Have I told you all lately just how much I adore carbs? Like I LOOOOOOOOOOOVE bread and I’m saddened to say this but my thighs love it even more *damn it!*. LOL Bread is my downfall needless to say. Not chocolate, not cake, not cookies but give me a piece of fresh warmed buttered bread and I’ll follow you home like a little stray cat purring like I’m your bestie for life.
So I had this stick up my butt one day as I was craving bread and onions Like it was the weirdest craving I had ever had (well okay, not as weird as the time I literally craved bacon wrapped potato chips dipped in ganache.. yeah, you read that right and yep, I ate it!) but still… most crave one or the other but I wanted both. Plus remember I HAAAAAAAAAAATE ‘real’ onions in the raw. I’ll eat them caramelized or fried/baked but never raw (gag).
Well I was in my kitchen and since it was at the butt-crack-o’dawn I decided to go with brioche bread. It’s one of my top five favorites. It’s sweet and soft; makes amazing french toast and just an all around awesome bread.
When these came out of the oven I could not wait to open up one of these and slather on some butter.
The bread layers inside were so delicate and tender. The butter just seemed to nestle into every single layer infusing itself in breadtopia!
I truly did try to take a pic….well that’s not true… I thought about taking a picture while I was eating it… that’s not true either… okay fine, I’ll fess up. I *thought* about taking a picture of the insides with the butter all melty and flaky layers AFTER I was done inhaling one. Now if I truly loved you guys I would have taken one for the team and opened up another one to repeated the process but the button on my jeans denied me that love.
Now these I made were bigger than your normal sized buns as I needed ‘Gunther Sized’ buns as the boys were over doing manly construction work.
Let’s just say these buns lasted for 1 meal and that was it! They INHALED these like it was their job!
Brioche Onion Hamburger Buns
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Ingredients
- 2/3 cup warm milk
- 1/3 cup warm water
- 3 Tbl honey
- 2 Xl eggs, room temp.
- 2 tsp yeast
- 3 cups bread flour (plus more, if needed)
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 4 Tbl unsalted butter, softened and cut into cubes
- 1/2-3/4 cup dried onions
- 1 egg yolk with 1 tsp water , beaten
- sesame seeds *optional
Instructions
- In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the dough hook, add the flour, salt and dried onions.
- Using a whisk, gently combine.
- Add in the butter, eggs, honey, milk, water and yeast.
- Mix on low scraping the sides of the bowl to incorporate all the flour.
- Increase the speed to medium and knead for 8 minutes…the dough should be tacky and look pretty sticky. You can add a Tbl of flour or so if you feel it’s too sticky (some dough will just barely stick to the sides of the bowl). Don’t add too much flour as the dough should be tacky and look almost wet. It’s a very soft dough.
- Continue kneading for an additional 2 more minutes (10 minutes total – this is important!) The dough will ‘climb up the dough hook’. That’s OK.
- Scrape the sticky dough that clings to the sides of the mixer bowl and then form all of the dough in a ball.
- Lightly butter a bowl and put the dough in that.
- Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until at least doubled in bulk and is nice and puffy, about 1 to 2 hours.
- Place the puffed dough gently onto a floured countertop.
- Lightly sprinkle a bit of flour on top as well.
- Using a dough scraper, divide dough into 12 equal pieces (mine were about the size of a lemon). These really puff up!
- Flour your hands and form the pieces into balls and place on lightly oiled parchment-lined baking sheet.
- Arrange 2 to 3 inches apart on baking sheet as they will rise some more.
- Flatten the balls down a bit ( to about 1 1/2-2”).
- Lightly spray the dough balls and cover loosely.
- Let buns rise in a warm place for 1 to 2 hours or until puffed again.
- minutes before ready to bake, preheat the oven to 400F with rack in center.
- Light brush each bun with egg yolk mixture and top with sesame seeds.
- Bake, turning sheet halfway through baking, until tops are golden brown, about 10-15 minutes.
- Transfer to a rack to cool completely and freeze, if desired.
I just baked 12 of these rolls using Caputo 00 Chefs Flour. The result was excellent but the dough was very wet and very difficult to handle after the eggs were added. I persevered and enjoyed the flavor, crust and crumb of the rolls, which required 15 minutes in the oven. I will try using at least 1/4 to 1/2 cup more flour for the next batch to
produce a more manageable dough.
Thanks for posting this recipe!
Hi! I’m so happy you’ll love it! Yes the dough will be wet and pretty much hard to hold shape. This is a slack stage. Slack, if you’re unfamiliar, is where the dough is wet (but not liquidy) and won’t hold a shape. But great thinking on your feet to add a bit more flour.
Best Kitchen Wishes!
Are you able to freeze/and or leave the uncooked dough for a few days before baking?
Thank you!!
Hi Becky,
Yes but…
In the fridge if you cover it tightly it’ll last about 2-3 days. If you know you are going to freeze the dough, add about 1/4 teaspoon more yeast to make up for any that may die off in the freezer. Most bakers prefer to bake all of the dough and freeze the baked loaves for later. Any type of enriched dough like brioche or challah tends to lose its full rise when you freeze it.
Best Kitchen Wishes!
★★★★★