How to make the Perfect Gourmet Sourdough Burgers

1. Welcome!: Hi there, my name is Marceau Dauboin. In this baking class, I'll be showing you everything you need to know on how to make the perfect gourmet sourdough burgers from home. Making your own burgers from scratch is such an incredibly rewarding experience, which is why I designed these lessons to be as concise and intuitive as possible to maximize our enjoyment of making this delicious meal. To help you even further, you will also have access to these lessons, measurements, and instructions in a written PDF guide to accompany you along all of your sourdough cooking. Speaking of which, using a combination of tangzhong and sourdough in this recipe will truly take your burger buns to the next level of flavor and texture. You will learn how to make a tangzhong in the following lessons, but if for whatever reason you do not yet have a sourdough starter, then do feel free to check out my dedicated class, which you can find on my teacher profile or through the search tab above. This recipe serves as a great way to expand your baking skills and is the fourth of a six part series dedicated to teaching you how to make some of the best sourdough dishes out there. With that said, do be sure to hit the Follow button above. Do not miss out on any upcoming recipes, such as these PLT sandwiches or even this delicious chicken alfredo made with sourdough pasta. But with all of that out of the way, let's jump straight into the following lesson where we shall be taking a look at the ingredients needed to make our gourmet burgers. 2. Burger Recipe Introduction: Welcome to the first lesson on making your very own burgers from scratch with delicious sourdough buns. The measurements for this recipe will allow you to create full, complete burgers, but as always, you're more than welcome to make smaller or larger batches to fit your needs. So far, buns flour, I've chosen to go with cake wheat flour, as it produces a very soft and fluffy texture, which works quite well with these burgers. If that is not available to you, however, then all-purpose flour is an excellent substitute. For the sourdough starter, do remember to prepare it the night before or at least eight hours before attempting the recipe. I again use the cake wheat based starter do not conflict too much with the flavor of the buns, but as usual, you may use any starter that you have available to you. You may be wondering what exactly a tangzhong is and its purpose. It is essentially a cooked mix of flour, milk, and water, which when added to your dough pregelatinizes the starches in the flour, allowing it to absorb more moisture. This creates much softer and fluffier breads, which is exactly what we need to make the perfect burgers. It also serves as a bit of an evolution from our previous hot dog bun recipe. We will be covering how to make a tangzhong in the following lesson, but for now, let's move on to the final ingredients for our bun and egg wash. This will give your buns a beautiful golden chin when coated and baked in the oven. Now to our meat, I'd recommend going with a lean and a high-quality beef minced as it is an essential component for making a great patty. Moving to our toppings, I'll recommend using tomato paste instead of ketchup in order to add that slightly deeper flavor, but you may substitute it as you prefer. With these ingredients and toppings, you will absolutely have a rock-solid and delicious burger, which you're more than welcome to build on. As a final note, however, you will be needing to use additional butter as well as vegetable oil throughout the recipe, so do be sure to have some available. Both all of that out of the way let's jump straight into the following lesson, where you will learn how to make a tangzhong. 3. Make Your Tangzhong: To begin making your tangzhong, take out a small metal pot and place it on your scale. From there, measure out, 20 grams of flour, 24 grams of water, and 52 grams of milk. Transfer that over to your stove top, and then set it to medium heat. From their use a spoon to constantly stir your mixture while it reduces for 1.5-2 minutes. You should notice it start to thicken very quickly, so once it forms a thick paste, stop the heat, and move your completed tangzhong to a bowl. It really is as simple as that. 4. Burger Bun Dough Mix: Now that your tangzhong has been prepared, your burger buns dough is ready to be mixed. In a bowl, pour in 280 grams of cake wheat flour and 75 grams of room temperature milk. From there, crack in two full eggs before adding your 80 grams of sourdough starter and six grams of salt. You may now begin gently mixing your dough for approximately one minute before adding all 96 grams of tangzhong you prepared in the previous lesson. Continue incorporating that into your dough for about two minutes. When that is done, add your final 35 grams of liquefied, unsalted butter. With that added mix your dough one final time for four minutes or until all of your ingredients have been fully incorporated. Once that has been achieved, cover your bowl with a damp cloth and let it rest for 15 minutes. In that time, remember to refresh your starter so that you may reuse it at a later date. But with that said, I shall see you in the following lesson. 