Brioche Buns
Ingredients
Sponge
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 packet active dry yeast
- ¾ cup milk, lukewarm
Dough
- 6 eggs
- 3 + ½ cups all purpose flour, divided
- ½ cup sugar
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 cup butter, softened
Egg Wash
- 1 egg, beaten
- 1 Tbsp water
Instructions
Make the sponge: combine all sponge ingredients in a bowl and mix until a shaggy dough forms. Cover and let sit for one hour.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the sponge, 3 cups of flour, eggs, sugar and salt. Mix with a dough hook until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl. This will take time - you will need to scrape down the sides several times, and the mixing may take as long as 30 minutes.
Next, add the butter slowly, with the mixer on low. Add a tablespoon of butter at a time until it is all incorporated.
Then, increase the speed of the mixer to knead the dough. If your dough remains too sticky, add small amounts of flour until it is smooth and elastic (as much as ½ cup, but add in a tablespoon at a time). The dough should pass the windowpane test, meaning you should be able to pull a piece of the dough out and form a see-through “window” without much tearing.
Form a dough ball and let rise in the bowl, covered, for an hour or until doubled in size.
Next, punch down the dough and divide it into eight equal pieces. Form dough balls by folding in sides and pinching tightly to seal. With the sealed side down, gently roll into a ball. Place dough balls on parchment-lined baking sheets (space them well apart, not touching).
Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let sit to rise for an hour.
Preheat the oven to 375°. Prepare the egg wash by combining the egg and water in a small bowl. Brush the tops of the buns just before baking. Bake for 18 minutes, until the tops are golden brown.
Recipe Notes
Brioche can be tricky and time-consuming. Believe it or not, the above method is actually the simplest one I have found, and it still takes quite a bit of effort, and a stand mixer is required. I used the “Best Brioche Bread Recipe” from Delish as a guide for this most recent attempt, but unfortunately the recipe required adjustments in both ingredient quantity and timing so I wrote my adjusted recipe above. The comments on the Delish recipe also confirmed that adjustments were required to form a successful dough.
I have previously made the King Arthur Flour brioche recipe and it also works well. They add the eggs in first and somehow that makes the mixing process easier.
The mixing process in the recipe above, both before and after the butter is added, takes time and patience. A stand mixer is absolutely required. You’ll need to stand by your mixer, and maybe even hold it down to keep it from jumping off the counter. But keep at it, the dough will eventually relent. The reserved ½ cup or so of flour will help you tame any excessive stickiness that occurs. Once a final few spoonfuls of flour is added, you’ll be relieved to see the dough finally come together in a smooth mass.
In spite of all this, this brioche recipe creates soft, buttery, extra-large hamburger buns. Brioche hamburger buns were exactly what I wanted to soak up special sauce on a double-patty smash burger. This recipe will also work for dinner rolls, simply divide into 16 pieces and place them on a buttered baking sheet or dish, sides touching.