I have tried numerous bun/roll recipes before I found my absolute favorite — spelt hamburger buns. Oftentimes, homemade buns bear only a vague resemblance to pillow-soft and picture perfect commercial stuff. But these guys are truly something special — soft, fluffy, light and beautiful. They are perfect for burgers and sandwiches, and are easily the best dinner rolls you’ve ever made.
WHY SPELT FLOUR?
Spelt (triticum spelta) is one of the oldest known varieties of wheat. Its origins trace back 6,000 years ago. It has not been modified by humans to meet the standards of modern growing and harvesting. Its nutritional profile is far superior to that of common wheat.
The most notable fact is it’s a lot easier digestible than regular wheat. Spelt gluten is weaker. It’s perfect for people who want to put less stress on their digestive system, which is already working extra time to keep up with our standard diet.
IF SPELT IS SO GREAT, WHY DOESN’T EVERYBODY GROW IT?
The answer is money!
Spelt has tough outer hull, which is harder for farmers to process, when compared to hull-less conventional wheat. It costs more to plant and harvest spelt without a significant margin increase.
The upside of the spelt’s hull for us, consumers, is the fact that plants use it as a shield from pests. Powerful enzyme inhibitors is what protects modern wheat. We use enzymes to digest food. When they are are inhibited, or unavailable, digestive system struggles to process wheat.
That is why common wheat is much harder to digest. And it could be the reason why celiac disease is so common now. Use of chemical pesticticides even in organic crops is another downside of today’s wheat.
WHY I USE YEAST (AND NOT SOURDOUGH STARTER) IN MY SPELT HAMBURGER BUNS
Simply put — the taste is better 🙂
I use a whole boiled potato to give my buns wonderful softness. Potatoes are a whole food, full of easy fuel for sourdough bacteria. The bacteria devour potato based dough so rapidly that it becomes sour very quickly. That is why I prefer to use bakers yeast in this recipe.
Before I get ‘why isn’t this whole grain and sourdough’ crowd after me, let me explain. I eat a very nutrient rich diet consisting of overwhelming majority of foods that I prepare myself. I don’t look at these buns as a primary source of nutrition. Their purpose is to hold a hamburger, contain only the ingredients that I approve of, and taste so that my whole family would love them. And the fact that they don’t have the entire content of a grain kernel is okay with me.
WHAT ABOUT EINKORN HAMBURGER BUNS?
This recipe works well with all-purpose einkorn flour. Because of einkorn’s unique structure and very low gluten content, don’t expect the same buttery softness as you would with spelt flour. But einkorn buns still come out very nice and soft and fragrant. We really make the best of einkorn in this recipe. I bake them a little less because einkorn dries out faster. Here is one of my recent einkorn bun bakes with raw sesame seeds (they are darker in color):
HOW TO MAKE SPELT HAMBURGER BUNS
Ingredients
4 cups (600g) all-purpose spelt or einkorn flour, plus extra for dusting (I use Jovial einkorn, and VitaSpelt spelt)
1.5 teaspoon (7g) dry yeast
1 teaspoon (6g) salt
1.25 cups warm water
1 small potato (100-150g), boiled, peeled and chopped loosely
5 tbsp (70g) butter, melted
1/2 cup sugar (or less, if you wish)
1 egg, beaten
Sesame seeds for garnish
Instructions
In a bowl of a stand up mixer, whisk together 2 cups of flour with 1.5 teaspoon dry yeast and 1 teaspoon salt.
In a blender, combine water, potato, melted butter and sugar. Blend.
Add the liquid to the flour mixture, combine with a spoon until no dry spots remain. It will be shaggy.
Add 2 cups of flour. Fit mixer with a dough hook and knead until dough forms. Einkorn might be sticky, spelt will be easily manageable, just slightly tacky.
If you wonder why not just use all the flour at once, the answer is to be able to use more liquid and less flour. More liquid makes softer dough. Don’t skip this step.
Sprinkle with flour and give it a couple of hand kneads (it will firm it up and develop more surface tension).
Cover and leave for 2-3 hours. The dough will increase in size significantly (probably triple).
Turn dough onto a well floured work surface. Sprinkle with flour, knead by hand for a minute or two, then shape into a ball.
Divide dough into 12 pieces.
Knead and shape each piece into a ball, and place on parchment lined baking sheet, seam-side down. Press lightly to flatten each dough ball.
Cover with a tea towel. Allow to rest for 30-45 minutes (this rest lets the dough rise more and the seams to bond together).
Preheat oven to 350ºF.
Brush buns with a beaten egg; sprinkle with sesame seeds.
Bake for 20 minutes, or until the tops brown nicely.
If you like baking with ancient wheat, try this Easy Einkorn Bread recipe!
Spelt Hamburger Buns
Ingredients
- 4 cups (600g) all-purpose spelt or einkorn flour, plus extra for dusting (I use Jovial einkorn, and VitaSpelt spelt)
- 1.5 teaspoon (7g) dry yeast
- 1 teaspoon (6g) salt
- 1 1/4 cups warm water
- 1 small potato (100-150g) boiled, peeled and chopped loosely
- 5 tablespoons (70g) butter, melted
- 1/2 cup sugar (or less, if you wish)
- 1 egg beaten
- Sesame seeds for garnish
Instructions
- In a bowl of a stand up mixer, whisk together 2 cups of flour with 1.5 teaspoon dry yeast and 1 teaspoon salt.
- In a blender, combine water, potato, melted butter and sugar. Blend until smooth.
- Add the liquid mixture to the flour mixture, combine with a spoon until no dry spots remain. It will be shaggy.
- Add 2 cups of flour. Fit mixer with a dough hook and knead until dough forms. Don't over mix. Einkorn might be sticky, spelt will be easily manageable, just slightly tacky.
