These soft and delicious sourdough hot dog buns will become your absolute favorite. They have a rich and tender crumb with a crust that is stronger than the store-bought ones. They will hold your toppings and dressings well and will not fall apart.
Do you hate the supermarket hot dog buns? So do I. They are super delicate, just can’t stand up to chilis and other toppings. Falling apart! And they taste like nothing! No flavor at all.
If you relate to that, this recipe is for you. This recipe makes delicious hot dog buns that are flavorful, soft, pillowy, and yet sturdy enough to stand the chili and topping.
Estimated reading time: 11 minutes
Table of contents
Why should you be trying these sourdough hot dog buns? And how are they better than the supermarket ones?
- So, these sourdough hot dog buns mildly taste like brioche hot dog buns. These are not sour, the milk, sugar, and butter will balance the sourness and they taste delicious.
- They are sturdy and do not fall apart. Perfect to stand those chili and toppings.
- These hot dog Buns will not stick to the top of your mouth.
- They have a body to them. They have a thicker crust than the potato hot dog buns.
- These sourdough hot dog buns are eggless.
- You can make them using instant dry yeast also (read Faqs).
- Free of preservatives and chemicals.
- And nothing tastes like homemade buns!
Do you want another recipe to put your sourdough starter to some use? Here it is … make sourdough hot dog buns!
More sourdough based recipes:
Ingredients:
Leavening agent:
The leaving agent in these sourdough hot dog buns is a sourdough starter. The sourdough starter should be well fed and ripe. If you refrigerate your starter, make sure to take it out 4-5 hours ahead. If needed, feed the starter, and let it double in volume before using.
You can use active dry yeast instead of the sourdough starter. Just activate it by adding it to a glass of warm milk with sugar. Wait until it becomes frothy.
Flour:
You just want the regular flour for this recipe. If you want to make whole wheat hot dog buns, that is going to a different recipe, with different hydration, and maybe some vital wheat gluten. So, for this recipe stick to the all-purpose flour. Yes, unbleached preferably as we are working with sourdough starter here.
Milk
I like to use whole milk for the recipe. It makes the sourdough hot dog buns more soft and delicious. Milk also combat the sourness due to the sourdough starter. You can even go with 2percent of milk. Another thing is to make sure that the milk is at room temperature. Give it half a minute in the microwave and you should be good to go.
If you are lactose intolerant or vegan, use soy milk. I have made them using soy milk with satisfactory results.
Butter
The butter should be at room temperature. By this, I mean that the butter should be soft to touch. I like to cube mine into small pieces, which makes it easier to incorporate into the dough.
Milk powder
Okay, you might think this is an unnecessary ingredient, but using some milk powder does make a lot of difference. In my personal experience, the milk powder makes these sourdough hot dog buns extra soft, richer, and more flavorful. And not to forget that the milk powder has a sweetness to it, which further helps to balance the acidic flavor of the dough.
But yes, this is an optional ingredient, you can totally skip it.
Procedure to make sourdough hot dog buns from scratch
Good bread starts with the good dough. I always give my best effort to make the perfect dough. Rest just follows.
1. Combining the ingredient and kneading the dough
Start by combining all the dry ingredients. Mix well before adding the wet ingredients. This is a stand mixer recipe. So, I just put a dough hook attachment and let it do the work.
The better practice is to add butter towards the end when the dough starts to become smooth. (But I guess I am lazy)
I let it knead at low speed for a good 9-10 minutes until a smooth dough is formed. Quickly touch the dough, and it should not stick to your fingers. This is my way to know that it is ready. Also, the dough should have separated itself from the sides and little or nothing should be stuck to the bottom.
If you are doing it with your hands, add butter directly with the milk and start to knead everything together. You can use melted butter. Add it alongside milk and combine using the back of a wooden spoon. Now remove onto a work surface and knead until a smooth dough is obtained.
