Brioche Buns – When Store Bought Just Won’t Do

You know how some nights are just so crazy that slapping down sandwich fixings is the best you can do?  I had one like that last week.  We had about 10 minutes between a wrestling meet and dashing off to a meeting.  But…the day was just normally hectic, so to ease my (self imposed) mommy-guilt, I decided to make brioche buns for the sandwiches. 

The recipe I started with had a lot of steps which may be very important to a baker, but seemed very annoying to me.  I skip proofing because I use saf-instant yeast, (which mixes with dry ingredients) have NO idea how old it is, and thus, would caution against buying the economy size.  However, it hasn’t failed me yet…  The recipe also wanted the butter rubbed into the flour…by hand.  Really?  I think NOT.  Hello stand mixer.

The dough is sticky.  I could not see kneading this by hand for the 8-10 minutes required, especially considering the several warnings to not add too much more flour.  I did add 2 tablespoons to coax it into a ball while the mixer was kneading it, and it was temping to add more, but that would ruin the final texture.  Patience!

I had to scrape it into the greased bowl.  The dough up there before the extra flour?  Would not have made this nice ball.

It was still a little sticky to shape after rising, but expected, and not too tough.  You probably won’t try to make each ball weigh exactly 116 grams like I did.  These sure don’t look like they’re going to be gorgeous sandwich rolls, do they?  The oblong one was intended to be like a Subway roll, but it needed to be larger, and the shaping/rising needs to be re-thought.

The boy walked in as they were coming out of the oven and swooned, but he had to go to the orthodontist.  We packed one to go.

These are a hit.  They can be made in advance, too.  3 days later they were still soft, so I popped one in the microwave for 10 seconds and it it was almost as good as freshly baked!

Add Brioche Buns to your meal plan for sandwiches, dinner rolls, or just because you have a craving for rich bread.  They’d be great for Thanksgiving rolls, or leftover sandwiches!