Name: Soft And Fluffy Sourdough Hot Dog Buns
Prep time: 360 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 390 min
Ingredients: 1/2 cup active sourdough starter; 1 1/2 cups warm milk or buttermilk; 1 tbsp yeast (optional); 1 tbsp butter; 2 tbsp sugar; 1 tsp salt; 1 egg; 4 - 5 cups flour

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These soft sourdough hot dog buns are the perfect addition to any cookout or grilling night. They have a beautiful fluffy texture, a soft crust and are one of my kids’ favorite things to eat on summer BBQ nights! They are easy to make, and have all the probiotic health benefits from the long fermentation process of the sourdough. You can make these long-fermented with active sourdough starter, or with commercial yeast and sourdough discard for a quicker option.

We make these buns quite often, as hot dogs made from our own homemade beef are one of my kid’s favorite meals in the summertime. They like a soft hot dog bun, and I like it when they eat their hot dogs with a bun because it fills their tummies up better.

Served with healthy hot dogs and home-canned ketchup alongside some oven fries baked in tallow, and you have a delicious simple meal that everyone will love.

Simple and Easy

I like to make this recipe because it is so simple. There is no stretching and folding or difficult steps to follow. I just put the ingredients into my Bosch mixer, mix it up, and then let it rise a couple times and bake. The entire process takes about 6 hours from start to finish for the long fermented version without yeast, but it takes less than 10 minutes of active time, as most of the time the dough is just fermenting or rising on the counter. You can also make these more quickly with yeast and sourdough discard, and that only takes an hour or two.

The timing of this recipe is also flexible and can be adjusted to almost any schedule. If it’s summertime, your house is warm and your sourdough starter is happy, you can make these in 3 to 4 hours. I often mix this dough up alongside my sourdough hamburger bun recipe, and feed the kids hot dogs and my husband and I eat burgers.

No Scale Needed

This recipe can easily be made without a scale as everything is measured in cups. For those of you that want to measure in grams, I have included those measurements for you.

Why Make Sourdough Hot Dog Buns?

So why would you want to take the time to make sourdough hot dog buns anyway? Well there are several reasons.

It’s wise to know how to make bread products without having to purchase yeast at the grocery store in case it is ever not available for some reason.
The taste and texture of these sourdough hot dog buns will be unlike any other buns you will make. They are soft, not dense, and will stay moist for several days.
In a hurry? Add some yeast to this recipe and make it with sourdough discard for a quick and easy hot dog bun recipe.
These buns will stay fresh longer on your counter without molding because they are already inoculated with the beneficial bacteria from the sourdough making it harder for mold to grow.
Sourdough bread has a lower glycemic index than other breads, making it a better choice for diabetics than most breads. More info on that here.

sourdough hot dog bun with ketchup and mustard

What Are The Health Benefits Of Sourdough?

Anytime you add a fermented element like sourdough to a recipe, it becomes more nutritious because it contains live probiotics and good bacteria that help with gut health and digestion. Gluten and phytic acid are naturally present in wheat, and are usually what is to blame for people not being able to digest gluten well. When the grain is fermented through the sourdough process, the gluten and phytic acid are broken down, making it easier to digest. A lot of people that struggle with gluten intolerance (not people with celiac), can digest food made with sourdough without any issue, especially if the recipe is allowed to sit out for a few hours and “long ferment”.

In addition, phytic acid is an anti-nutrient that blocks absorption of the nutrients found in wheat. During the sourdough fermentation process, the phytic acid gets broken down and the nutrients are more bio-available to the body. This is why baking with sourdough is so important for our health.

Be sure to watch our full tutorial on how to make your own sourdough starter here.

Simple Ingredients

Flour, water, and salt is all that is needed to make traditional artisan loaves of sourdough bread, but what makes these buns so soft and beautiful is the addition of fat, sweetener, and milk.

Flour

For best results I recommend using all or mostly white flour in this sourdough hot dog bun recipe as it will make a softer and more beautiful dough. Bleached or unbleached all-purpose flour or bread flour works the best. Unbleached flour is obviously healthier for you and bread flour will make a more beautiful loaf than just all-purpose flour because it has a higher protein content, but any of these flours will work. If you use whole grain or whole wheat flour, I suggest using at least half all-purpose or bread flour when making your bread for best results. If you want to make these with fresh milled flour, just be sure to use hard white wheat for best results.

I like to get my high protein bread flour in bulk from Azure Standard. You can check it out here.

Milk

You can use any kind of milk in this recipe. I like to use raw milk or buttermilk from my Jersey cows, but you can use any kind of milk that you like. The milk helps to give the bread a softer texture.

Fat

You can use melted butter, beef tallow, or coconut oil.

Sweetener

You can use honey, sugar, or anything similar in this recipe.

Salt

I like to use redmond real salt, but you can use whatever salt you have on hand. Salt is what gives the buns their flavor, and it’s really important not to leave it out.

Egg

I like to add an egg to this recipe because it makes the dough extra soft.

