A recipe for soft, pillowy milk buns just waiting for you to turn them into your hamburger and cheeseburger dreams, topped with patties and all the fixings.





It was my youngest daughter’s birthday. I’m sure she wanted sushi. For her, the sun rises in the morning with the sole purpose of acquiring raw fish and vegetables rolled in sticky rice and seaweed. An instant day brightener on the rainiest of afternoons is the promise of a trip to the sushi counter.



However, on account of our transient dinner guests who were set to arrive with gifts for the towheaded member of my entourage, the two of us set out to make burgers better instead.



We already had the grass-fed beef for patties, cheese of several varieties, a wide array of farmers market toppings and fresh-from-the-backyard items, and we were even sporting homemade condiments for the burger-loving birthday affair. The critical component that was missing, however, was the wrapper on which to rest all these layers, the outer casing that holds the entire cheeseburger experience together: The bun.



Growing up, I was never a fan of homemade hamburger buns. Specifically we’re going to focus on one word in that previous sentence: homemade. In my experience, homemade buns often have a bit of sweetness to them that I’m not interested in and a chewy texture that didn’t mimic that of the burger joints I sought out for my cheeseburger fix.



After years of misses, of seeking out expensive bakery buns or suffering with commercial cardboard, I finally revisited my burger bun impasse and went down a different road, trying my hand at milk buns instead of looking to modify brioche or to make the most of a dinner roll disaster.



I employed the birthday girl herself to do the mixing and the measuring, sitting back to watch as she held her younger brother’s hand when it was time to brush the tender dough, and later beamed as she told her guests that she made the buns for her birthday meal.





I’ve had this post in draft for a while now, and it seemed apropos to publish it since today is National Cheeseburger Day. The harvest moon comes out tonight, the pumpkin-kissed sphere rising in the eastern sky as a promise that winter is coming. You can kiss summer goodbye this weekend during the autumnal equinox on Sunday by turning the grill on and baking buns in the oven to warm the house.



The resulting bun has a creamy quality imparted into it from the milk, and the egg wash provides just the right amount of golden glaze and support on the outside, allowing you to overfill the inside with all manner of meats and melted cheeses. I’ve been a bit overzealous in my delight of them as of late, serving and eating a greater number of cheeseburgers this month than in the eleven that came before it, which clearly means I need to share my bits of advice on how to build a better burger next.

