The Year of Bread Part Thirteen: Smitten Kitchen’s Brioche Burger Buns

Smitten Kitchen is a big name in the food blog world, which is why it is very odd that I’ve never tried any of her recipes. Until now, that is, and let me tell you that based on this one, I’ll be going back for more. I was on the hunt for a home made burger bun that I could whip up, given my new love of bread baking. I came across this recipe for light brioche burger buns, which looked like just the thing I was after.

This dough is very sticky – it does come together into a ball as you knead (I used my mixer) but it still resists to the end, as you can see from the supposedly empty bowl…

I split the recipe and made just four of them – it’s tricky to make smaller amounts in baking, but the recipe worked out well despite being cut in half. Oh, and despite me doing it wrong…

Usually I’m really good at following recipes – I just had a moment of instruction blindness when it came to this one. Instead of rising for an hour before shaping, I shaped them straight away and left them to rise on a tray. This is how that worked out for me:

...oh you meant in the BOWL?

So I reshaped them and let them rise again, and kind of the same thing happened. I shaped them a third time before brushing with egg, covering in sesame seeds and baking. I needn’t have – they rose in the oven, and I ended up with these lovely round, tall rolls. One of them split from being re-rolled, though I quite like the effect as it happens, but for a smooth top I should have put them in the oven as they were.

I used three of the rolls for sandwiches, and only one for a burger – the burger itself was less blog-worthy that I’d have liked, but the bun was excellent! Having them so tall did mean that the bread to filling ratio wasn’t quite right – a flatter roll would have been better, and now I know that they rise in the oven I’ll know next time not to worry about the height.

The bread was fragrant and slightly sweet, and so springy and soft inside. Just right for a nice tuna sandwich. You know how I love a tuna sandwich.

Another tuna sandwich