Brioche buns

Jonathan Surratt

These are fantastic, buttery buns that work great for burgers or sandwiches. They are rich from the enriched dough, but still very soft in the middle.

YIELD
8 buns or 6 large buns

PREP TIME
schedule 40 minutes

COOK TIME
schedule 20 minutes

TOTAL TIME
schedule 9 hours

Ingredients:

Brioche bun dough

320 grams all-purpose flour (2 3/4 cups)
26 grams special dry milk or non-fat dry milk (1/4 cup)
25 grams granulated sugar (2 tablespoons)
9 grams salt (1 1/2 teaspoons)
9 grams instant yeast (1 tablespoon)
100 grams large eggs - 50 grams per egg (2 eggs)
114 grams water (1/2 cup)
113 grams butter, room temperature (8 tablespoons - 1 stick)

Egg wash

1 large egg
1 tablespoon water
sesame seeds or everything bagel seasoning (optional topping)

Check below recipe directions
for additional notes.

Related blog post: Full of baloney

Directions:

Weigh all ingredients into the bowl of your stand mixer. Knead in your stand mixer on medium for 15 to 20 minutes. This is not really a dough that you would want to knead by hand.

During the 15 to 20 minutes of mechanical kneading, the dough starts off sticky but after 15 minutes it will be smooth and the dough should all start pulling off of the inside of the mixing bowl.

After the dough is smooth, add to a lightly oiled bowl, cover, and let the dough rise for 1 hour in a warm place.

After 1 hour, add the covered bowl to the refrigerator and refrigerate overnight or at least 4 hours. This step is crucial for allowing the dough to be cooled and shaped into buns much easier.

After at least 4 hours, remove the dough from the refrigerator and divide or weigh the dough into 8 evenly sized pieces.

Roll each bun into a ball shape. Press down the top of the ball shape a bit so it's more like a thick hockey puck. By pushing down the dough, you should have a flatter bun instead of a big round ball-shaped bun. Add each shaped bun to a parchment-lined sheet pan.

Cover the shaped buns loosely with lightly oiled plastic wrap or an inverted sheet pan and let them rise for 1.5 to 2 hours or until the buns are puffy.

Near the end of your rising time, preheat your oven to 375 degrees F (167 C).

While the oven is preheating, crack an egg into a bowl and add a tablespoon of water. Whisk this egg and water together to form your egg wash. Very carefully paint each bun top with the egg wash with a brush or the back side of a spoon. This egg wash will make your buns shiny and brown.

If you want to add toppings like everything bagel seasoning or sesame seeds, add them right after the egg wash so that they stick to the bun tops.

Bake the buns for 14 to 18 minutes, rotating the pan 180 degrees from front to back at the halfway point of baking to ensure even browning.

After the buns are browned the way you like them, remove them from the oven and allow the buns to cool fully before slicing into them.

After they are fully cooled you can add them to a bread bag or sealed container for up to 5 or 6 days.

Notes:

If you want to add sesame seeds or everything bagel seasoning, you can add that right after you apply the egg wash prior to baking.

These buns will freeze well. Just pull them out a few hours prior to eating to allow them to thaw out.

Have you made this recipe? Share on Bluesky or Instagram, tag @beerinator and let him know!

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