This past weekend, I had the wonderful opportunity to attend a workshop by the one and only Sandor Ellix Katz, author of The Art of Fermentation (essential reading!). I walked away from the workshop infused with inspiration and a head full of fermentation ideas. Of course, it wouldn’t be a hands-on workshop if I didn’t leave with a jar of bubbling veggies — a relish of sorts.
The fermenting relish we created by hand during the workshop had numerous spicy New Mexico chiles (as is the custom here in New Mexico, if it’s not spicy, let’s first make it spicy, then figure out the rest of the details), onion, corn, tomato, sweet potato (cooked), and garlic added to the mix. After getting my hands dirty with mixing, mashing, and packing, I began to ponder what I’d like to use this spicy concoction on, and then it came to me: hamburgers with brioche hamburger buns!
Coincidentally, the upcoming weekend of July 4th has always been a big grilling weekend out here, and what better way to celebrate our Nation’s independence than to fire up the grill and throw on some burgers and veggies?
I’ve made hamburger buns several times but have yet to formalize a recipe for my favorite version. This formula has evolved and is similar to my cinnamon roll recipe in that it’s based on an enriched brioche dough but with changes to butter, milk, and flour types.
What I like most about this brioche hamburger bun recipe is its versatility. Not only can the dough be chilled in the fridge (similar to my fluffy milk bread hamburger buns) at multiple points before baking, once baked, but these buns also keep very, very well for days after. If you are planning an event, you can easily make these a day or two beforehand and keep them wrapped up so they stay pliable and ready to slice the morning of.
Additionally, these brioche hamburger buns can be used for many more things around the kitchen than just hamburgers—they are secretly a dinner roll that’ll blow those store-bought ones out of the water.
Let’s break out the butter.
Brioche Hamburger Bun Recipe
When compared to my cinnamon roll recipe, you’ll first notice I reduced the butter a smidgen and worked in a significant percentage of whole wheat flour. The added white whole wheat adds a subtle flavor boost to these, promoting them from just another hamburger bun to more of a central player in the overall meal. Further, the whole wheat gives the buns more rigidity after they’re baked, helping them to support the hamburger patty, toppings, and condiments.
However, this brioche hamburger bun recipe would work very well with 100% white flour or a different type of whole grain for the white wheat component—be sure to adjust the milk percentage up or down to suit.
Feel free to change the flour variety used, but be sure to adjust the hydration to suit.
The schedule outlined below has times and temperatures listed for the same day bake. Meaning the dough is started in the morning and then baked in the late afternoon, ready for a late grilling session or early dinner. However, the dough can be retarded overnight in bulk to add even more flavor and make scheduling easier (more on this below).
Note that you don’t have to make a levain for this recipe, just use your ripe sourdough starter (see the difference between the two here). However, make sure the night before when you refresh your starter you build up enough to cover the starter requirement below (185g).
Vitals
| Total Dough Weight | 1200 grams |
| Yield | 10 x 120-gram buns |
Dough Formula
The target final dough temperature (FDT) is 74°F (23°C).
| Weight | Ingredient | Baker’s Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| 278g | White Bread Flour (~11.5% protein), Malted (Central Milling Artisan Baker’s Craft) | 60.00% |
| 185g | White Whole Wheat (King Arthur Flour White Whole Wheat) | 40.00% |
| 162g | Unsalted European Style Butter (Kerrygold Unsalted) | 35.00% |
| 185g | Eggs (about 4 large) | 40.00% |
| 46g | Fine White Sugar | 10.00% |
| 148g | Whole Milk (cold, from the fridge) | 32.00% |
| 10g | Salt | 2.30% |
| 185g | Ripe sourdough starter | 40.00% |
Method
I used my Kitchen Aid mixer to mix this brioche dough. It’s possible to mix this all by hand but it gets a little tricky with the added butter. If you choose to do it by hand you could knead the dough in a bowl with a wet hand or even slap/fold on the counter.
1. Incorporation – 8:45 a.m.
Take out the butter from the fridge and cut into 1/2” thick pats and place in a small bowl. Let the butter come up to room temperature while mixing the rest of the ingredients.
Add the sugar, eggs (from the fridge), milk (from the fridge), and mature sourdough starter to the bowl of a stand mixer. Whisk everything together until incorporated.
Add the salt and flour to the mixing bowl. Using the dough hook attachment, mix the dough on STIR (lowest setting) for 3 minutes until all the flour is hydrated and everything is incorporated. The dough should look very shaggy at this point but should not be overly stiff. You might need to add more milk, a little at a time if the mixture is too dry.