Sourdough Starter

Be sure to use active starter if you’re not using yeast. If you use sourdough discard, you can add a little yeast and these buns will be ready in no time.

Yeast

Optional – but can be added to make sourdough discard hot dog buns.

We like to make lots of sourdough recipes. You can find them here.

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Tips For Making These Sourdough Hot Dog Buns

Don’t over ferment the dough. You want to let it raise close to double, but don’t leave it for hours and hours because it will turn into a wet sloppy mess and you won’t be able to shape the dough into buns. You can put the dough in the refrigerator to slow down the first rise for a few extra hours if need be.
Use a stand mixer if possible, as it will make this bread so fast and easy to make. You can also make this without a mixer, and just do some stretch and folds, but it will be more work of course.
If it’s a warm summer day, you can probably get these to raise twice in an afternoon. Mix the dough up at lunch and bake it by suppertime. If it’s wintertime and cooler in your house, you’ll probably need a few extra hours to get these to raise and be nice and fluffy.
These buns freeze well, so if you won’t be able to eat all them right away, you can just put some in the freezer,
To make sourdough discard hot dog buns, just add 1 Tbl. of yeast to this recipe and shorten the rise time.
Be sure to use warm milk when making these buns, as it makes them rise faster.

measuring ingredients for sourdough hamburger buns

This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. See my full disclosure here

Tools You May Need

Stand mixer – my favorite mixer is a Bosch. They are very heavy duty and a good investment if you plan to cook from scratch. They pay themselves off in no time especially with the high cost of groceries.
Measuring cups and spoons
Bench scraper
Parchment paper
Baking sheet

Example of Timing For Making Sourdough Hot Dog Buns

Sourdough bread is so flexible, it can fit into any schedule. Here’s a couple of examples of how you could fit making these homemade hot dog buns into the margins of your day.

Option 1 – Overnight Sourdough Buns

Around noon, feed your sourdough starter
9:00 p.m. mix up the dough, and allow it to rise in the refrigerator overnight.
8:00 or 9:00 a.m. shape into buns and allow to rise
11:00 a.m. if dough has risen enough, bake.

Option 2 – Same Day Bake

7:00 a.m. Feed your sourdough starter
12:00 p.m. Mix up your dough and allow to rise at room temperature
3 p.m. Shape into buns and allow to rise a second time
5 p.m. Bake

How To Make Sourdough Hot Dog Buns

Feed Sourdough Starter

To a small amount of starter (no more than ¼ cup), add about 1 cup of flour, and about ⅓ cup warm water. This will give you a little extra starter, but that way you’ll have plenty of starter, and you can always put any leftover starter in the refrigerator and make pancakes, waffles or any other sourdough discard recipe.

Allow fed starter to become active while sitting out at room temperature. When starter has risen all the way to the top and is happy and active, proceed to the next step.

Mix Up The Dough

Add all of the ingredients to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment and mix until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. After mixing for a few minutes, if the dough still seems sticky, you can add a little more flour if needed, so that the dough doesn’t stick to the edge of the bowl. It should pull away from the mixer bowl, and not be sticky.

First Rise

I like to put the lid on my mixer bowl and let it rise at room temperature. The bosch mixer has a nice lid that seals down, keeping the moisture in the bowl and helping the dough to rise quickly. You can also put your dough in a separate bowl covered with a damp tea towel. If you are mixing up your dough at night, I recommend that you put it in the refrigerator to do the first rise as you don’t want it to overferment before morning.

Shape The Buns

Divide dough into 8 or 10 equal pieces using a bench scraper, depending on how large you want your hot dog rolls. Shape them into buns by tucking the outsides underneath and placing tension on each ball of dough. Place them on a parchment lined baking sheet with some space in between. I usually put them about three wide and four long on the baking sheet. I don’t mind if they end up touching each other after they raise.

Second Rise

Cover the shaped buns with a tea towel, and allow the buns to sit out at room temperature and rise. This usually takes 1-2 hours. Shorter in the summer, and longer in the winter because of temperature of course. You want the buns to rise about 50%, and look nice and puffy. They will rise even more in the oven.

If your house is cool, you can also turn your oven on to warm and let it get just above 100 degrees before shutting off the oven. Put the buns covered with a tea towel into the oven and they can raise in this warmer environment.

Egg Wash (Optional)

Beat an egg yolk with 1 Tablespoon of water and gently brush it on top of the buns. Sprinkle with sesame seeds or poppy seeds if desired. This step is optional, but will make a beautiful golden top to the buns.

Bake

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and bake the buns for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven. Brush the tops with butter if desired. I usually do this if I didn’t brush the tops of the buns with the egg wash.

Enjoy

Slice buns in half and serve with your favorite burger, condiments, cheese, pickles and oven fries baked in tallow. So delicious!!

Store leftover buns in an airtight container for up to a week.

If you try this recipe and love it, please come back and give it 5 stars! Tag me on Instagram @wagonwheelhomestead21. I can’t wait to see what all you make!