This grain-free Paraguayan flatbread uses no normal flour, which is wonderful in today’s world. This is not just unusual and delicious, it’s also quite simple—pronouncing it could be the most difficult part. Freshly prepared mbeju are preferred. I topped mine with some chipotle mayo, sliced avocado, fire-roasted red pepper rings, sliced green onion, and a dash of coarse salt instead of the traditional melted butter and cup of coffee that they are typically served with.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 15 mins |
| Additional Time: | 3 hrs 10 mins |
| Total Time: | 3 hrs 45 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
| Yield: | 8 buns |
Ingredients
- 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast (such as Fleischmann’s ActiveDry Yeast®)
- 1 pound all-purpose flour, or as needed – divided
- 1 cup warm water (105 degrees F/41 degrees C)
- 2 large eggs, divided
- 3 tablespoons butter, melted
- 3 tablespoons white sugar
- 1 ¼ teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon milk
- 1 teaspoon sesame seeds, or as needed
Instructions
- Place yeast into bowl of a large stand mixer; whisk in 1/2 cup flour and warm water until smooth. Let stand until mixture is foamy, 10 to 15 minutes.
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- Whisk 1 egg, melted butter, sugar, and salt thoroughly into the yeast mixture. Add remaining flour (about 3 cups).
- Fit a dough hook onto stand mixer and knead the dough on low speed until soft and sticky, 5 to 6 minutes. Scrape sides if needed. Poke and prod the dough with a silicone spatula; if large amounts of dough stick to the spatula, add a little more flour.
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- Transfer dough onto a floured work surface; dough will be sticky and elastic but should not stick to your fingers. Gently form dough into a smooth, round shape, tucking loose ends underneath.
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- Wipe out the stand mixer bowl and drizzle in olive oil. Place dough in the bowl and turn it several times until the surface is thinly coated with oil. Cover the bowl with aluminum foil and let dough rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 2 hours.
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- Line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper.
- Transfer dough to a floured work surface and pat to flatten any bubbles; form into a slightly rounded, 5×10-inch rectangle, about 1/2 inch thick.
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- Dust dough lightly with flour if needed and cut into eight equal pieces. Form each piece into a round shape, gently tucking ends underneath as before.
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- Use your hands to gently pat and stretch the dough rounds into flat, 1/2-inch-thick discs. Arrange buns about 1/2 inch apart on the prepared baking sheet. Dust buns very lightly with flour. Drape a piece of plastic wrap over the baking sheet (do not seal tightly). Let buns rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
- Beat remaining egg with milk in a small bowl, using a fork, until mixture is thoroughly combined. Very gently and lightly brush tops of buns with egg wash without deflating the risen dough. Sprinkle each bun with sesame seeds.
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- Bake in the preheated oven until lightly browned on top, 15 to 17 minutes. Buns will stick together slightly where they touch. Let cool completely. Tear the buns apart and slice in half crosswise to serve.
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- One pound of flour is equal to about 3 1/2 cups.
- When in doubt, go for dough that’s a little too sticky rather than too dry. You can always knead a little more flour into these.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 292 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 49 g |
| Cholesterol | 58 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Protein | 8 g |
| Saturated Fat | 3 g |
| Sodium | 415 mg |
| Sugars | 5 g |
| Fat | 7 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Easy, and quick recipe. Thank you. I did use warm milk instead of water and I let the yeast bloom before adding flour. I also only had to wait an hour for the first rise. Maybe because I’m in Florida and there is no central a/c in my house. I’m not sure why others seemed to have a problem with plastic wrap sticking, but the directions did say to lightly dust with flour and not to put the wrap too tight. So maybe that’s what went wrong there. I also didn’t have any sesame seeds so I used everything bagel seasoning. They look great. Can’t wait for my lamb burger tonight.
Pretty good buns. I did worry about them deflating like many mentioned so I opted to leave the buns in the oven (I let dough rise in there with the oven light on to keep a warm environment for rising) without covering then when they rose I preheated the oven with them in there, as soon as the preheat was finished they were ready to pull to do the wash and sesame seeds. Worked perfectly for me. Would have liked them to rise more but I was in a rush and didn’t add much sugar.
Simple recipe, delicious outcome!! Directions are easy to follow with photos along the way to help. I no longer buy hamburger buns!
Buns turned out beautifully. I did cut the sugar back to 2 tbsp, rather than the 3 in the recipe. Buns were light and fluffy.
Perfection! Saved my bacon when I ran out of buns at a FLY-IN only lodge in ALASKA! My cling film did not stick. However, I might spray my film with non-stick spray in the future. I will say that I did measure my flour by weight and I did need to add in extra flour to keep my silicon spatula from a lot of sticking per instructions. I think this may be why some people had their buns sticking to the plastic wrap. Too bad 6 of my kids and my dad have CELIAC DISEASE! Won’t be making these often for that reason.
Terrible. Didnt rise. Didnt cook properly. Stuck to parchment paper. 4 hours of total waste. Not edible at all. Like hard flat pizza dough. Dont cover with plastic wrap it will only stick and ruin your buns
I make this recipe regularly with no modifications. My family doesn’t eat store-bought burger buns anymore. That’s a win on the health front!
Husband Quote: “That is THE BEST bun I’ve ever had”
Love this recipe so much! My first time baking bread and these buns came out perfect! Perhaps because I live in a summer humid country and used a packet of 11g yeast rather than 9g, the dough almost tripled within an hour. Next time I’m going to make 10 or even 12 buns rather than 8. I also didn’t have my kitchen aid handy so I kneaded the whole thing by hand which was a pain and a half buuut totally worth it! I’m never buying buns again!
Loved the taste. Followed the recipe but accidentally put tbs of salt tried to scoop out but I didn’t even notice. Tasted great !
Very happy with how they turned out. Definitely my go to recipe for buns from now on.
In case anyone is wondering whether or not these work with vegan JUST egg, they do (1/4 cup=1 egg). They did deflate a bit when I brushed them with the “egg” wash, even though I was gentle. I think the inner texture looked better & was fluffier on the buns without the wash, but both were equally delicious. I did make another change by using bread flour, because that’s what I had on hand. I also don’t buy cling wrap so I used a couple tea towels & that worked perfectly.
First time making burger buns! I left them in the fridge overnight to rise and used everything bagel seasoning as the topping. I think mine came out a little flat from my shaping skills but they were really good! Thanks for sharing the recipe 🙂
I make these basically as written except I usually make 12 buns rather than 8 and I usually don’t require quite as much rise time to double the volume. My wife now refuses to eat store bought buns.
These were absolutely wonderful and easy to make. I don’t think they rose as much as they should have but they were still soft and wonderful.
Delicious! Only makes 8 small hamburger buns.
These were easy to make and turned out absolutely perfect!
Love it…I don’t know if it was because I live in the tropics or that my yeast is particularly active, but it tripled in size in less than an hour. I got 14 large buns with the golden brown egg washed sesame tops…beautiful
This recipe was excellent. Appreciate how easy it was. They were absolutely delicious. 5 stars!
I just made this . I made 2 batches. I followed the recipe except I excluded the sesame and didn’t make the rolls quite so flat. Was super easy and turned out beautifully. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Super easy to make! Delicious!