The burger bun is one of the most important parts of the burger. Its main purpose is to hold everything together and essentially provide the structure for the delicious ingredients inside.
The bun should be able to envelop all the fillings and be easy to bite through, without sending the ingredients flying to southward out of the sides! A bun that is too thick or too hard will greatly diminish your burger-eating experience.
I am a firm believer in brushing the inside of the bun with clarified butter or olive oil and then toasting the cut surfaces on a flat grill to create a crisp golden crust on the inside; this also steams the bread, to help it compress around the ingredients.
Toasting the buns dry under a grill can be counter-productive, as it can dry the bun out and make it too crispy and hard.
Here is a list of some classic bun types and their particular properties.
–Sesame seed bun: The all-time classic. This bun is usually made from a white-flour dough and is round and low. It is commonly a little on the sweet side, to counterbalance salty charred meats.
–Brioche bun: A yeast dough enriched with butter, brioche has become very popular recently. Some puritans feel that these are too sweet and rich for a burger, and can even tend towards being a little cake-like.
–Wholemeal/wholegrain bun: For the health conscious out there. A wholemeal or wholegrain bun can provide extra dietary fibre, but be careful as these can be more firm and dense than regular buns, and therefore may not provide the best burger experience.
–Pide (Turkish bread): Not a burger bun, so let’s not even go there. Same with focaccia bread!