Brioche Burger Buns are light and fluffy, perfect for any kind of burger. These buns will be the best addition to your next cookout! They’re also great for sandwiches, french toast, or (honestly!) just as bread with butter. If you’ve always wondered how restaurants get those delicious buns, you can now make your own.
How to make perfect brioche hamburger buns.
What is brioche, exactly?
Brioche is a type of enriched bread. The dough contains high levels of butter, sugar, and eggs, although some lighter variations exist. All these additions to your bread make it soft, fluffy and help it stay fresh longer.
The downside? Brioche dough is a sticky dough and is notoriously difficult to work with. Luckily, if you have a stand mixer with a dough hook, you’ll have no trouble. This dough also does great in the bread machine.
The softness of brioche makes it perfect for burger buns but it’s also delicious in chocolate chip brioche, a sweet breakfast treat.
What you’ll need
- water
- whole milk
- butter
- eggs
- sugar
- all-purpose flour (if you prefer bread flour, you’ll use slightly less)
- salt
- yeast
If you want to top your brioche buns with seeds or coarse salt, you’ll need that as well.
And if you have a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment, this recipe will be much easier.
Step by step
To warm the milk, water, and butter in a glass measuring cup put all three ingredients together then microwave on low for 45 seconds.
Mixing the ingredients together is a simple process. Just add everything into either a bread machine bucket or a stand mixer bowl. There’s no need to get weird about mixing the yeast with water to make a yeast mixture. Just throw them all in.
Knead the dough. Set machine for dough cycle, or knead in the stand mixer 8-10 minutes on low. It is difficult to knead brioche by hand, so use a machine if you have one.
Shape the dough into a ball. Place in an oiled bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Cover and let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1-1/2- 2 hours.
Once the bread dough is very puffy, it’s time to divide and shape. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Divide the dough in half, then quarters, then eighths. (This will make very large hamburger buns, perfect for a juicy burger. For small buns, divide into 12 or 15 pieces.)
Shape the hamburger buns by pinching the bottoms to smooth out the top. Place them on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with seeds.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Shape each piece of brioche dough into a round ball, then flatten slightly. Place on greased baking sheet about 1 inch apart from one another. Bake for 18 minutes or until golden brown. Switch the baking sheets halfway through.
Remove the brioche buns from the oven and let cool completely on wire racks.
Can I use whole wheat flour in homemade brioche buns?
What if I don’t have a mixer with a dough hook or a bread maker?
Does brioche bread taste sweet?
More homemade buns to try
- Looking for just a “normal” recipe for hamburger buns? These are classic and easy-to-make buns.
- If your heart is set on a wheat bun, try these soft honey wheat rolls.
Brioche buns recipe
Light and Soft Brioche Burger Buns
Ingredients
For the dough
- ½ cup water
- ½ cup milk whole is best, but any kind is fine
- ¼ cup unsalted butter equivalent to 1/2 stick
- 3 eggs room temperature
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 4¼-4½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1½ teaspoon salt
- 2½ teaspoons yeast instant or active dry
For topping the buns
- 1 egg for egg wash
- 2 tablespoons sesame seeds or poppy seeds
Instructions
- Warm the milk, water, and butter. In a glass measuring cup, put the water, milk, and unsalted butter. Microwave on low for 45 seconds to soften the butter and slightly warm the milk and water.
- Mix all ingredients. Add the contents of the measuring cup to your bread machine bucket or stand mixer bowl. Then add the remaining dough ingredients in the order listed. Start with the lesser amount of flour, adding more as needed. The dough will be sticky but should form a ball.
- Knead. Set machine for DOUGH cycle, or knead in the stand mixer 8-10 minutes on low. It is difficult to knead brioche by hand, so use a machine if you have one.
- The first rise. Allow the dough to rise for two hours, tightly covered, until very puffy.
- Divide and shape. Divide dough into 8-12 pieces, using electric scale if you are particular. You will get 8 very large buns or 12 medium buns. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Shape dough pieces into balls and place them on a baking sheet. Brush rolls with egg wash and sprinkle with seeds if desired. Cover tightly with greased plastic wrap.
- The second rise. Allow the buns to rise for one hour at warm room temperature. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- Bake. Bake for 16-18 minutes, until very golden brown. Cool on wire rack. If you'd like, toast before using as burger buns
Nutrition
They will remind you of the burger buns you get at nicer restaurants. Easy to make, they freeze well and elevate a simple homemade burger into something special.
Maybe I’m losing my mind but this recipe has instructions yet no ingredients list? Would love to make but can’t see the ingredients!
hi monica- you are right! ihave it written down somewherea nd i’ll try to update it tomorrow!
These were AWESOME!!!! Soft, pillowy and absolutely DELICIOUS!!!!
so glad you liked them! I think I’ll make some tonight 🙂
Thank you! I will try this recipe. I have tried making sandwich buns, but they never turn out right. I started making pretzel buns because they seem to turn out better. ???????
I hope you like it! Sandwich buns and “grocery store style” sandwich bread is hard. Probably because they are filled with weird softening agents and we are just used to it!