Like a good pun, nothing beats homemade burgers. Especially if those burgers come with brioche burger buns. It’s the ultimate combo of the slight sweetness of the bread and savory amazingness of a perfect juicy burger patty. Like most people, the go-to method for this household was store-bought buns until the challenge was set to make the entire burger from scratch: patty, sauce and bun… the whole nine yards.
The thing is, the bun is one of the most undervalued elements of the burger. Which is extremely unfair, given that it has several very important jobs. For one thing, it needs to be fluffy enough to be able to maintain the juiciness of the beef patty. At the same time, it shouldn’t get too soggy from the burger sauce and moisture of the patty.
Moreover, it should be a bit crunchy as well, but it shouldn’t crumble in your hands to ensure it holds the patty, cheese, lettuce and tomato in place. Taste-wise, it should add a bit of sweetness to balance the savory patty. In any case, it should never be bland, a.k.a., you should never have just “any” bun, just to have a bun. It’s my firm belief that brioche burger buns are the secret key to success for an all-around perfect burger.
Now that we have set ourselves a very high target to achieve, let’s jump right into the recipe.
At a glance
- Servings: 8
- Preparation time: 15 min
- Total rest time: 1 hr 10 min
- Oven time: 20 min
- From start to finish: 1 hr 45 min
Ingredients
- 3 2/3 cups (17.5 ounces/500 grams) of flour
- 1 egg
- 3 ounces (85 grams) of room temperature butter
- 4 tablespoons of milk
- 7 ounces (200 ml) of warm water
- 2 tablespoons of active dry yeast (click here for an example)
- 1.5 ounces (40 grams) of sugar
- ½ teaspoon of salt
- For the topping: 1 egg, 3 tablespoons of milk and sesame seeds
How to make brioche burger buns
Start by taking a big bowl and adding the water, milk, sugar and yeast and mix it well. Let it rest for 10 minutes before proceeding to allow the yeast to work its magic. Afterwards, whisk in the flour, egg, softened butter and salt. All of this is tiring for the dough, so give it some time to recover and sleep a little to reenergize – just kidding – let it rest in a warm spot in your kitchen for approximately 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit/200 degrees Celsius. Split the dough into 8 for buns parts and form round balls out of it. Lay them out on parchment paper on a baking tray. Make sure to allow enough space between the brioche burger buns. Flatten the balls a little bit. Then, use a small bowl to mix an egg with 3 tablespoons of milk and then apply it to the buns with a cooking brush. Drizzle the sesame seeds on top.
Bake the brioche burger buns for 20 minutes until they reach their delicious golden-brown color.
P.S. You can prepare a larger batch of dough and freeze it. It doesn’t compromise the taste or fluffiness and is a great way to minimalize labor. Thereby, all you then have to do is take the dough balls out of the freezer two hours before you want to serve the end product and bake them once the brioche burger buns are fully thawed. Alternatively, freeze the baked buns and simply toast them on the BBQ when defrosted. I recommend the first option though.
For more soul food check out the soul food section of Mareike’s Cozy Corner and if you fancy some dessert after your burger, look no further than here.