- Sprinkle with flour and give it a couple of hand kneads (it will firm it up and develop more surface tension).Cover and leave for 2-3 hours. The dough will increase in size significantly (probably triple).
- Turn dough onto a well floured work surface. Sprinkle with flour, knead by hand for a minute or two, then shape into a ball.
- Divide dough into 12 pieces.
- Knead and shape each piece into a ball, and place on parchment lined baking sheet, seam-side down. Press lightly to flatten each dough ball.Cover with a tea towel. Allow to rest for 30-45 minutes.Preheat oven to 350ºF.
- Brush buns with a beaten egg; sprinkle with sesame seeds.
- Bake for 20 minutes, or until the tops brown nicely.
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38 comments
I am so impressed with this recipe. I made it with einkorn flour and it came out so soft and fluffy. The only thing I would adjust is to cut down on the sugar as it tastes a bit too sweet for me ( just a personal preference). Finally found the best einkorn rolls recipe, thank you!!
Can these be made by hand only? I don’t have a stand mixer nor a dough hook.
Yes, for sure, any dough can be made by hand, it’s just a bit more work but no difference otherwise.
I tried this recipie with spelt flour and the result was really light and fluffy rolls. I did use a little less sugar and found it perfect. Thanks for sharing this wonderful recipie. It will be a go to one for me!
Hi, this recipe sounds amazing, can it be halved?
Can you sub the sugar for agave? Thank you
Would sprouted spelt work for some/all of the flour?
I wouldn’t use more than 30 % of sprouted flour to regular flour in this recipe. It doesn’t have strong gluten bonds and is hard to shape. Usually in breads I would go to 50% of sprouted or gluten-free flour and know that dough would still hold shape but since there is already potato in this recipe, I’d use less of sprouted flour to account for that.
I used all sprouted spelt flour and this came out awesome! It was all I had but it worked perfectly. They even froze well!
Love this recipe! It’s hard to find healthy buns at the store. Do you think you could use potato starch instead of putting in actual potatoes? I don’t know how much you would use but was wondering
I sometimes add potato starch to breads if I want them softer but I haven’t tried it with this recipe. Let me know if you try 🙂
My first experience with spelt flour and these came out perfect! I did half the sugar and made 6 rolls and 1 small loaf of bread. Fantastic!! Light and fluffy inside!
How to make half a recipe or just 6 rolls, use the other half to make a loaf of bread. Genious
I’ve also had great luck with francine de ble and capulto tipo 00. They are imported from France and Italy and have caused no digestive issues.
these look good i will try them
Absolutely gorgeous !!
Can I use the water I boiled the potato in as the water in the recipe?
I don’t see why not 🙂
Recipe looks good. Do these rolls freeze well?
I have been baking with einkorn flour lately but just recently discovered that I can handle spelt.. I used all sprouted spelt flour since it’s all I had and baked them in hamburger buns molds. They came out high they look incredibly fluffy. I hope they taste as good as they look. They just came out of the oven, can’t wait to try one. Thanks for the recipe!
What can I use as an egg substitute?
Egg is not a requirement, it is used to add sheen and color to the tops, it comes out just fine without it. Also, if you have allergy to eggs, or don’t eat eggs for other reasons, you would probably know better than me what to use instead of egg in baked goods?
I love this recipe. My buns came out perfect. I too would like to use potato starch since I don’t always have potatoes in this pandemic. Has anyone tried it and if so how much ?
How long is a piece of string? It depends on type of potato average 20 g per 100 g potato, see also: dietandfitnesstoday.com/starch-in-potatoes.php
Oh my goodness. Just popped these buns out of the oven and tried one. By far the best spelt bun I have ever tried. Thanks!!
Can I use milk instead of water? And agave instead of sugar?
Was lost but now I’m found, outstanding buns! You increase the taste with a 1 hour autolyse (bakerpedia.com), less sugar (2.5 Tbsp), shorter first proofing (1 – 1.5 hour), thank.
Can I use kamut or emmer flour instead of einkorn flour?
Thank you
Hi Valeria, thank you for the great recipe. I made these buns with spelt flour and they were a big success! Now want to try either Kamut or Emmer flour, can’t find any Eincorn here where I live 🙁 Do you think I can follow the recipe?
Thank you
Can I use this dough to make piroshki?
Hi Anechka, I use this dough for pirozhki all the time
What a relief! Thank you Valeria, I’ve been searching everywhere for pirozhki dough made with healthy flour. Will Kamut or Emmer flour work too? Also do you by any chance have a recipe for cottage cheese dough for pirozhki?
In the 3rd paragraph you mentioned “our standard diet”. The correct term is “Standard American Diet” aka SAD 😔
These were just fantastic. My son who can eat modern wheat, as opposed to spelt or kamut, really enjoyed those, and he thought they were better than any hamburger bun on the market. They were delicious. I halved the sugar, and I didn’t have sesame seeds, so I used Everything But The Bagel seasoning. I used spelt flour, and will try Einkorn the next time I make these, but I thought the spelt was amazing. I did have to bake them slightly over 25 minutes because my oven runs that way. Thank you for a wonderful recipe that my family truly enjoyed. My son said he is going to split the leftovers and eat them with butter. I froze six, but they will probably be gone by next weekend! The texture and taste is just wonderful. These are better than any bun I have ever had. They are soft, but they held up well to cheeseburgers with all the condiments. These will make great sandwiches too.
Thank you! So glad you are enjoying these buns! They are still a staple at my household 😊
Made these a bunch of times already! They turn out exquisite every time!
Could these work with sweet potato? Thanks
Hi! Could I use fresh milled spelt flour?