My whole wheat burger buns are fluffy and nutty and just the right vehicle for that delicious veggie burger you just grilled up. Vegan, soy-free and nut-free recipe.
When President Clinton replied, “I guess I am,” to Sanjay Gupta’s query, “Do you call yourself a vegan?” it was, I think, a turning point for the way the rest of the world looks at a vegan lifestyle. You could argue that there are thousands of vegans who have long shouted themselves hoarse about the benefits of a plant-based diet, and who deserve more credit than Clinton does, and I won’t fight with you. But here’s why the once-burger-chomping Clinton’s embrace of veganism is very important: because it tells everyone out there who swears they cannot live without meat and/or dairy products that they can change. More, that change could save their lives.
I often find in the media stories about ex-vegans who go back to eating meat, claiming their doctors found they were deficient in something or the other. Here’s what I don’t get: the deficiencies usually are for iron, Vitamin B, and Vitamin D, and if you work hard enough on balancing your diet and investigating the right foods to eat– surely you owe your health and your family that much– you really won’t even have those. If you do have them, you could pop a vitamin pill and you’d be fine. On the other hand, eating a meat- and dairy-loaded diet can cause diseases that can really, truly, honestly kill you, like heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and many cancers. All of these are all preventable if you follow a plant-based diet. So here’s the choice: you could eat all the meat and dairy you want and pop pills to reduce cholesterol and blood pressure, and take insulin daily; or you could just eat healthy, delicious, life-giving fruits, vegetables, grains and legumes. It goes without saying, but you’d be a fool to choose the cholesterol pills and the insulin.
And there are no excuses for not eating healthy vegan food. This blog and countless others on the web, and a large number of vegan cookbooks, now offer a variety of delicious recipes that will never leave you wanting another meaty burger or steak. Trust me. I grew up eating meat and fish. I loved dairy– I could drink milk by the gallon. More, I loved cooking with these foods for my family and friends. But after becoming a vegan more than four years ago, I have never craved animal foods except perhaps in the first couple of weeks. My tastebuds have changed, and my health has never been better. The number of omnivore friends accepting dinner invitations to our house hasn’t dropped. Most guests enjoy the healthy foods I cook and even feel liberated to eat more of them because they know they don’t have to worry they will feel awful afterwards.
Now, to share some real food with this food for thought, here is a recipe for my Whole Wheat Burger Buns you will absolutely love, and one that I had promised to share in my last post. Try it with a hefty vegan burger, like my Bean and Oats Burgers, or my Spicy and Fat-Free Black Bean Burgers.
Or with my vegan BLT. Enjoy, all!
Whole-Wheat Burger Buns
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tbsp vital wheat gluten flour (optional-- use it if you can because it gives the bread a great texture and a better rise)
- 1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 cups warm water
- 2 tsp sugar
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
Instructions
- Mix the sugar, 1/2 cup warm water and the yeast in a mixing bowl and set aside for about 10 minutes until the mixture starts to froth, indicating the yeast is alive and well.
- Sift all the flours, salt, and baking soda into the bowl. Knead on low speed in a stand mixer or by hand for about 3 minutes, trickling in 1 cup of water until you have a dough that's smooth but slightly sticky. If you are leaving out the gluten, knead at least 2 more minutes.
- Add the oil and continue to knead until the oil has been absorbed by the dough, about 1 more minute.
- Now place in an oiled bowl, turning over once to coat all over with oil, cover with a kitchen towel, and set aside for 2 hours until the dough has risen.
- Punch down the dough and divide into 6 balls
- Shape them into smooth balls. Place the buns on a lightly greased and floured baking sheet, at least a couple of inches apart. Flatten the tops slightly with your fingers, and let the buns rise for an hour.
- Preheat the oven to 370 degrees. Place the buns in the oven and bake 25 minutes.
- Brush the tops with a little oil for a pretty, glossy look. Sprinkle some sesame seeds or poppy seeds on the top, if desired.
- Remove to a rack and allow the buns to cool before breaking them off.
Notes
- Double or triple the recipe to make more buns. Don't change rise and bake times.
Nutrition
(C) All recipes and photographs copyright of Holy Cow! Vegan Recipes.
Wonderful! Will make again and again!
Hi, can I have the measurement in grams when I choose metrics? seemed like the metrics button didn’t change anything at all except 1/2 became 0.5 (lol) .
thanks!
While a plant based diet can help lower cholesterol most individuals suffer from high cholesterol as a result of genetics as their body manufactures it regardless of intake. For those individuals, ‘popping pills’ is vital to their ability to stay healthy regardless of their lifestyle choices for diet and exercise. I completely agree that the healthy lifestyle choices are still good for those individuals and the planet but portraying the use of medication to also help manage cholesterol and overall heart health as unnecessary does a disservice to the individuals that suffer from high cholesterol in their genetic makeup.
Most people do NOT have the genetic mutation that causes the body to produce excess cholesterol. That is why hypercholesterolemia, heart disease, stroke, kidney disease and all related vascular diseases are referred to as lifestyle diseases. Peruse some medical journals for studies that cover this; also see population studies where people who follow a low animal product diet have lower cholesterol than those following a standard American diet. This is not due to genetic differences among different populations, as individuals who have a low animal food diet–and therefore low cholesterol–and then move to a location where they consume more animal foods acquire these lifestyle diseases.
Telling people there is nothing they can do to prevent or reverse lifestyle diseases does a great disservice to those people. It causes them to abdicate control over their own health in favor of pharmaceutical companies. Yes, some people do need to take medication for a variety of ailments, however many more people are on daily medications for ailments that could be halted or reversed through lifestyle changes.
To change it up a bit I replaced the all-purpose flour with whole grain rye flour
Hi Vaishali,
Thank you for the recipe of the buns!
It was very easy to make the buns. I’ve made them in my halogen oven and this worked fine. The shape of the buns were perfect and they tasted very good. My husband, friends and me loved them very much. Your buns and a homemade vegan burger taste like heaven.
Hi there,
About to try these tonight…………can i use olive oil instead of vegetable oil and all purpose wholemeal flour instead of half and half?
Olive oil is fine! I have a recipe for all whole wheat burger buns here, very similar to this one but uses only whole wheat. https://holycowvegan.net/wholegrain-burger-buns/
Thank you….will have a look and let you know how I get on x
I am so happy that I discovered your website. There are so many incredible recipes here!
I have a question about the oil in the buns, and in all of the bread recipes that call for oil: Can I substitute
with something else – maybe aquafaba? Thank you.
Awesome! Made these tonight. Super delicious. I added a few ingredients to make it seedy and even more nutty, some oats, oat bran, sunflower seeds, flax, and a bit of onion and garlic powder. I just recently started making my own breads/pastry. I’ve been having troubles with the dryness of whole wheat but these buns were perfect. They were moist and fluffy and dense all at the same time. Such a simple recipe and very easy to personalize.
Hi Vaishali, if I want to make only 2 buns. Is it alright to make it with only 1/3 of the ingredients? Do I have to switch oven time and/or temperature?
Anyway, this looks great!
Hi Margarita, yes adjust the amount of ingredients proportionately but rise and bake times remain the same!
Just made these and they smell very good. They didnt seem to rise too high tho, any thoughts on making them higher in size? I kneaded the dough by hand
Thanks so much for this recipe! I just made them tonight- did the dough in the bread maker and they are absolutely delish. I’ve been wanting to try a vegan burger bun recipe for a long time now. Finally dove in today and I’m not sorry! Thanks again. 🙂
Any tips on how to store the leftover buns? I made 6 smaller ones, and there are only 2 of us eating them 🙂