New Recipe of the Week: Brioche Buns

A few nights ago Jeshua asked for cheeseburgers for dinner.  The only problem?  I rarely have hamburger buns on hand.  So I went on Pinterest to my Recipes board where I knew I had a homemade hamburger bun recipe pinned and planned to make them.  The pin wasn't there :)  No idea what happened, I assume I unpinned it.  So I did a quick search for "hamburger bun recipes" and found this one for brioche buns.

I modified her recipe a bit based on the ingredients I had on hand.  This recipe is one I will definitely make again! 

Brioche Burger Buns
Adapted from Parsley Sage Sweet
Makes (8) 4-5 inch burger buns

INGREDIENTS:

1 c warm (not hot!) water
2 T active dry yeast (did you know this is supposed to be refrigerated after you open it?  I should probably read the package more often)
2 1/2 T sugar (I used raw sugar because it was what I had)
2 large eggs
3 1/3 c all-purpose flour
1 1/2 t salt
2 1/2 T unsalted butter, softened

Cornmeal
Sesame Seeds, Poppy Seeds, Celery Seeds, Rehydrated Onion Flakes (let dried onion flakes sit in a small bowl of water for a few minutes), Garlic Powder

DIRECTIONS:
1. In a liquid measuring cup combine one cup warm water (I put my room temp water in the microwave for 30 seconds), yeast and sugar. Let stand until foamy, about five minutes. Meanwhile, beat one egg.

2. In a large bowl, whisk flour with salt. Add butter and rub into flour between your fingers, making crumbs (I just combined it with my mixer). Stir in yeast mixture and beaten egg until a dough forms. Knead until smooth and elastic (I used my dough hook and my stand mixer).  You want the dough to remain slightly tacky.

3. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, 1-2 hours.

4. Sprinkle cornmeal on a stoneware baking pan.  Divide dough into 8 equal parts. Gently roll each into a ball and arrange two to three inches apart on baking sheet. Cover loosely with a piece of plastic wrap lightly coated in nonstick spray and let buns rise in a warm place for 1 to 2 hours.  I really should decide what to make for dinner more than an hour in advance — I only let mine rise about 30 minutes instead of the recommended four hours and they turned out just fine.  :)

5. Set a large shallow pan of water on oven floor. Preheat oven to 400 degrees with rack in center. Beat remaining egg with 1 tablespoon water and brush some on top of buns. Sprinkle with seed mixture (I actually picked up the dough, dipped it in the egg and then in the seed mixture -- use more seeds than you think you'll need). Bake until tops are golden brown, about 15 minutes (using my convection oven it took less). Transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Tip for cutting the buns (don't remember where I read this) -- hold your serrated knife sideways and keep the bun level instead of turning the bun and cutting down -- it will cut more evenly.