2. Bulk rise
I put it to bulk rise in my instant pot. Best, if you have a dough proofer box or yogurt maker. But I just use my IP. Have you tried making bread in the instant pot? (I have a detailed recipe for that, do have a look. )
I use yogurt and ferment mode to set the custom temperature to 85 0F in summers and 95 0 F in winters.
In case, you are wondering, Why?
The dough is cooler in winter due to the cooler kitchen environment and colder water as compared to that during the summers or hot weather. So, a buffer temperature of 10 0F to speed up things.
You do not use any of these, just make a dough proofer in your oven. Put on the oven light, and place a pan with hot water on the lower shelf. Then place the dough in the oven. This always works!
I just let it bulk rise for 2 hours in Instant pot. Then I transfer the dough to the refrigerator. Retard rise in the refrigerator overnight, helps to develop the flavor and texture. And most importantly, in this case, it makes it easy to handle and shape our sourdough hot dog buns.
If you do not have the patience for that, you can surely let it bulk rise at room temperature. Now the conundrum, exactly how much time?
Even at a specified temperature, the exact time will depend on the vigor of your starter. On average, the dough would take 4 hours to bulk rise.
3. Shaping and proofing
Before shaping the sourdough hot dog buns you have to decide what size you want them? If you want to make small standard size hot dogs, this recipe will make 16 of them.
But if you are looking to make large ones, divide the dough into 8 parts. Or somewhere in between. That would be 12 sourdough hot dog buns.
In this recipe, I will be making small-sized hot dog buns. I start by dividing the dough into 8 equal parts.
There are two ways to shape these sourdough hot dog buns.
Method 1 of shaping hot dog buns:
I take one part and flatten it to make a square of it. Then I divide it into 2 equal pieces. I just eyeball it. But if you want to be precise, use a scale.
I roll the dough and seal the edges. Then roll them on the work surface to make a proper shape. I flatten them from the top very gently, so that they do not rise as totally round.
Look at the images to get a better understanding of how I did it.
Method 2 of shaping:
In this method, I divide the dough into 8 equal parts. I take one part at a time and shape it just like I would do in the case of a baguette ( just not tapering the ends). Then I divide it into two with a dough scraper.
Transfer them onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper. If you have a hot dog pan or hot dog bun mold, go ahead and use it. Cover with the kitchen towel and let them proof for 2 hours in a warm place. The sourdough hot dog buns would become fuller and double in volume.
Depending on your kitchen conditions, the actual time will vary. On a warm day, they may need less than 2 hours or 3 to 4 hours in cold weather. So keep an eye on the buns
4. Baking:
I bake these sourdough hot dog buns at 375 0 F for about 40 minutes. Do not forget to rotate the tray halfway in between. Bake till golden brown crust is obtained.
When baked, take them out and brush them with melted butter. Transfer to a cooling rack and let them cool before filling.
Pat your back, before you relish these homemade sourdough hot dog buns.
How long do sourdough hot dog buns last?
These sourdough hot dog buns will stay fresh at room temperature for 3- 4 days. Wrap them in a kitchen towel and then store them in an air-tight bread bag.
For prolonged storage, I suggest you freeze them. Put them in a freezer-safe bag with a ziplock and remove as much air as possible before zipping.
The sourdough hot dog buns will freeze well for 2-3 months. Just to ensure that they do not dry and break apart on thawing, I like to put them in another zip lock bag.
Frequently asked questions
To make this recipe vegan, substitute the milk with soy milk and use an equal quantity of vegan butter. I have made them with soy milk and butter, but haven’t tested them with vegan butter. But I am pretty confident that the recipe will work just fine.
Well, it great if you have them and they make the shaping much easier. But they are not necessary as I have not used them in this recipe.
The new England hot dog buns are slit at the top, which makes them easier to fill and eat. I do not see much difference in terms of texture. Also, the new England hot dog buns are slightly larger than the regular hot dog buns.
