sourdough discard sandwich bread and these sourdough English muffins, these sourdough discard hamburger buns are perfect to make while you are making a sourdough starter, just like this list of 100+ sourdough discard recipes!
Why You'll Love This Recipe!
Fast Rise Time - These soft buns utilise a small amount of commercial yeast, along with your unfed sourdough starter, to make them rise. This gives you a delicious flavor, without having to wait. If you'd prefer to use active starter, check out these sourdough burger buns.
Perfect for Grilling Season - You can use these sourdough discard burger buns during grilling season, for burger night, breakfast or lunch sandwiches - and the best thing is you can make them whatever size you like. Why not serve them with these sourdough onion rings, sourdough hot dog buns or sourdough pigs in blankets?
Make Ahead, Bake When You're Ready - If you want to make these buns earlier than you need them, you can put them in the fridge after shaping. They can stay there for up to 24 hours. Just bring them to room temp before you bake them. Because they have commercial yeast, they will complete the second rise in the fridge.
Ingredients
- Milk - I've used whole milk, but you can use 2%. I recommend warm milk if you can as it will speed up the rising process.
- Sourdough Starter Discard - You'll use 100g of sourdough discard in this sourdough hamburger bun recipe.
- Bread Flour - I've written this recipe with bread flour and it works perfectly. If you want to use all purpose flour, I recommend reducing the milk by around 20g.
- Sugar - just a little granulated sugar to create a slight sweetness to the dough and soften the crumb. You can leave it out if you prefer, but trust me on this, it's much better if you leave it in!
- Egg - I've used 2 egg yolks to create an enriched dough. I've then used the egg white to create an egg wash before baking. No waste here!
- Butter - softened but not melted, salted butter is best, but you can of course use unsalted if you prefer.
- Instant Yeast - we are using instant yeast here because we are using sourdough discard, which doesn't have the leavening power that active sourdough starter does (plus we are wanting a quick rise here).
- Salt
- Sesame Seeds - these are completely optional, I've use black sesame seeds for something a little different!
How To Make Sourdough Discard Hamburger Buns
Start by combining warm milk, yeast, and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer, stirring gently until dissolved. Add the flour, sourdough discard, egg yolks, butter, and salt, and bring everything together into a shaggy dough (a silicone spatula can help scrape down the sides). Fit your stand mixer with a dough hook and knead for 6–8 minutes, until the dough is silky, smooth, and comes away cleanly from the sides of the bowl with no stickiness. Using a stand mixer is both fast and convenient here, as it efficiently works the butter and eggs into the dough (but as always, you can easily knead the dough by hand if you prefer).
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a bag and let the dough rise for about an hour, or until doubled in size. The exact time will depend on the temperature in your kitchen. Once risen, transfer the dough to your counter for shaping. For accuracy, weigh your dough on a kitchen scale and divide it evenly by the number of buns you’d like. For larger burger buns, divide into 8 pieces of approximately 137g each. For smaller buns, divide into 12 pieces of about 90g each. The enriched dough is smooth and easy to handle, making shaping simple—just pull the edges into the center to create a rounded top, then roll on the counter to form a bun.
Place the shaped buns on a parchment-lined baking tray, cover, and let them rise for around 30 minutes until plump and round. Preheat your oven to 180°C (350°F). Brush each bun with egg white and sprinkle with sesame seeds, black sesame seeds, Everything Bagel Seasoning, or leave plain—it’s completely up to you. Bake for about 22 minutes, keeping a close eye on them as they brown quickly. The buns are ready when they’re golden, glossy, and sound hollow when tapped underneath. Cool on a wire rack before serving.
If you’d like to make them ahead, you can refrigerate the shaped buns for up to 24 hours before baking; just bring them to room temperature to complete their second rise. Soft, buttery, and slightly sweet, they toast beautifully—split and lightly char the insides for the perfect brioche-style burger bun. We love eating them with this simple tomato chutney.
How To Store + Freeze
Store At Room Temperature - These sourdough discard hamburger buns will last for 2 days at room temperature. Store in a plastic ziplock bag or airtight container. Warm slightly in the microwave to freshen them up.