5. Stretch & Folds: When the 15 minute rest has been completed, you're now going to begin developing the gluten in your dough with the help of three total sets of stretch and folds. Once your cloth has been removed, pick up one side of your dough, stretching it up as high as possible without tearing before folding it back over at center. From there, continue the stretching and folding process all around the dough until you reach one complete rotation. At this point, cover your bowl backup with a damp cloth and then let it rest for 15 minutes. Once that time has expired, repeat the exact same process twice more with an additional 15 minute rest in between. As you may remember, just make sure not to stretch your dough too hard if it begins to resist you or it may tear and weaken the developed gluten. When you have completed your third set of stretch and folds, do be sure to cover your bowl backup with a damp cloth and let it proof at room temperature for two hours. Once that has completed, move your bowl to the fridge to finish its proof overnight. So with that said, I shall see you tomorrow. 6. Shape Your Burger Buns: Welcome to the final day of this Sourdough Burger recipe. These following steps should already be quite familiar to you if you have completed the previous hotdog recipe, as they do have quite a few similarities. Let's begin by shaping our dough into our balls. First, dump your dough onto your work surface and then take out a spatula or bench scraper to begin cutting your dough into four equal pieces, roughly 150 grams each. You may now take one of your dough pieces and begin stretching its corners before folding them over the center, repeating all around the dough. When that is done, flip your dough over and begin using your palms to round it out into a ball by stretching it sides under itself. You should be left with an extremely smooth ball such as this one. From there, repeat this entire process with all remaining pieces until you are left with four balls. 7. Second Day Proof: At this point, take out a baking tray and generously grease it with approximately 15 grams of vegetable or olive oil. Evenly pace your balls onto your tray, making sure they have enough space to expand in volume. Then place an equally sized inverted tray on top to prevent your buns from drying out. Again, if you do not have a spare tray, just make sure that there is no breeze passing through your work area. From there, move your tray to your oven and switch its light on to bring its temperature up to 26 degrees Celsius or 78.8 degrees Fahrenheit to proof for two hours. 8. Bake Your Burger Buns: When your two-hour hour is complete, remove your buns from the oven, and set its temperature to 200 degrees Celsius, or 392 degrees Fahrenheit. While that preheats for 15 minutes, take out a small bowl to prepare your egg wash in. For that, crack in one egg and then pour in five grams of milk. Then use a brush to stir your egg mixture before using it to coat the top of all of your buns with egg wash. If your oven has yet to fully preheat, cover your buns backup with your inverted tray to prevent it from drying out. Then, remove it one final time before placing your buns in a medium to high rack in your oven to bake for 18-20 minutes, or, until golden brown. 9. Cook Your Patties & Toppings: Starting off with your meat, each patty of your burgers will require 280 grams of ground beef mints. So take that out and then season it with salt and pepper to taste, before using your hands to incorporate that into your meat, as well as shape it into a thick patty. Repeat that with the rest of your beef and then take out an onion, halving before cutting it into slices. Speaking of slices, use a sharp knife or grater to cut your Cheddar in advance. Each burger will need approximately 30 grams of cheese, so prepare accordingly. When that has been sorted, you may now take out a medium-size pan and place it on your stove, setting it to medium heat. Add in 20 grams of unsalted butter, ensuring it coats the entire surface. From there, drop in your onions and let that cook for two minutes. When that time is over, increase your heat to high, and make some space for as many patties as possible. Add in your meat and begin frying for three minutes on one side before flipping them over, and adding your cheese slices on top. Fry the second side for three additional minutes, but this time, cover your pan with a large lid or aluminum foil to to the steam to melt your cheese over the beef. When those three minutes are over, clear your pan before continuing to cook all of your remaining patties, and when that is done, one final step I like to do is to toast my buns. First, add 10 grams of butter and then cut your bun in half before frying the inner sides on your pan for 2-3 minutes. Again, repeat this with your remaining burger buns until they have all been toasted with butter. 10. Burger Assembly & Conclusion: Now that all of your ingredients are ready, it is time to assemble them into a delicious burger, and I could not be more excited. To begin, what I like to do is apply a generous coating of tomato paste to the lower bun in order to give it a bit of moisture. But you could potentially use mayonnaise or even ketchup depending on what you prefer. From there, add your patty with a melted Cheddar on top followed by a slice of tomato. I would highly recommend you grind some pepper and especially some salt on top of that as it will absolutely help bring out some of the flavor. As your final topping, drop on some of your caramelized onions and then finish it off with your second toasted burger bun. From there, you may continue assembling all of your sourdough burgers until they are ready to be enjoyed. They are so incredibly delicious that my mother had to make another surprise visit to the kitchen to enjoy them with me. From the buns to the caramelized onions and the melted cheese, this burger simply works so incredibly well, and I sincerely hope you enjoy them as much as I have. With that said, I do look forward to seeing you in the next recipe where you will learn how to make your own BLT from scratch with sourdough sandwich bread.