Quick Brioche Bun Recipe
Homemade hamburger buns are easier to make than you think! This quick brioche bun recipe takes just one hour from start to finish.
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Would you believe me if I told you that you could make your own delicious homemade burger buns and have them ready in just an hour? It’s true! I’ve taken my favorite hamburger bun recipe and made it quicker and easier than ever. These brioche buns are light and soft with just a hint of sweetness. You will love them!
Brioche bread is made with butter, eggs, milk and a touch of sugar. These simple ingredients bring so much flavor, as well as a soft crumb. Toasted or as is, a brioche bun will make your burger the best it can be.
If you are new to baking with yeast, don’t let it intimidate you. I’ll walk you through the easy steps to making your own perfect brioche burger buns. With this recipe, you don’t need to let the dough rise before shaping it into balls. This makes this recipe especially quick!
I recommend using a stand mixer to mix and knead the dough for your hamburger buns. You can mix and knead by hand, but a stand mixer makes the job much easier.
Try this brioche bun recipe for serving your favorite burgers or sandwiches. These brioche rolls are delicious with any type of burgers – my favorite turkey burger recipe, or beef or veggie burgers! They also make amazing pulled pork sandwiches, sloppy joes, Italian Beef and breakfast sandwiches!
Or, eat them warm from the oven with a spread of butter. There’s nothing better than fresh, warm homemade bread. Try my easy Honey Yeast Rolls Recipe next!
How to make brioche buns:
How to proof yeast
The first step when baking with yeast is to proof your yeast. Proofing yeast is the process of combining the yeast with a warm liquid plus sugar and then letting the mixture rest for 5 minutes. This allows you to check if your yeast is alive and active. Active yeast will form a bubbly foam on the surface of the liquid. You need your yeast to be active so that your dough will rise.
For these brioche buns, you will gently stir together warm water and milk, instant yeast (sometimes called rapid rise or bread machine yeast) and two tablespoons of granulated sugar. You want the water and milk to be between 105 and 115 degrees F. An instant-read thermometer is the easiest way to measure the temperature. Too hot water will kill the yeast and too cool water will not activate the yeast.
Mix the dough
You’ll add salt and an egg to the yeast mixture and mix to combine. Next, you’ll mix in some all purpose flour and white whole wheat flour. White whole wheat flour is a lighter, milder variety of whole wheat flour. I like to use a combination of all purpose and white whole wheat flours. The white whole wheat flour adds healthy whole grains, while the all purpose gives a light, tender texture. You may make this recipe using only all purpose flour if you wish. You can also use only white whole wheat flour, just know that your buns will be a little heavier in texture.
After mixing in the flour, you will mix in two tablespoons of unsalted butter. The butter will make the dough rich and flavorful. Using unsalted butter allows you to control the amount of salt in your recipe.
Knead the dough: How do you tell if your dough is kneaded?
The easiest way to knead the dough is to use your stand mixer with the dough hook attachment. You will knead the dough for about 8 minutes, until it is smooth and elastic. The dough will be very soft and fairly sticky. It is properly kneaded when you press a finger onto the dough and it sticks to your finger just a bit but then springs back and releases, rather than leaving a hole in the dough and lots of dough on your finger. Dough that is kneaded enough will also look mostly smooth, rather than shaggy.
Shape the brioche buns
This recipe is unique (and quick) because you do not have to let the dough rise after you knead it. You can immediately shape the dough into balls for your burger buns. The shaped rolls will have a quick 15 minute rise and then they’ll be ready for you to bake them… and eat them!
To shape your brioche buns, place your kneaded dough on a well-floured work surface and shape it into a large ball. Cut the ball into 8 equal pieces. Use floured hands to shape each piece into a round ball. I usually pull the dough around itself into a ball shape. Place the dough balls, smooth side up, on a baking sheet that you’ve lined with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
Let the buns rest
Cover the buns with a clean kitchen towel and let them rest for 15 minutes. They will rise and almost double in size during this time.
Bake the brioche buns
Before you put your brioche buns in the oven, you will brush them with an egg wash. An egg wash is a mixture of one beaten egg and a tablespoon of milk. The egg wash gives the brioche buns their beautiful golden color and delicious crust.
After baking, you can brush the brioche rolls with a little bit of melted butter. This is not a necessary step, but it makes for unbelievably delicious and golden, shiny burger buns.
Baking tips for brioche buns:
- Use an instant-read thermometer to measure the temperature of your liquids before combining them with the yeast. You want the temperature to be between 105 and 115 degrees F. Water and milk that is too hot will kill the yeast. Too cool liquids won’t activate the yeast and your dough will not rise.
- Be sure to spoon and level your flour rather than scooping it with a measuring cup. Use a spoon to place flour into your measuring cup and then level it off with the back of a knife.
- Avoid adding a lot of extra flour to your dough, as that will lead to tough burger buns. The dough is supposed to be soft and fairly sticky. Flouring your hands and work surface will make the dough easier to work with.
- You can toast your brioche buns before serving your burgers and sandwiches or serve them as is.
