13 August 2009

The perfect burger bun - Brioche burger bun

A few weeks ago we had our neigborhood progressive picnic and the main course of the picnic was held at our house, we had to provide the burger buns and I had wanted to make them for quite some time so I launched myself into this new project, after some investigation and calculation (who said you didn't need to know your maths for baking? it's all about percentages!) I developped this recipe that turned out quite nicely.


Light Brioche Burger Buns
For approx. 30 buns of 4" diameter

Ingredients
1 kg / Unbleached bread flour
250 ml / 1 cup Milk (warm)
250 ml / 1 cup Water (warm)
4 tsp Active dry yeast
5 Tbsp Sugar
6 Eggs
3 tsp Salt
113 gr / 1 stick Butter

Method
Combine the water, milk, yeast and sugar and let stand until foamy (5 or so minutes).
In the bowl of a standup mixer combine the flour and salt, then add the liquid mix and knead using the hook of the mixer and add 1 egg at a time while kneading continuously until the egg is absorbed.
Then knead on speed 2 for 10mn at which point you add the butter cut in small pieces and continue kneading for another 5 or 10mn until all the butter has been absorbed.
You will have a fairly sticky dough.
Shape dough into a ball in the mixing bowl and cover with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature for 2 hours (until at least doubled in volume).
Line a cookie sheet with Silpat or parchment paper and divide the dough into balls of equal weight, place each ball 2 inches apart
on the Silpat and flatten them into a bun shape. Cover loosely with a cotton or linen towel and let the buns rise in a draft free place for 1 or 2 hours until double in volume.
Pre-heat the oven to 400 F and set a pan of hot water on the sole of the oven.
When the buns have doubled up place in hot oven and bake for about 15mn, watch them after 10mn to prevent burning.
Transfer to a rack to cool completely, use immediately or store in air tight container for a couple of days or freeze.

Tips
When baking do not use a black or dark tray as it tends to burn the bottoms while the tops have not yet acquired their golden colour.
This recipe can easily be devided to make fewer buns.