Brioche Burger Buns
The bun obsession was still in full swing last week and I started to experiment at home. The winner on flavour for me at the great bun tasting, was the brioche; almost perfect but letting itself down a little on structure. I wanted to kick things off using a tried and tested recipe which could then be modified afterwards, if necessary and I remembered saving this from Deb’s blog, which is usually very reliable when it comes to all things baked.
As Deb warns, the dough is incredibly sticky but it is important to resist over-flouring when kneading as this will only toughen the buns and make them too dense. Her technique for kneading is to pick up the dough, turning it and slapping it against the work top, which worked a treat. She has also posted some bread making tips, which I found incredibly useful.
The seeding here is a bit random as I forgot to buy sesame seeds and so had to scrabble around in the bottom of a packet of ‘seed mix’ I found languishing at the back of the cupboard. As you can see, I couldn’t be bothered to weed out the hemp seeds so they went on too. The odd cheeky sunflower also slipped through the net – it wasn’t an issue.
The buns turned out light, soft and neither too buttery nor too sweet. I thought they might benefit from being slightly denser but Chris disagreed and with hindsight, I think he’s probably right. I considered making another batch with slightly more flour just to see what happens but to be honest, I feel the bun obsession is finally coming to an end – it’s time to move on. Once toasted, I think this is actually as near to a perfect burger bun as it’s possible to get. The taste was spot on and they hold up well under the pressure of a greedy filling. Now all I have to do is start working on the perfect burger…
Category: Bread, Burgers, Sandwiches 17 comments »
August 29th, 2009 at 4:20 pm
Brilliant. But now we’ve sorted the bun “issue” I’m going to try and convince you that a burger doesn’t need salad in it, either…
August 29th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
Chris – I’m afraid that’s not possible. I absolutely love salad in my burger, it totally makes it for me. Contrasting textures and the flavours of sweet tomato, punchy onion, the tang of pickle and a hit of peppery leaf – yep, I definitely love it.
August 29th, 2009 at 6:02 pm
FABULOUS!
I’m with Chris on not wanting green salad in a burger. Tomato slices, OK. Onion, oh yes. Gherkin, absolutely. But lettuce? No no no!
August 29th, 2009 at 7:12 pm
Perfection – I am looking at the perfect burger conveyance.
August 29th, 2009 at 7:31 pm
Kavey – Am I only the person who likes lettuce in a burger?!
Oyster – I am very much looking forward to the challenge, I need a break first though!
August 29th, 2009 at 9:54 pm
Nope! No lettuce in the burger. Onion and gherkin and tomato for sure. Red onion for preference. Mustard and ketchup. But not too much of anything: the beef and the bread is the thing!
August 29th, 2009 at 10:21 pm
Awesome burger buns! Love how shiny and golden they are after being baked. I don’t mind a bit of salad in my burger, but on-the-side is also good.
August 30th, 2009 at 8:20 am
Steve – I love how no-one will accept that I like lettuce in my burger. MY BURGER people MY burger!! I’m kidding by the way, I’m clearly just some sort of freak
Y – I did give them a damn good egging and I must have cooked them longer than Deb as hers are a lot more pale. Glad to hear of your not minding a bit of lettuce…
August 30th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
Looks lovely! I adore brioche and I bet it makes a fantastic burger bun!
August 30th, 2009 at 11:50 pm
YUM! A gorgeous looking burger!
September 1st, 2009 at 9:32 am
Shiny, shiny, pretty, pretty! Lovely. I really do need to try the brioche bun, you’ve tempted me.
I like lettuce in a burger myself, just as long as it’s not a huge wedge of iceberg (yerk!) And a burger without gerkin? Unthinkable.
September 1st, 2009 at 4:28 pm
Come on Mr Lion…open wide… I quite like a bit of lettuce in my burger…alongside the gherkin, onion, and tomato, I find it a nice little blast of freshness.
I’ll definitely try these brioche buns…any excuse to make a burger, frankly!
September 2nd, 2009 at 12:55 pm
Good on you! So glad these held up well – the problem at the Great Bun Tasting was, as you say, that they squished into a soggy mess. Yours are made of sterner stuff. The sugar gives them that lovely deep colour, too.
September 3rd, 2009 at 10:11 am
Looks delicious! Thanks for sharing.
September 8th, 2009 at 5:57 am
I found your blog via the Wikio rankings (I’m gradually working my through the top 30 right now) and no wonder you’re at number 2 this place is excellent.
I love the look of those bread buns, so satiny and scrumptious.
September 17th, 2009 at 4:51 am
Those brioche buns are so wonderful…..i just can’t resist myself from trying them
July 25th, 2010 at 6:34 pm
we always want to put lettuce in our vegetagble salads and vegetable soups.’.`