Soft, rich, buttery brioche buns that are perfect for sandwiches and burgers, made in 45 minutes, start to finish.
Homemade buttery brioche buns with simple ingredients fresh out the oven in under an hour? Dreams come true! At least my dreams. They often involve baked goods. #dontjudgeme.
After making homemade loaves of brioche bread, I completely love and respect the art of bread making.
But when I forget to grab burger buns for tonight's dinner from the store, I know that baking fresh buns would be a long, arduous process.
Until now.
First of all: What is Brioche?
Brioche bread is a rich French bread with a thin, crisp crust. It's enriched with eggs and lots of butter, giving the brioche bread a fine, tender crumb with a buttery mouthfeel.
It makes fantastic french toast, wonderful sandwiches (like these amazing Croque madames!) and delicious bread pudding because of its richness.
Brioche in general usually takes a long time to make, at least a full day and sometimes even two days because of its rise times.
Quick Brioche Hamburger Buns
With that said, these brioche buns are a lighter, faster version of brioche. They don't use as many eggs and butter as a whole loaf of slowly-risen brioche. They are fluffy and easy to whip up and put together, which is why I love making them for my famous classic patty melts or for grilled flank sandwiches. Ugh. So good.
How to Make Brioche Hamburger Buns
Living yeast is key.
Use good yeast. If you aren't sure your active dry yeast is alive, do the proofing step. Let the yeast sit in the warm milk with a pinch of sugar for the yeast to eat. Once the yeast gets frothy and foamy after about five to ten minutes, it's ready to use and alive. If it doesn't foam up and you're looking at a murky, sad cup of milk, that yeast isn't good anymore.
Without good yeast, your bread won't work at all.
Kneading, kneading, kneading.
This is the type of recipe that I push a stand mixer full stop. Kneading by hand will incorporate a lot of unnecessary flour and make the hamburger buns tough. The dough is so soft and sticky because of how rich it is, so kneading it by hand can make a mess. I've said it before and I'll say it again, a stand mixer is one of the best kitchen investments a home cook can buy!
If you just have one hour this weekend, make these buns. Make them, use them with a delicious burger, and freeze the rest you don't use. Or heat them up and cover them in honey butter, I won't tell anyone.
Looking for more amazing bread recipes? Look at:
Sea Salt and Cracked Pepper Focaccia Bread
Cheddar Bay Biscuits (Red Lobster Copycat)
Southern Yeast Rolls (Sister Schubert Copycat)
Authentic Southern Buttermilk Biscuits
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📖 Recipe
Quick Brioche Burger Bun Recipe
Soft, rich, buttery brioche buns with a buttery, tender crumb are perfect for sandwiches and burgers and made in 45 minutes, start to finish.
Ingredients
- 1 package (2.25 tsp) dry active yeast
- 1 ¼ cup (300 mL) warm whole milk, 110 degrees F (43 degrees C)
- 3 tablespoon (38 g) granulated sugar
- 6 tablespoon (84 g) unsalted butter, melted
- 1 teaspoon (8 g) kosher salt
- 1 large egg
- 3 ½ cup (210 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 tablespoon (15 mL) milk or cream
- Sesame seeds for garnish, optional
Instructions
- In a stand mixer bowl, gently stir together yeast, warm milk, and sugar. Let sit for 10 minutes to bloom, if it doesn't foam up and smell yeasty, it is dead; you need to get living yeast and try again.
- Add melted butter, salt, and egg to the yeast mixture. Whisk together well, then add in about 3 ¼ cups (180 g) flour. With a dough hook attachment on medium speed, knead the dough for about 8 minutes. The dough will be soft and slightly sticky, not shaggy, and will spring back up when touched when it's ready.
- Separate the dough into 8-10 balls (depending on how big you want them) and place onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rise in a warm, draft-free space for 15 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Whisk the egg yolk and tablespoon of milk together in a small bowl to create an egg wash. Brush the egg wash over the tops and sides of the buns. Sprinkle the top of the brioche buns with sesame seeds, if desired.
- Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until buns are golden brown.
- These buns can be frozen for up to two months. Wrap individually in plastic wrap and in a freezer-safe zip-top bag.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 10 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 291Total Fat: 12gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 80mgSodium: 143mgCarbohydrates: 37gFiber: 2gSugar: 3gProtein: 8g
Eden Westbrook is the recipe developer, writer, and photographer behind Sweet Tea and Thyme. A classically trained chef, Eden has inspired home cooks into the kitchen with cultural comfort foods, easy family-friendly eats and sweets, and glorious spreads for date night and entertaining since 2015.
Omar Chaudhry says
A note to anyone making this recipe: using the volumes of ingredients provided, this makes a dough akin to soup! I had to increase the flour content by at least double before I could get a vague semblance of dough.
The end result was super tasty, admittedly - but it would appear an error has been made on the flour quantity.
Hi Omar,
A quick lookover of the main ingredients: 3.5 cups flour, 1.25 cups liquid, 1/3 cup fat, finds there is no error in the recipe. Doubling the flour content to 7 cups or more of flour to 1 cup of liquid and a scant 1/3 cup of fat is an impossible ratio to create a smooth, hydrated, easily kneaded bread dough. The volume of flour to liquid would never come together, which leads me to believe that you may have misread and used too much liquid in your recipe.
In fact, I looked over similar recipes' ingredients for brioche burger buns, including a popular one from the NY Times, and their ratios are extremely close if not exactly the same in ratio to mine.
I wish you well in your culinary endeavors.
Aaliyah Jenkins @Sipping on Soy says
These bun look so fluffy! I usually hate working with yeast, but I really do need to start incorporating it more. I love baked goods, and yeast is usually a part of that!
Gina Marie says
I am a CARB queen! I was recently at whole foods and had to settle for some very lifeless thin buns because the prices were so high! I love whole foods but geez lol Aldi is definetly a life savor. These buns look delicious. I never thought of myself as a baker but I would love to veganize this recipe ?