Brioche Burger Buns (for Day 7's burger)

Brioche burger buns just may be the best culinary invention ever! In my opinion, there are no better burger buns! So I attempted to make my own brioche burger buns for the "three smoke burgers" I will be making for dinner on Friday. The prep and wait times are a bit long so it is probably best to start making this recipe a couple days before when you actually want to eat them. I read here that once the buns are done cooking you should let them cool then store for 2 days in a ziplock bag (supposed to help reabsorb moisture).

Brioche Burger Buns

What You'll Need:
1/3 cup of Warm Water
1 envelope of Dry Active Yeast
1 pinch of Sugar
3 Tbsp of Sugar
2 1/4 cups of Bread flour
5 Tbsp of All Purpose Flour
1 1/4 Tsp of Kosher Salt (the recipe I followed requested course salt)
3 Large Eggs
3/4 cup of Unsalted Butter
1 Large Egg Yolk
1 Tbsp of Heavy Whipping Cream

1. Pour 1/3 cup of Warm Water in a small bowl with Yeast packet and pinch of sugar. Stir to blend then cover and let sit until the yeast dissolves and the mixture is slightly frothy and creamy.

2. Meanwhile, mix 2 cups of Bread Flour, All Purpose Flour, 3 Tbsp of Sugar, and Salt. 

3. Sift flour mixture over Yeast mixture and mix for 1 minute. The dough will be crumbly and dry.

4. Add Eggs one at a time and beat for 30 seconds after each. Then beat dough for 8 minutes on medium (I'm referring to a stand mixer with a dough hook throughout the mixing process).

5. With mixer running on medium, add Butter 1 Tbsp at a time. I needed to reduce the speed the more butter I added since it got pretty splashy. Once all the butter has been incorporated mix the dough on medium for another 5 minutes.

6. Once the dough is soft, smooth, and shiny turn it onto a floured surface. Kneed 1/4 cup more flour into the dough.

7. Butter a large bowl and transfer dough to it, then turn to coat with butter. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and set in a warm draft-free place (I set it in my cold oven and it rose beautifully). Leave until almost doubled in volume (about 1 hour).

8. Punch down dough and smooth (this was totally my doing because I wanted it to be smooth, the original recipe just said punch it down). Cover with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel again then refrigerate overnight.

9. Make 6 foil rings (I used this tutorial to figure it out) and I only made 6 because I decided to freeze half of the dough to make the other half of the batch in the future.

10. Shape the buns (I used this technique to shape mine) and place in the middle of the foil rings.

11. Loosely cover with plastic wrap and let rest until doubled in size (about 1 hour).

12. Beat Egg Yolk and Whipping Cream then brush over tops of buns before baking for 12-16 minutes (until deep golden brown) at 400 degrees.

13. Once done, cool completely then place in a ziplock bag and store in refrigerator for a day or two (supposed to help reabsorb moisture and make the buns softer when you eat them).

14. When you are making your burgers remove these buns from the fridge and lightly toast insides in the oven. When warm add a tasty burger and they will be amazing!

I made this burger recipe and served it on these buns. I was amazing! Definitely a repeat recipe for the future!