Soft and Buttery Brioche Bun Recipe
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This easy, soft, and buttery Brioche Bun recipe is perfect for hearty sandwiches or burgers. It is tasty enough to make every bite delicious. If you love a good brioche roll but have never thought about making your own before you are in for a treat.
Are you still eating buns that are tasteless? What if I said you could make your own buttery soft buns in your own kitchen? Go grab your apron and we’ll talk you through everything you need to know about this recipe so you too can embrace your new favorite bun for burgers and sandwiches.
What’s to love about Brioche?
These Brioche buns are easy to make, buttery to eat, and freeze well. They make a good sandwich fantastic. The recipe is versatile, you can make large buns or small slider buns, and a variety of toppings to make each recipe slightly different. It’s also a dough that can be made ahead of time.
Once you try brioche, your standard is going to be set very high. In addition to these amazing buns, we now enjoy an amazing brioche bread loaf and overnight brioche cinnamon rolls. They’re amazing!
Note: We let this bread rise overnight in the refrigerator so they’re mixed up one day and baked the next. By doing that you get the optimum in flavor and texture.
Ingredients for the Brioche Buns Recipe
We use real full-fat unsalted butter, preferably European butter that’s got a higher fat content and less water to give our brioche bun recipe a melt-in-your-mouth texture. If you use salted butter reduce the salt in this recipe from 1-1/2 teaspoons to 1 teaspoon. You want the butter to be at room temperature meaning that when pressed with your finger it leaves a dent, not melted or runny.
Unbleached flour is less processed since it doesn’t go through the bleaching step. It’s denser and can help yeast work better giving it a better rise. It’s a good option for baking recipes that require structure like yeast breads and pastries. In most cases, you can use either bleached or unbleached flour without noticing a difference.
Non-fat dry milk adds protein to our bread recipe without adding liquid. It makes a softer, more tender crumb.
We use fresh grade A large eggs in brioche rolls. They add an extra layer of flavor and richness that regular bread just doesn’t have. They also give it that golden, slightly glossy crust that makes it look as good as it tastes.
Instant Yeast has small granules. This lets it work without needing to be activated in liquid. You can add it directly to the recipe.
Just a little sugar adds flavor. It doesn’t make the bread sweet like our Hawaiian Bread Rolls. Instead, it balances the savory and sweet tastes perfectly.
How to Make Homemade Brioche Buns
Since the dough is so soft and buttery, I find this recipe is easiest to make using an electric stand mixer. Combine the ingredients and let the mixer knead your dough.
Let the dough rise overnight in the refrigerator. The next day split the dough into ten equal pieces.
Roll each piece into balls and place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone mat. If using parchment paper, I recommend spraying it with non-stick cooking spray. Tenderly flatten each ball slightly with a bench scraper or a spatula brushed with oil. Any flat surface will do. That way they are all the same size in height and diameter. It works better than your hand.
Hostess Tips
You can top them with anything you like. John likes sesame seeds but plain or poppyseed are delicious too. Or you can go all out and use our whole-grain blend recipe.
Another nice thing about this recipe is that you make the dough up one day and bake them the next so it isn’t an all-day thing.
This recipe was adapted from King Arthur Flour. I’ve made them several times. Their recipe says that it makes six rolls. I would say it makes six bread bowls! The first time I made the recipe, I remade them into eight and they were still a very generous size. For a reasonable sandwich size, I make ten buns. Ten good-sized brioche buns that are the size of a regular hamburger bun.
I wanted my Brioche buns to be the same size. So, I used a kitchen scale to measure the dough. Then, I divided it into 10 equal pieces. Laugh if you must, it makes my OCD heart very happy.
Use an instant-read thermometer to test the bread for doneness. We bake to 190ºF.
How to serve
If you’re looking for a gourmet sandwich to serve with buttery brioche buns, look no further than our BBQ Brisket Sandwich, Thai Chicken Sandwich, or Ham and Cheese Sliders. Oh, and don’t forget Burgers!
Once your bread is no longer fresh, it makes the most amazing French toast, Bread Pudding, and French Toast Muffins!
I hope you enjoyed this delicious recipe as much as we do. Drop me a comment below, and don’t forget to give it a star rating. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐. Your comments and ratings help others decide if this recipe is for them too.
Brioche Bun Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
Dough
- 2¾ cups Unbleached All-Purpose Flour 326g
- ¼ cup nonfat dry milk 35g
- 2 tbsp sugar 25g
- 1¼ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp instant yeast
- 3 large eggs + 1 large egg yolk white reserved for wash (below)
- ¼ cup lukewarm water 57g
- 10 tbsp unsalted butter, softened 142g
Egg Wash
- 1 large egg reserved from above, lightly beaten with 1 tablespoon cold water
Instructions
- Mix and knead the dough ingredients —I used my stand mixer. Go to the original recipe shown in notes if using a bread machine. Hand kneading isn't recommended for this recipe.
- To make a smooth, shiny dough. It starts out sticky and takes 15 to 20 minutes of kneading in a stand mixer to develop. I used the paddle attachment for 8 minutes and then switched to a dough hook attachment, all on a speed of 4.
- Form the dough into a ball, place it in a large greased bowl, cover, and let it rise for 1 hour.
- Refrigerate the covered dough overnight (or 8 hours+), to slow its rise and make it easier to shape.
- The next day, remove the dough from the refrigerator, and divide into 8 to 10 pieces, depending on the size of the buns you want.
- Shape each piece into a ball, and place onto a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet, leaving about 2" to 3" between them.
- Cover the buns, and let them rise until they're quite puffy. This may take as little as 1 hour; or more. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 375 °F.
- Brush the buns with egg wash, and sprinkle with seeds if using. Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 10 to 15 minutes, tenting with foil after 10 minutes if they appear to be browning too quickly. The finished buns will register at least 190 °F on a digital thermometer inserted into the center.
- Remove the buns from the oven, and cool on a rack.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer
This recipe was calculated using the exact brands and measurements I used to make this recipe. If you are following a strict diet please note changing anything will cause the nutritional info to change. My calculations are intended as a guide only.
We love baking bread, and rolls. Some of our favorites include these Sweet Molasses Brown Bread Rolls, Potato Rolls, Hawaiian Rolls, and our super easy 1-hour roll recipe. I hope if you make them you’ll let me know how it goes!
Did you enjoy this recipe? Don’t forget to pin it for later and follow me on Pinterest for more delicious recipes like this one!
This brioche bun recipe was first released on March 16, 2016. It has been updated to improve our readers’ experience. We added simple details and new images. No changes were made to the actual recipe.
I’m glad you mentioned burgers. I’ve always wanted to make my own burger buns. I’ve also always wanted to make brioche!
Thank you, Chef! This is a win win for you.
Brioche buns are my favorite for burgers! These buns would be such a hit at my house!
Thank you Madi! John loves these rolls for his sandwiches.
Brioche is my favorite! These buns look so light, airy and delicious! I really like the sesame and poppy seed toppings, too… So pretty!
Thank you Michele! We do too.
These are perfect for some amazing breakfast sandwiches and grilled cheese sandwiches! I love the buttery flavor and the texture provided by the sesame seeds sprinkled on top!
Thank you, Jennifer! That grilled cheese would definitely be amazing!