Brioche Hamburger Buns

Rich, eggy, and buttery, these fluffy buns have a soft, pillowy texture — they’re like regular hamburger buns on steroids. You’ll want to slice them up and stuff them with your favorite juicy burger to give it what it deserves.

Brioche is a very versatile dough and in practice it holds up well due to its richness and despite its softness it is firm enough to hold up a juicy burger – especially when buttered and toasted. Read up on how to grill the perfect burger and you’ve made a match in grilling heaven.

Brioche is worth making for burger buns, but it’s also great to have this classic pastry technique in your back pocket for turning into other treats. You can also use brioche as a vehicle for butter and jam, or fill it with your favorite sandwich filling like chicken salad, egg salad, or pulled pork. Let your imagination run wild!

What is classic brioche?

While these buns require a little more time and effort, they’re not out of the reach of the home cook and, in practical terms, aren’t as time-consuming as you might think.

This recipe is based on the classic method of making a sponge cake or appetizer and letting it rise for about 45 minutes. Add the eggs and flour to the sponge cake until a soft dough forms and knead in a food processor for about 8 minutes. Add cool but creamy butter to the batter and, when fully incorporated, allow the batter to rise at room temperature for about an hour.

Finally, just before baking, the buns are washed with egg and come out of the oven puffy and golden.

Tips for success with brioche burger buns

Every time you make something new it can be a challenge, but these tips should help you navigate some of the intricacies of the recipe.

• As you knead it and add butter to the dough, don’t hesitate to scrape down the bowl and the dough that creeps up the kneading paddle from time to time. It will eventually come together to form a ball of dough, so don’t panic!
• Cold dough is easy to work with and shape. Once you’ve taken the dough out of the fridge after leaving it overnight to rise, work quickly. If it gets warm and unwieldy, pop it in the freezer for a few minutes until it sets again.
• Weigh the rolls so they are all the same size. If you have a scale, weigh the dough and then divide the weight by 8 to determine the weight of each roll. Start by cutting it into wedges and make adjustments as needed. If you don’t have a scale, don’t worry; just look at it Perfection is overrated.
• Before flattening the dough on the baking sheet, space the rolls about 3 inches apart.

How to customize the recipe

If you’ve never made brioche before, I urge you to follow the recipe as is. I would say that’s good advice when trying something new, especially when it comes to baking. Then you can experiment with a much greater likelihood of success once you become comfortable with the technique.

Here are a few brioche swaps, substitutions, and alternative ideas:

• If you want to use whole-wheat flour, use whole-wheat pastry flour or half all-purpose flour and half whole-wheat flour. Whole wheat flour absorbs more liquid than white flour, so you’ll need to decrease the amount of flour or increase the liquid to make adjustments.
• Make slider buns by dividing the dough into 16 pieces and shaping them the same way.
• Light seeds such as sesame, poppy seeds or chopped dried onions are excellent as toppings; Just make sure you coat the buns with egg wash so the seeds stick.
• Skip the egg wash altogether and brush the buns with melted butter when they come out of the oven as well.

Store, freeze and thaw brioche buns

Save on computer fully chilled Rolls in a ziplock plastic bag for up to 3 days. (Warm buns encourage condensation in the bag, causing the bread to become soggy).

For longer storage, wrap each roll in plastic, then freeze in a ziplock bag for up to 3 months. To thaw, unwrap and let rest on a wire rack at room temperature for about 20 minutes, or place in a 350°F oven for about 10 minutes.