Freeze - These buttery hamburger buns are super fast to make fresh, however sometimes you may have a few leftover. Or perhaps you like having a stash in the freezer for easy weeknight dinners. These sourdough buns can be frozen. Simply place them in a Ziploc bag and freeze (there's always a bag in my freezer).
Thaw at room temperature. You can microwave them for a few seconds to soften them up or simply split them and toast the insides before adding your favorite burger fillings.
You'll find more information on how to freeze sourdough bread here.
Frequently Asked Questions
Since this recipe uses discard, the flavor is mild. You’ll get a hint of tang, but the enriched dough (with butter, milk, and eggs) makes them soft, fluffy, and slightly sweet — more like brioche.
No — you can knead by hand if you prefer. It will take a little longer (around 10–12 minutes), but the dough is smooth and enriched, so it’s easy to handle.
The dough should be silky, elastic, and come away cleanly from the sides of the bowl. It shouldn’t feel sticky.
No you don't have to. If you have a mature sourdough starter and you're confident in your discard, you can skip the yeast, or just use active starter.
Sourdough Discard Hamburger Buns Recipe
Video
Equipment
- Stand Mixer
- Digital Scale
- Baking Tray
Ingredients
- 250 g Milk (warm)
- 100 g Sourdough Starter Discard (unfed sourdough starter)
- 500 g Bread Flour
- 50 g Sugar
- 2 Egg Yolks
- 100 g Butter (softened but not melted)
- 7 g Instant Yeast
- 10 g Salt
- 1 Egg White (for egg wash)
- 30 g Sesame Seeds (optional)
Instructions
- Combine the warm milk, yeast and sugar together in a stand mixer bowl and gently incorporate so that the yeast and sugar are dissolved in the milk.
- Add the flour, sourdough discard, egg yolks, butter and salt to the bowl and bring together to form a shaggy dough. You may need a silicon spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Use a dough hook and/or knead function for this step.Knead the dough for 6 to 8 minutes using a stand mixer (see notes for hand kneading below).The dough will be silky and completely come away from the sides of the bowl when it's done. There should be no stickiness at all.
- Cover the bowl with a plastic bag or wrap and set aside for around an hour to rise. The time it takes depends on the temperature in your home.
- Once the dough has doubled, transfer it to your kitchen counter for shaping. If you are able to, weigh your dough. Divide the weight of the dough by the number of buns you want. Then you'll know how big to make each bun.I make 8 from this recipe and each bun is around 137g. For smaller buns, divide into 12 pieces of approx. 90g each.
- Divide the dough into 8 perfectly even pieces (weighing them for accuracy).
- Shape each piece into a bun. Pull the edges into the centre to form a rounded top and then place each piece on the counter and roll to shape (like you'd shape a boule).
- Place your buns on a baking tray lined with parchment paper and cover with a plastic bag or wrap. Set aside to rise for around 30 minutes. They will be plump and round when they're ready to bake.
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F.
- Brush each bun with egg white and sprinkle with sesame seeds (optional).
- Bake for around 22 minutes or until glossy and hollow when you tap the base. They burn very easily so keep an eye on them.
- Cool on a wire rack.
Notes
Nutrition
Did a little experiment today, although it might be heresy to comment about it on a sourdough site.
My sourdough starter is dying from neglect, and I didn’t have the 100g to make my weekly dozen hamburger buns, so I made about 125g of tangzhong instead: 25g of flour to 100g grams more milk, cooked in a small skillet just until it turned gelatinous, thick, and a little wallpaper paste-y.
Did the recipe otherwise as usual. The result, gotta tell you, is sublime. Soft, springy, and somehow even more buttery tasting. Amazing. My chef partner is impressed!
Great recipe, my burger buns were amazing! Thank you
I love working with this dough. It is not sticky and it is easy to shape. I made the hamburger buns and kielbasa buns with the dough. I am very pleased with the rise and texture of these buns. Thank you for the easy recipe.
I have made these more than a dozen times. We use the rolls for sandwiches through the week sometimes. Definitely our favorite go-to.