Light Brioche Buns

It’s finally Spring in Toronto. Last Friday was perfect – warm and sunny and did I mention it was warm? Yes, it was warm! I forgot what warm feels like. We had a really long and really cold winter here, so warm seemed like something similar to Loch Ness Monster or Big Foot. But I left work on Friday night and it was warm. In fact, I had to take my coat off which I thought would never ever happen.

So, on Friday I was going home and I thought that it would be a perfect day to open a BBQ season. We have some frozen burgers (yeah, yeah, I know… store-bought burgers shouldn’t really be talked about in a food blog, but these are good with only meat listed as their ingredient and they are so much easier and faster than homemade), so I thought that I could quickly make some burger buns (to make up for store-bought frozen burgers) and it would be a perfect dinner.

I started the dough and told A. to get the burgers. Well, as it turned out the grill needed to be thoroughly cleaned after winter and it would take some time, so we decided against burgers. But dough was already rising, so I still made buns, just smaller. 

I used Portuguese Girl Cooks recipe as a loose guide and changed the ingredients and proportions quite a bit. I also increased proofing time, just because… And they turned out delicious! Here’s proof. While I was photographing them, one of my cats decided to steal half a bun 🙂

Light Brioche Buns

Adapted from Portuguese Girl Bakes 
Makes 10 sandwich buns or 6-8 burger buns depending on size

Milk – 3/4 cup
Cream 10% – 1/2 cup
Butter – 1/4 cup
Egg yolks – 2
Maple syrup – 2 tablespoons
Instant yeast – 1.5 tablespoons
Flour – 2 3/4 cup + more if needed up to 1/3 cup
Salt – 1/2 teaspoon
1 egg + 1 tablespoon of water for egg wash
Sesame seeds (optional) for topping

• In a small pot add milk, cream, butter and heat until butter is melted. Cool a little bit. Mixture must be warm but not hot.
• Add milk-butter mixture to a bowl of a mixer, add maple syrup, yeast and let stand for 5 minutes until foamy.
• Add egg yolks and mix.
• Add half the flour, salt and start mixing on low speed using the dough hook.
• Keep adding more flour 1/4 cup at a time. Dough shouldn’t be overly sticky, but shouldn’t be hard. It should be just a tiny little bit sticky to the touch.
• Once the proper consistency is reached, knead for another 5-7 minutes.
• Cover the bowl and let it relax for about 20-30 minutes in warm space. It will rise a little bit, but not much.
• Once the dough has relaxed and risen a little bit, start preheating the oven on to 425F.
• Divide the dough into 10 (or less pieces), shape into buns and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper leaving 3 inches between buns.
• Cover the buns with clean kitchen towel and let stand for another 20 minutes to rise.
• Mix an egg and a tablespoon of water and brush the egg wash over buns.
• Sprinkle with sesame seeds if using.
• Place the buns in the oven and bake for 15 minutes until they are golden brown.

Comments
– I really liked these buns. I think next time I’ll add more maple syrup and some raisins to make them into sweet treats.
– According to the original recipes, there’s no need to let the dough rise after kneading, but I since I had time, I felt that flavour of the final buns and texture would benefit from a little bit of resting time.