From scratch · Enriched breads
Soft buns and dinner rolls
One soft dough for hamburger buns, hot dog buns or a pan of dinner rolls.
✋ 45 min hands-on
⏱ 3 hr 33 min start to finish
🍽 10 hamburger buns (about 3½ inches across), 10 hot dog buns, or 16 dinner rolls, or a mix of shapes from one batch.
ContainsWheat, Milk, Eggs.
Ingredients
- 500 g all-purpose flour, or bread flour
- 7 g active dry yeast
- 9 g table salt
- 38 g granulated sugar
- 57 g butter, salted, softened
- 1 eggs, large
- 1 cup whole milk
- ¼ cup water
Time
Hands-on time is when you’re busy; the rest is rising, simmering, chilling or cooling, when you can do something else.
| Step | Hands-on | Waiting |
|---|---|---|
| Mix and knead the dough | 25 min | 1 hr 15 min |
| Divide and shape the buns or rolls | 20 min | 45 min |
| Bake at 375°F | – | 18 min |
| Cool on a rack | – | 30 min |
| In all | 45 min | 2 hr 48 min |
How long it keeps
- Counter: in a bag, about 3 days (NDSU’s figure for bread and rolls).
- Freezer: bag them once cool, up to 3 months (University of Missouri).
Nutrition
Estimated from the ingredients’ USDA FoodData Central numbers.
Steps
You’ll need: large bowl, 2 baking sheets (or a 9 × 13 pan for rolls), cooling rack.
- Warm the milk and water to about 110°F. Stir in the sugar and yeast and let it stand 5 to 10 minutes, until foamy.
- Beat in the egg, butter and salt, then add the flour a little at a time to make a soft dough.
- Knead 8 to 10 minutes until smooth and springy. Cover and let it rise until doubled, about 1 to 1½ hours.
- Divide the dough. A kitchen scale makes even buns: for a full batch, about 95 g per hamburger or hot dog bun, or 60 g per dinner roll.
- Hamburger buns: round each piece into a tight ball, set it on a greased sheet, and flatten to about 3½ inches. Hot dog buns: roll each piece into a 6-inch log and set them 2 inches apart. Dinner rolls: round into balls and set them almost touching in a greased 9 × 13 pan.
- Cover and let rise until puffy, 40 to 50 minutes. Heat the oven to 375°F.
- Bake until golden brown, 15 to 18 minutes for buns and 15 to 20 for rolls (about 190°F in the center). Brush the tops with melted butter if you like, and cool on a rack.
⚖️ ScalingThe planner adds up buns and rolls together: each hamburger or hot dog bun takes a tenth of a batch and each dinner roll a sixteenth. Yeast and salt follow the flour by weight (7 g yeast and 9 g salt per 500 g flour). Round the egg to a whole one; for a half batch, beat one egg and use half.
🛡 SafetyDon’t taste raw dough or batter, and wash your hands and the counter after handling flour: raw flour can carry germs that only baking kills (FDA).
Good to knowHomemade buns are bigger and heavier than store buns, so nutrition per bun is higher.
Sources
- Food Storage Guide (FN579), NDSU Extension, reviewed January 2023. Accessed 2026-10-25.
- Tips for Storing Bread, Cornell Cooperative Extension, Herkimer County, 2020. Accessed 2026-10-25.
- How to Freeze Home-Prepared Foods (GH1505), University of Missouri Extension. Accessed 2026-10-25.
- Handling Flour Safely: What You Need to Know, U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Accessed 2026-10-25.