Why Are Hamburger Bun Bottoms So Thin?

Posted by Robyn Lee, February 6, 2009 at 1:00 PM

In Why Do Clocks Run Clockwise?, a book of "answers to civilization's most nagging questions," author David Feldman answers the question, "Why Are Hamburger-Bun Bottoms So Thin?" Feldman explains why commercial retail bakeries don't always slice the buns at a height that would allow for more balance between the bottoms and tops:

Most hamburger buns purchased in the grocery store are approximately one and a quarter inches high. They are baked in molds that are half an inch high. Many bakeries slice the bun at this half-inch mark rather than the true midpoint. This is necessary because the tops of the hamburger buns puff up (three-quarters of an inch above the mold), and the top is relatively fragile. The lowest point of this fragile area is called the “shred line.” Slices made above the shred line tend to be less clean. One of the reasons that the bottoms of McDonald’s Big Mac buns stand up so well is that they are baked in one-inch molds, producing a higher shred line, so that they can be sliced at a proportionately higher point. The hamburger-bun tops are, in fact, much more important from a marketing point of view. Nothing pleases browsers at the bakery shelf more than buns with a pronounced mushroom top. Because the mushroom top is above the shred line, bakers must decide between good looks and practicality when it comes time to slice the buns—guess which one they choose.

Feldman includes a simple solution from Bill Keogh of American Bakeries: eat the burger upside-down. [Thanks to AHT reader Turkishjade for the excerpt.]

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Tags: buns, burger trivia