Let the dough rest 10 minutes, covered.
2. Mixing & Butter Incorporation
After the 10 minute rest, the dough will be strengthened further before adding the butter.
Mix 4-6 minutes on speed 4 (4 notches above STIR for me on my Kitchen Aid, medium speed) until the dough comes together and starts to pull from the sides of the bowl. It will most likely still stick to the bottom, but you’ll notice the dough will strengthen up and become slightly more smooth.
Butter temperature is important! At this point, it should be soft to the touch but not melted (see above, right). It should not be too cold or it won’t incorporate easily, and conversely, if it’s too warm it’ll get greasy and melt. Use the freezer or the microwave (in short increments) to adjust the butter temperature if necessary.
Turn the mixer down to speed 3 and start adding the butter one pat at a time right where the dough hook meets the dough mass. Wait to add the next pat until the previous one is fully incorporated and continue until all the butter is worked into the dough.
Total mixing time for this step could take 8-10 minutes. The dough will still be slightly shaggy (see below) but this is ok because we will perform a couple of sets of stretch and folds during bulk to further add strength. Additionally, you can see the dough does not look greasy from any melting butter. If your dough temperature is too high, pop it into the fridge for 15 minutes to help cool it down.
Once the butter is added, transfer the dough to a tub or thick-walled bowl for bulk fermentation.
3. Bulk Fermentation – 9:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m.
As the dough is bulk fermenting on the counter, perform a total of 2 sets of stretch and folds, spaced out by 30 minutes (the first one 30 minutes after you finish mixing). For each set do a letter fold with wet hands (pick up the Northside and stretch up and fold over to the South, and so on).
After the second set of stretch and folds, place the covered bulk container into the refrigerator; chilling the dough for 1-2 hours in the fridge will make shaping much, much easier.
Here’s where the flexibility I mentioned earlier comes into play. You can let the dough chill in the fridge for 2 hours like I typically do, or you could leave it in the fridge overnight and shape the buns early in the morning to bake the next day.
4. Divide & Shape – 12:45 p.m.
There’s no need to preshape this dough because we’re shaping it directly into small balls for final proofing. Prepare a full-sized baking sheet and another half sheet by lining them with parchment paper.
Remove the dough from the fridge and gently dump it to a lightly floured work surface. Using a scale and bench knife, divide the dough into 10 pieces. Then, using lightly floured hands, shape each piece into a taught ball.
I find shaping these to be very similar to how I shape pizza dough balls, but another method is to use a single hand and cup the dough ball down against the work surface. Then, move your hand in a small circle slightly pressing down on the dough as it moves around and slightly anchors to the bench (see above). Alternatively, you could shape each ball like you would a boule. Either way, be sure the dough has a fairly taut surface.
For more shaping instruction, see my guide page to shaping buns and rolls.
Once a ball is shaped, place it on the baking sheet so each is spaced out by 3″-4” or so. Using your hand gently flatten out each ball so they increase in diameter just a bit.
Cover the baking sheet with plastic to proof on the counter. I use these large plastic liners to cover my proofing baking sheets, they are even large enough to fit a full-sized baking sheet inside.
5. Proof – 1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Covered and on the counter at about 73-76ºF (22-24°C), these trays of dough should proof for about 2.5 hours.
6. Bake – Preheat oven at 2:30 p.m., Bake at 3:30 p.m.
Preheat your oven to 425°F (220°C).
Make an egg wash by whisking a whole egg and a splash of heavy cream or whole milk. When the dough is ready to be baked, uncover the trays and paint on the egg wash with a pastry brush.
I mixed together 50% white sesame seeds and 50% poppy seeds for the topping of each bun. After the egg wash is applied spread some seeds on top as desired.
You don’t need to bake these on a pizza stone or Baking Steel, they’ll bake right on their own baking sheet. Because these brioche hamburger buns are topped with an egg wash, there is no need to steam the oven.
Slide in the baking sheets and bake the buns for 25 minutes. After the first 15 minutes rotate the trays, front to back, and top to bottom. Do keep an eye on these near the end, they may need more or less time depending on your oven.
Once baked, remove from the oven and let the buns cool on wire racks.
Conclusion
As I mentioned earlier, this was the perfect storm of motivation for me to finalize this brioche hamburger buns recipe and grill some hamburgers: the creation of a fermented relish, a holiday weekend approaching, homemade pickles in the fridge, and the pièce de résistance: homemade brioche hamburger buns.
