Simply The Best Hamburger Buns

I've made homemade hamburger/hotdog buns before. They were delicious, but I wanted to try something else. I kept hearing about brioche buns with upscale "artisan" burgers and since I was making an upscale burger I thought I'd go all the way.


I found this recipe on smittenkitchen.com and she rants and raves about how good they are. I couldn't resist giving it a try.

Simply The Best Hamburger Buns

(from here)

1 cup warm water

3 tablespoons warm milk

2 1/2 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons active dry yeast (one packet)
2 large eggs (divided)

3 cups bread flour

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

2 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

Sesame seeds (optional)

==

Toss your water, milk, sugar and yeast into a small bowl and give it a stir to combine. Let it sit and get frothy while we get the other stuff together.

Add 3 cups bread flour, 1/3 cup all-purpose flour and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt to a large bowl. You can use your mixer for this, I just didn't feel like getting it out.

Beat an egg.

Add 2 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter to the mix. 

Get in there and pinch it until you have only crumbs.

Your yeast should be ready by now.

Pour in the yeast and the egg.

Give it a stir to combine.

Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and let's begin the kneading odyssey that is this dough.

Ok, so this dough is supposed to stay as moist as you can possibly get it. I really, REALLY wanted to add flour as this stuff is super sticky. Like annoyingly so, but I resisted. Please resist.

What you want to do is never let the dough sit still.

This stuff is a like a Non-Newtonian fluid. So long as you keep it moving, it's a solid - but take a break and it turns back into a sticky mess.

This sticky:

Keep it going for 8 minutes. Yes, 8 minutes. I know it's long, but it's kind of fun slapping the dough around on the counter top. Again, DO NOT add any flour.

You can do it.

==

When your 8 minutes are up, plop the dough into an ungreased bowl to rise.

My daughter thought it was awesome to poke.

Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise for 2 hours in a warm place. 

==

Bam, 1st rise.

Turn out the dough onto the counter. No flour. It'll be sticky.

Keep the dough moving and portion out the dough.

2

4

Roll each of the 8 pieces into balls and arrange on parchment on a sheet pan.

Cover with plastic wrap that has been lightly sprayed with oil on the food side.

Let these rise for 2 more hours.

I said they were the best. Not the fastest.

When you are about 30 minutes away from baking, put a pan on the floor of your oven and fill it 3/4 full of water. put a rack in the middle and pre-heat to 400F.

It took my oven a solid 30 minutes to get up to temp.

Your buns should be looking really awesome.

Whisk the other egg along with a tablespoon of water or so and brush the tops of the buns, lightly.

Sprinkle on sesame seeds if you so desire.

The weird bubbles on the surface are normal. Pop them if you want, I left most of them alone.

Mmmm.

==

Bake at 400F for about 15 minutes, rotating the rack halfway through if your oven cooks unevenly.

Pull them when they brown on top.

These are amazing.

The texture is phenomenal. They are moist and light and nearly melt in your mouth. I toasted one right out of the oven to get some extra texture on the inside and I was beyond pleased. I've never really had a bun like this as it's kind of a cross between a true brioche and a regular hamburger bun.

These are perfect with a burger and awesome just on their own. They really are simply the best.

Enjoy!