Soft Homemade Hamburger Buns

1. Make Tangzhong. In a small saucepan, add bread flour and milk. Whisk constantly over medium heat until a thick paste forms. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally to help cool the mixture.

2. Meanwhile, add all ingredients for burger bun dough to the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the dough hook attachment. Add cooled Tangzhong. The Tangzhong should be lukewarm.

3. Knead the dough on medium-low speed for 5 minutes. Transfer dough to greased bowl. Spray top of dough with nonstick spray and cover with plastic wrap.

4. Turn your oven on until it reaches 150F. Once the oven is up to temperature, turn oven off. Place covered dough in warm oven and allow to rise for 30 minutes.

5. Meanwhile, prepare your burger bun rings (this helps the burger buns rise taller. You can skip this step if you’d like. Cut 9 strips of parchment paper, measuring 12.5 x 3.5 inches. Starting on the long edge, fold the bottom edge halfway up. Fold the top edge over the folded bottom edge. Insert one end of parchment paper into the other, using the folded crease pocket to hold the parchment paper together. The diameter should be between 4 to 4.5 inches. Set these on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.

6. Punch the dough down and turn out onto lightly floured surface. Divide into 9 3.5-ounce portions. You can always eyeball this, but if you have a kitchen scale, I recommend using it. Shape the dough into balls. Place into prepared burger ring molds. Flatten the balls to mostly fit the ring.

7. Cover with plastic wrap. Turn your oven  on until it reaches 100F. Once the oven reaches this temperature, turn the oven off.  Place covered buns in warm oven and allow to rise for 15 minutes. Remove buns from oven.

8. Preheat oven to 350F.

9. Brush buns with egg wash and sprinkle sesame seeds on top, if desired. Bake in preheated oven 18-22 minutes, or until tops of buns are a nice deep golden brown. Allow buns to fully cool before slicing.