A more tenderizing agent in the dough will make tender and softer buns. So, if you want more soft sourdough hot dog buns, use whole milk and good quality butter.
A pro tip is to brush the buns with melted butter as soon they come out of the oven. This makes and keeps the crust of the sourdough hot dog buns soft.
Other related recipes
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Happy baking!
Sourdough hot dog bun recipe card
Sourdough hot dog buns
Ingredients
- 560 g all-purpose flour
- 365 g milk
- 120 g starter
- 4 tablespoon butter
- 4 tablespoon milk powder
- 18 g sugar
- 10 g salt
Instructions
- Start by combining all the dry ingredients in the bowl of your stand mixer. Mix all-purpose flour, milk powder, salt, and sugar.
- Now add the starter, melted butter, and milk.
- Knead the dough at low speed for 9-10 minutes until a smooth dough is formed. Quickly touch the dough, and it should not stick to your fingers. This way you know that the dough is ready.
- Remove the dough into a greased bowl and cover with a cling wrap. Let the dough bulk rise at 85-95 0F for 2 hours and then put it in the fridge for the cold rise. Let it retard in the fridge overnight.
- Next morning remove the dough onto a work surface and divide into 8 equal parts.
- Shape each part into a long roll. Use a dough scraper to divide the dough into two equal hot dogs ( use either of the two methods shown in the post).
- Place them on a baking tray lined with parchment paper.
- Cover with the kitchen towel and let it proof in a warm place for 2-3 hours or until they double in size and become fuller.
- Now preheat the oven to 375 0 F.
- Bake them until golden brown. It would take about 40 minutes. Flip the tray in between.
- Brush these gorgeous sourdough hot dog buns with melted butter as they come out of the oven.
- Transfer to a cooling rack and let them cool for 10 minutes before filling.
- Enjoy your homemade sourdough hot dog buns.
Notes
- To make them with yeast, use about 2 teaspoon of active dry yeast and activate it in warm milk with sugar.
- If you want more soft buns, use whole milk and good quality butter.
- A pro tip is to brush the buns with melted butter as soon they come out of the oven. This makes and keeps the crust of the sourdough hot dog buns soft.
- To make this recipe vegan, substitute the milk with soy milk and use an equal quantity of vegan butter.
Storage notes
- These will stay fresh at room temperature for 3- 4 days. Wrap in a kitchen towel and then store in an air-tight bread bag.
- For prolonged storage, I suggest you freeze them. Put them in a freezer-safe bag with a zip-lock and remove as much air as possible before zipping. They freeze well for 2-3 months.
Pin for later!
Bernie
Hi, been looking for a sourdough alternative like this… two questions
Do you think I could substitute the same weight agave or barley malt syrup for the regular sugar?
Have you tried these as hamburger buns?
Thanks
Meenakshi
Hey Bernie, I would not use agave and barley malt syrup of the same weight as sugar. I have never used either of them in this recipe, but as a general rule we reduce agave by 1/3, i.e. you should use about 12 g agave. Also, you might wanna reduce the amount of liquid a bit.
And, yes, it does make good burger buns.
I hope it helps and let me know how it turns out.
Tara
Such wonderful buns to pair with hot dogs, especially with the sourdough base! I love that they are sturdy enough to hold everything together.
Claudia
those look fantastic I dont think I have ever eaten sour dough that I know of and now I cant wait to try it!
Biana
These hot dog buns look perfect! They will take the hot dog game to a whole new level in the summer.
Meenakshi
Yeah.. glad you liked it.
Sarah
Hot dog buns can have questionable ingredients and I like having the option to make them at home. Plus, I am always looking for ways to use me sourdough starter.
Meenakshi
Yeah right...so many preservatives!
Emily
This recipe is a great way to elevate summer hot dogs! Love the flavor of sourdough hot dog buns.
Meenakshi
Thanks, Emily, glad you found it useful.