Potato Burger Buns

Potato Burger Bun Recipe Tips

Here’s some behind-the-scenes info and tips so you can be sure to make beautiful potato buns. If you’d like to see more about how certain ingredients affect your buns, check out my Ultimate Dinner Roll Guide.

The Flours

This recipe calls for both all-purpose flour and bread flour. The bread flour helps create a nice chewy and well-structured bun that can stand up to the juiciest of burgers. However, if you don’t have bread flour you can get away with using only all-purpose (a total of 3 cups all-purpose flour in that case).

This dough is on the sticky side, which means our rolls will be nice and light. Too much flour can often lead to dense and tough bread, so be weary of adding too much additional flour to combat the stickiness.

The Yeast

I always use instant yeast (also called rapid-rise or quick-rise) because it’s so incredibly easy as it doesn’t require any proofing. You can literally just throw it in with the rest of the ingredients. If you don’t have it, you can always use regular active dry yeast. You’ll need to combine the active dry yeast with the warm water for 5 minutes, or until frothy, before you can add proceed with the recipe.

The Potato

When I was researching this recipe, I found most recipes called for strange potato ingredients, like potato flour or dry potato flakes. I have a difficult time locating either of those at the grocery store, and felt like using a fresh potato would not only be the simplest option (every store sells russet potatoes!) but also the freshest and most natural. So this recipe calls for 1/2 cup of mashed potato. Meaning, you simply cook a plain russet potato (or something similar) in the microwave, oven, or in boiling water, until very tender. Let the potato cool before peeling and mashing very well. Don’t add any milk or cream, or anything else.

The Sugar

This recipe calls for 3 tablespoons of brown sugar, which give the buns a beautiful and complex hint of sweetness. If you don’t like much sweetness in your bread (especially for my non-American readers!), feel free to reduce the sugar to 1 tablespoon.

Egg & Butter

The egg and the melted butter called for in this recipe help to add flavor, richness, and a soft and tender texture. You can also brush the baked rolls with a bit of melted butter for more flavor and sheen, if you’d like.

Make Ahead

You can always let the dough rise for the first time overnight in the fridge. Simply refrigerate the dough after kneading in a container wrapped in plastic. Once you’re ready to proceed with the recipe, remove the dough from the fridge. Punch it down and allow it to rest and warm up to room temperature before shaping into buns, about 1 hour. The final rise may take a bit longer since the dough might still be cool.

Although bread is always best eaten when it’s very fresh, you can also store the fully baked buns. Store buns, well-wrapped, at room temperature for several days or in the freeze for up to 2 months. Defrost to room temperature then reheat in a 300°F oven or toast (these buns are amazing toasted on a griddle with butter).