For my hamburger, I sliced each bun in half and spread on some butter before placing them crumb side down on the grill for a few minutes to get nice and crispy. I mixed up some grass-fed beef with a dash of salt and sriracha and grilled each to medium. Then the burgers were topped with my Katz-fermented relish, homemade pickles, avocado, ketchup, and finally enrobed in the grilled buns. Mighty, mighty tasty indeed.
Crust & Crumb
The crust on these brioche hamburger buns is crispy but not tough or unduly firm. There’s nothing more off-putting for me than a hamburger bun that’s totally soft and mushy; I want some texture! Happy to say these definitely do deliver, and grilling them for a few minutes with butter further amplifies this.
I like seeds as a topping for these, not only for the added splash of flavor but they add a desirable texture to the top. If you don’t like seeds or prefer a different type, by all means, omit or change the toppings to suit.
The interior is soft and open with a wonderful yellow tint from the white whole wheat flour and rich butter. You definitely don’t want the interior of these to be too open, but even, full fermentation is key to a light and airy bun. No dense spots and no gaping holes—the middle road.
Taste
With this same-day brioche hamburger bun dough, there’s just a hint of sourness. The added acidity brings additional flavor but is not overwhelming. The buns add subtle wheat and butter flavor to the overall hamburger, which is just what I wanted: a bun that brings more flavor to the stage without overpowering the other ingredients—a well-tuned concert of flavors and textures. And I think the added flavor from Mr. Katz’s well-fermented condiment just pushed these over the top into crazy good territory.
What’s Next?
If something better exists for a weekend by the grill, I might not want to hear about it. These brioche hamburger buns and burgers were heaven, and I’m looking to do a repeat in the next few days. I can now safely say this formula finalizes my question of how to make buns at home.
If you’re looking for another option, check out my sourdough potato hamburger buns, or if you’re making hot dogs, my homemade hot dog buns.
Nice buns ya got there! Had to say it—buon appetito!
If you use this recipe, tag @maurizio on Instagram so I can take a look!
302 Comments
I made the Milk Bread Buns for the 4th of July this year, fab! Now, I made the Brioche Buns, which look beautiful. I still have four of the Milk bread's in the freezer and will add to this complement for an upcoming family gathering of two halves of my mother in law's family living on opposite sides of WA State. Getting the sister's together (94 and 90) with their children in Walla Walla, WA next week. Burgers for 15! I will blend and grind my meats for a memorable burger! Thanks for all you do for the baking community, Maurizio!
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/074d63c17e6a9f3f0d878bde60cf4e51c6b2f1dfe1233bc3afe352490b1192fd.jpg Brioche today.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/9214e425618f689fb01a6aa8eb0f9e8b060a30ca7bac9a65c831e6a59d0fb29e.jpg Milk Bread for the 4th of July!
These buns are a departure from my regular bakes…. Baguettes!
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a47ac7c9aab24204e2823edc69042530701e6768efa84e9bcd8e03c0df757300.jpg Happy Baking all!
I can’t get the Central Milling flour recommended for this recipe in time for when I intend to make these hamburger buns. I have King Arthur’s Organic bread flour, but it’s higher in protein (12.7) and it’s not malted. Will that work? If so, are there changes I should make?
Hello Maurizio, your website has been awesome! I have a question. How do you manage a “ripe starter” by 8:45am for the start of this recipe schedule? Are you pushing back your previous night’s feeding to closer to midnight to ensure it is ripe around 8:45a?
In general this process has confused me when needing a ripe starter both directly into a recipe (like this) or when making the levain, as most recipes start first thing in the morning. If a starter usually achieves peak ripeness around 8-10hrs after feeding, then the feeding would need to occur around 12:45am. How are you achieving ripeness by 8:45a?
Thank you in advance!
Thanks so much, Dustin! Sorry for the delay. I'm working on a long post about this topic; it's a common issue for bakers. Generally, it's okay to use your starter an hour or two before it's perfectly "peak." There is no perfect time. If there's a large delta, though, you can feed your starter a little earlier the night before to shift it a few hours. That way, it has time to ripen. If you need to delay it a bit, you can feed later, use slightly cooler water, or leave less starter in the jar (all of these will slow it down)!
I was convinced that the only 3 recipes I needed were for a country loaf, pain de mie and potato rolls. Fortunately I was out of potatoes yesterday and I needed buns so I decided to try this recipe for the first time. I’m not sure how you keep coming up with the best sourdough recipes on the internet, but you did it again!