Quick Brioche Bun Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup warm water, 105-115 degrees F
- ¼ cup warm milk, 105-115 degrees F, whole milk is best
- 1 tablespoon instant (rapid-rise) yeast
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- 1 egg
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 ½ cups white whole wheat flour
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into 4 pieces
For the egg wash:
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon milk
Instructions
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Combine the warm water, warm milk, yeast and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Stir gently to combine. Let stand for 5 minutes.
- Add the salt and egg to the bowl. Use the paddle attachment to combine on low speed.
- Add both flours and mix on low speed until combined, then mix in the butter pieces.
- Switch to the dough hook and knead for 8 minutes. The dough will be very soft and slightly sticky.
- Transfer the dough to a floured work surface and knead a few times with your hands to form it into a ball. Cut the dough into 8 pieces. Shape each piece into a round ball and place on the prepared baking sheet.
- Loosely cover the dough balls with a clean kitchen towel and let rest for 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Combine the egg and 1 tablespoon milk in a small bowl, stirring with a fork. Remove the towel and brush the tops of the buns with the egg wash. Bake hamburger buns in the oven for 13-15 minutes, until tops are golden.
This looked good so I made a batch last night.
I used a little more milk than called for and used rice flour instead of whole wheat bread.
Formed the balls and let them rise in a warm oven.
Some of the Best bread I’ve ever baked !
Thanks for the recipe !
God Bless !
This recipe was so easy to follow and the buns came out perfect and delicious. I used all all purpose flour as I did not have whole wheat the rest of the recipe was followed as stated.
Thank you
It came out perfect. I’m so relieved since my first time making buns was a disaster. This recipe came out perfectly
I have made these many times, have used regular and instant yeast. Always turn out great.
Excellent recipe. Followed instructions and the buns turned out perfectly/
Thanks!
Could I substitute yeast with sourdough? I’m using this recipe to make cinnamon rolls
I suggest following the recipe as written. Or, you can try my cinnamon rolls recipe.
Easy and delicious!!
Can the dough be put in a loaf pan and bakes as a loaf?
I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe! I haven’t tried baking this as a loaf.
I have made these into buns and recently made them into loaves. I attempted 2, but looked like small loaves(maybe for tea parties?). They came out looking amazing though and made into French toast🥰
I followed recipe but my buns were very dense, should I have let it sit longer or any suggestions?
You can try letting them rise longer next time. Also be sure to measure the flour using the spoon and level method: Spoon the flour into your measuring cup and then level it off, to avoid packing in too much flour.
Came out perfect! I’ve never made any kind of bread like this before, and I was a little intimidated to try making my own burger buns with the other more complicated and time consuming recipes out there. This recipe was so simple to follow and the buns came out great. They’re a little more dense than the light and fluffy kind you buy from the store, but that makes them all the more filling.
Very good. I will make these again. Better than store-bought buns.
Thank you so much for this recipe. I am a beginning bread maker and this recipe is so well-written and step by step, just what I need. I have one question: When the dough is rising for 15 minutes, should it be in a warm spot or does it matter? Thanks.
Hi Rachel, I usually let it rise on my kitchen counter. If your kitchen is especially cool, you can create a warmer place for rising by preheating your oven for just a minute or two and then turning the oven off. Place the dough in the warm oven to rise (just be sure that the oven is off). Enjoy!
Thank you so much. I will try that.
Best hamburger buns I’ve made
Can I use my hands to knead the flour rather than the stand mixer?
Yes, you can.
Hi there! Wondering how long I should let the dough rise if I am using regular yeast
Hi Courtney, You should let the buns rise until they are almost doubled in size.
Dying to make these! I’m wondering if anyone has experience using a substitute for the whole milk.
I used Califia toasted coconut almond milk and it was awesome
First time making burger buns. These turned out great. I like mine a little sweeter so I added 4 Tbsp of sugar and they were delicious. I weighed out my flour and 450 grams worked perfect for me. Thanks for the recipe!
These buns had no business being this good and this easy! Bread can be so fickle but the recipe was easy to follow with good tips and tricks to help it go smoothly. My new go to recipe!
Made these a while ago and they turned out great!
Can I double the recipe to have more buns or should I make 2 separate batches?
Thanx 🙏🏽
I’m so glad you enjoyed them! A double recipe will work fine, if your mixer can accommodate that much flour at once. Or, you can mix and knead the dough by hand.
I tried these and followed it to the T but the dough was SUPER sticky so I had to add about 1/2 cup more of APF before I could finally handle it.
I just did your recipe.!!! Wonderful results. Beautiful rolls. Thank you!
These were EPIC! So yummy. I did let them rise a little longer than 15 minutes. But not by much maybe 30 minutes. I can’t wait to put a burger on these bad boys.
Baker here. Used this recipe to make 100 teal colored hamburger buns lol .
I used bread flour instead. Worked just fine. And I doubled the recipe for each batch and it held well in my 5qt mixer.
If you want the perfect flour combination use the above —but other than that thank you for sharing!
Quite easy. Very fluffy. Used for a fish sandwich. Delicious.
I Love this recipe. So easy and delicious! No reason to buy store bought rolls :). I subbed Almond/Coconut milk in place of milk.
Just a question – I am making these now and what should be the speed of the stand mixer when kneading with the dough hook? I have a choice from 1-10, Thank you!
You should knead on low speed, 1 or 2. I hope you enjoy the brioche buns!
The best! And so easy!