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.No-Knead Brioche Buns

Source of Recipe

From "The Ultimate Burger" by America's Test Kitchen


Recipe Introduction

"When you're going for the ultimate burger, a buttery brioche bun can't be beat. It's soft, making even the most stacked burger a pleasure to bite into, and its tender crumb easily soaks up those flavorful meat juices. But making brioche can be a time-consuming affair; for a quicker, easier version we added melted butter to our egg mixture, which made contact with the high-protein bread flour and started to form gluten quickly, allowing us to take a no-knead approach. For beautiful buns, we rolled the dough into tight balls and brushed the tops with an egg wash for a golden-brown crust. High-protein King Arthur Bread Flour works best here, though other bread flours will suffice. You must let the dough rise for at least 16 hours or up to 48 hours."

List of Ingredients

â—¦ 3 cups (16 ½ ounces) bread flour
â—¦ 2 ¼ teaspoons instant or rapid-rise yeast
â—¦ 1 ½ teaspoons plus â…› teaspoon salt, divided
â—¦ 5 large eggs, room temperature, divided
â—¦ ½ cup plus 1 tablespoon water, room temperature, divided
â—¦ â…“ cup (2 â…“ ounces) sugar
â—¦ 12 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly


Recipe

Whisk flour, yeast, and 1 ½ teaspoons salt together in large bowl. Whisk 4 eggs, ½ cup water, and sugar together in medium bowl until sugar has dissolved. Whisk in melted butter until smooth. Add egg mixture to flour mixture and stir with wooden spoon until uniform mass forms and no dry flour remains, about 1 minute. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit for 10 minutes.

Using greased bowl scraper (or rubber spatula), fold dough over itself by gently lifting and folding edge of dough toward middle. Turn bowl 45 degrees and fold dough again; repeat turning bowl and folding dough 6 more times (total of 8 folds). Cover tightly with plastic and let rise for 30 minutes. Repeat folding and rising every 30 minutes, 3 more times. After fourth set of folds, cover bowl tightly with plastic and refrigerate for at least 16 hours or up to 48 hours.

Line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Transfer dough to well-floured counter; stretch and roll into even 12-inch log. Cut log into 8 equal pieces (about 4 ½ ounces each) and cover loosely with greased plastic. Working with one piece of dough at a time (keep remaining pieces covered), pat into a 4-inch disk. Working around circumference of dough, fold edges of dough toward center until ball forms. Flip dough ball seam-side down and, using your cupped hands, drag in small circles until dough feels taut and round and all seams are secured on underside of ball.

Arrange buns seam-side down on prepared sheets, spaced evenly apart. Cover loosely with plastic and let rise until nearly doubled in size and dough springs back minimally when poked gently with your knuckle, 2 ½ to 3 hours.

Adjust oven racks to upper-middle and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly beat remaining egg, remaining 1 tablespoon water, and remaining â…› teaspoon salt together in bowl. Gently brush buns with egg mixture and bake until golden brown, 16 to 20 minutes, switching and rotating sheets halfway through baking. Transfer buns to wire rack and let cool completely, about 1 hour, before serving.

Makes 8 buns




• Cooled buns can be stored in zipper-lock bag at room temperature for up to 2 days. Wrapped in aluminum foil before being placed in bag, buns can be frozen for up to 1 month. To reheat thawed, frozen buns, place them on rimmed baking sheet, still in foil, and bake in 350-degree oven for 10 minutes.