These buns were very soft and light with a great flavor. I was skeptical using whole wheat flour in a brioche, but this addition was a good one. I’d definitely recommend this recipe for others to try. Baked for 22 min, a bit lighter in color than your photos, but registered 205 internal temp.
Not sure if this is typical for others, but the rise times on both bun recipes are quite long. I find it usually takes 6-8 hours after shaping before they are ready to be baked. Any sooner and I end up with quite dense rolls. Something for others to consider if they strictly follow recipes, but they would be wise to watch their dough rather than the clock.
Both this recipe and the potato rolls recipe will produce one of the best hamburger buns you’ve ever had. I’d say the biggest difference between the two is the lightness of these brioche rolls vs the soft & chewy texture of the potato rolls.
Appreciate those comments, Jesse, thank you! If you're consistently noticing your dough takes longer to proof, try giving your starter/levain longer time to ripen. Also, you can add a bit more to the dough mix to speed things along, too. Happy baking 🙂
This recipe is confusing especially at bulk fermentation. You are allowing 3 hours yet your recipe states to put it in the fridge after the second stretch and fold.
The dough goes into the fridge just for a little bit to help make it easier to shape!
Help, Maurizio! I am planning to bake the brioche hamburger buns next weekend, and I would like to substitute spelt for the white whole wheat. May I do so one for one? Do I need to worry about increasing or decreasing liquid? I usually do a wholesale substitution, spelt for something else, but I don’t want to make a fatal error! Thank you.
Anne
I would decrease the hydration slightly, yes!
Thank you!
I tried baking these today. I was really happy with how the dough looked like after mixing and after the folds. But it didn’t raise much during proofing. And once in the oven, all buns cracked open, like bread I wouldn’t have scored. What went wrong?
This happened to mine too… such a shame as I was really excited that they looked great every step of the way
I have to say, these gave me such a hard time but I’m thankful they did. I made them three times before my wife told me she didn’t like them because they were too dense. I was following the times and not looking at the dough. This was a great eye opener because I went back and let the dough rise more in bulk. About double in size. I also pushed the proof more and realized that that it takes longer because the dough is colder due to the cold ferment. This time the buns came out great and I think I’m going to try pushing the proof more next time as an experiment. This made me rethink the all the other recipes I was blindly following the temperature and times for. I’ll see how the pizza turns out today. Make sure you watch the dough and not blindly follow times and temperature like I did.
Agreed! My bread started getting MUCH more consistent when I almost disregarded the time but looked at the dough rise/appearance. Now I have to go back to Maurizio’s focaccia, which I made once but had a total failure, and apply the same learnings.
This is a great tip! What temperature was your dough at bulk fermentation?
These are by far the best burger buns I ever had, of all times! Such a lovely crumb and crust, so soft but keeping up to all the juices, so delicious! Went for retarding the dough till next day and a longer than planned hike compelled me to bake really late. Basically, my dough spent 24 hours in the fridge. Taste wise, have no comparison but the dough turned out sweet and very pleasant, complex but not overpowering in its sourdoughness. Had to use a baking stone for my second tray and those cracked on top and spread a bit more, the ones baked in the metal tray turned out taller and without any cracks. Beautiful dark color (substituted whole einkorn for the white whole wheat flour and used a touch more than stated in the recipe), seeds and all, overall just an amazing bun! Thanks, Maurizio, for sharing this! Never having another home grilled burger without!
Ahh thanks, Magda! Awesome to hear you liked these so much. I love that they’re so sturdy—and flavorful! Enjoy 🙂
Thank you so much for the recipe Maurizio! I substituted the eggs with soaked flaxseeds and used only 2/3 of the butter. I used freshly ground red whole wheat and ABC flour, organic. A tasty result with great soft texture. Again: Thank You!
Amazing, Barbara!
Hi Maurizio, thank you so much for this recipe. Its turn out to be very good. 🙏🏻 May I ask some tips, I put walnut 40 gr + cranberry 40 gr + raisin 30 gr to this dough. But, when bulk fermentation period, the dough didnt rise as much as usual. The dough felt heavy and dense. Strength was built from stretch and fold 4 sets, but the dough didnt come fluffy and rise. But still heavy. Whats the problem? Thank you very much.
Hmm, it’s possible your starter/levain were used too early and your dough didn’t have sufficient fermentation. If you don’t feel like this was the case, it’s possible the dough wasn’t strong enough or over hydrated…
Hi Mario, I’m really enjoying baking my way through your page (and I’m getting better)! I made these rolls last night, and they turned out great! But the crust is a little thick for my taste, and they ended up overpowering my opah burgers. I ended up using a higher percentage wheat, and adding a little extra white flour during mixing because my dough was REALLY shaggy. I also did steam the over (ice in a small bowl). Can you provide some insight as to why my crust is thick or how I could fix it?? TIA!
