Brietta's Buttery Buns

About this Recipe

One day, a few months ago near the beginning of quarantine, we decided we wanted to have deep fried chicken sandwiches... Because really, why not?

We had everything but buns, and while I'd made them a few times before they'd never turned out just right. So I trawled the internet for recipes for brioche buns, and settled on one with a large amount of both eggs and butter. I figured we're already eating fried chicken, so might as well really go for it.

I followed the recipe through (abnormal for me) and waited for the dough to rise. And waited. And waited. It never did. I still don't know what happened, but I baked them anyway - while quickly preparing to make another batch. It was good that I did, because the first batch turned out as rocks. Probably my worst baking fail since the day I managed to both burn and undercook my mom's birthday cake at 15 (story for another day)...

Now, as luck would have it at this point we had only one egg left - early in quarantine I had the worst time finding eggs! This meant attempting to recreate the last recipe wouldn't work (I think it called for 3 eggs), and I needed to get creative. I decided to go with my gut, use a bit of what I'd read that day while keeping true to my go-to hydration for dough, and focus on what seemed to me to be the most important part: kneading butter into the dough.

You guys, these were a dream. Buttery, fluffy, with a solid crust and gorgeous color. I needed some shaping updates to really make them perfect, but they are now our go to - and are for everyone else we've told about them too!

Method

The Dough

Bloom yeast in warmed milk until frothy, 5-10 minutes
Add flour and salt to mixing bowl and turn onto low speed. Slowly start to add the milk and yeast mixture while mixer is running. If you're not using a stand mixer, slowly add while stirring.
When dough comes together, increase speed to 4-6 and start to add chunks of softened butter. Once the last piece is mostly incorporated, add another.
Continue to knead for ~5 minutes once all butter is incorporated.
Shape into a ball and move to bowl (I spray a glass bowl with spray oil). Put in bowl seam side down so top is smooth and lightly coat top of dough with oil.
Loosly cover with plastic wrap or a dish towl and let rise until doubled, or until a finger poked ~1 inch into the dough leaves a hole that doesn't close back up.

Shaping

Once dough has risen, separate into 6 pieces. I weigh mine to ensure a similar size, but that's not necessary. Weigh the whole ball of dough and then divide the weight into 6 (or 8, or 10 for small slider buns), should be about 100g each.
When dough is separated, shape by taking the outside edges of the dough and folding into the middle, pushing down in the center as you go. This creates a taut top. Turn the dough ball as you pull the edges in, and do about 2 full revolutions, or 8 total folds.
When folds are completed, place seam side down with hand over the top. With the dough ball under your palm (but only slightly resting on the dough) and your fingers touching the counter, move your hand in a circle. The dough should move with you. This move is to tighten the folds you made.
Once you can no longer see much of the seam on the bottom of the dough ball, place onto oiled sheet pan (I line with parchment but that's not necessary). Repeat.
Once all dough balls are completed, cover with plastic wrap or dishtowel and let rise for 30 minutes and preheat oven to 400°.

Once the rise is complete, lightly press down on each dough ball so that it is wider than it is tall - this helps it keep more of a bun shape.

Brush with egg wash made with 1 egg and 1 tsp water beaten together. Cover as much of the bun as you can, but not so much that the egg pools on the pan. Top with sesame seeds with using.

Bake until golden to golden brown, to your preference. Buns should sound somewhat hollow when tapped on the bottom to tell if they are done baking.

Let cool (it's important to let bread cool before slicing as the cooking process continues as the bread cools) and then cut and eat!