Sorry, Maurizio, not Mario! Autocorrect. I can’t seem to edit my post 🙁
No worries 🙂 A thick crust could be simply from baking too long, try a hotter, shorter bake (within reason). If you want a lighter bun, swap out some of that whole grain for white, too!
I have a family member who is gluten intolerant but is able to eat my sourdough as long as I leave the dough in the refrigerator for 72 hours. Is it possible to leave these buns in the refrigerator for 72 hours, then shape and proof?
Yes, you can. I might expect a bit more sourness and a little less rise, but it’ll work!
What purpose do the eggs serve in the recipe? Moisture? Binding? Protein? I’m trying to veganize this recipe and am not sure if my vegan egg replacer will suffice.
I’ve heard from others an egg replacement does work just fine with this recipe. It adds color, a little flavor, some structure.
Thanks! I used 40g of Follow Your Heart’s vegan egg powder and 145g of aquafaba (IE chickpea soaking liquid) to replace the eggs and it came out wonderfully.
First time on this recipe! I wanted to try a brioche bun recipe with more than a dab of butter, boy did I find one! I think I should have kneaded it longer, I found a few bits of butter in the dough when I was shaping. The dough was really slack even after the folds. I didn’t get any rise after the shaping, but they rose a bit while baking. Great color. They taste kind if greasy, and somewhat dense. I’d like to try again maybe adding more flour and kneading longer. Any other suggestions?
Hey, Chelsea! It sounds like the dough wasn’t fully mixed (like you said), but also I’d venture that the dough wasn’t fully proofed as well! Be sure to keep the dough warm and bulk ferment it for as long as needed to look like the dough in the photos.
@maurizio , I decided to try a 900 grams of a Sourdough Brioche loaf in a 9x4x4-inch pan and it worked out great 👍thank you for your comments when you answer some one….p.s. it just came out of the oven, tomorrow I will be making French toast 😋
P.S. are you going to make a Brioche loaf recipe 🙏
Fantastic! Super glad to hear it worked. Yes, working on a proper brioche 🙂
Wow! , Maruzrio I’m so glad to hear that, can’t wait 🙌😊🤗
Just made these today and had them with grass-fed beef burgers… They were fabulous! I had too sticky a dough when mixed so I panicked and mixed in some more flour – luckily it worked! Also had a hand mixer with dough hooks & it took about 20 minutes to mix in. Well worth it though
Ah so glad to hear they turned out great, Melanie! Nice work on the adjustments.
has anyone tried using buttermilk instead of whole milk? it’s what i have i my fridge so i’m going to try that in the morning. Maurizio, fantastic writeup! i did a weeklong workshop with S. Katz about 5 years ago it was just amazing.
Thanks David! I have not used buttermilk but I’d imagine it’ll taste wonderful. If you try it, please report back.
Katz is an amazing speaker and I had a blast. Hoping I can repeat that experience if he comes through here again!
can I substitute milk for powdered milk? In what proportion? If yes, which ingredient does it have to increase hydration? Thanks.
Milk powder will certainly work in place of milk, but I would have to revamp and test the formula to say definitively!
Can I double the recipe?
Yes, absolutely. Check out my guide to baker’s percentages for an in-depth explanation.
Wow…this is a great recipe. I’ve been looking for a hamburger bun recipe for ages and this is it.
Over the past week I think I tried 4 different recipes and none of them got
close enough…so much so that I ended up with about 40 rolls which I
blitzed into breadcrumbs!
The only thing I changed was the total amount of flour. I’m in the UK so didnt have the brands
available that are listed, so not sure if that was the cause, or just
operator error! I ended up adding an additional 45g of flour to make the
dough manageable (it was Shipton flour).
Thanks for all the effort you put into testing and perfecting your recipes! Now I
need to fire up the BBQ and get some burgers into those buns.
Stay safe and well.
Cheers
PM
Hey, Paul! Super glad to hear my recipe worked out for ya. I’m in the process of making a batch here myself—they’re great buns! Enjoy and thanks for all the comments.
Nice one. Next up will be your sourdough baguettes…I had a bash at them earlier in the year but my technique needs a lot of improvement.
Cheers
PM
Nice one. Next up will be your sourdough baguettes…I had a bash at them earlier in the year but my technique needs a lot of improvement.
Cheers
PM
They take a lot of practice!