Breakfast Brioche Buns
These Breakfast Brioche Buns are filled with eggs, baked to perfection, and topped with bacon bits, feta cheese, and zaatar seasoning. They're the perfect brunch bake.
Equipment
- 2 Large baking sheet
Ingredients
Brioche Dough
- ¾ cup +1 tablespoon warm milk, 110℉ (202g) (see notes)
- 1 package active dry yeast (7g) 7 grams
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- 3 cups (360g) bread flour
- ¼ cup (50g) granulated sugar
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 2 egg yolks
- 6 tablespoon unsalted butter softened
Breakfast Filling
- 8 eggs
Toppings (optional)
- Bacon
- Feta Cheese or other cheeses
- Zaatar
- Any other desired Toppings
Instructions
Brioche Dough
- In a small bowl, combine the warm milk, packet of yeast and a teaspoon of sugar and let sit and foam for about 5 minutes.
- In a bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a hook attachment, add flour, sugar, salt, 2 egg yolks, and the activated yeast mixture and let knead for at least 10 minutes until the dough comes away from the bowl and forms a sort of ball. Important: Don't add more flour. Let the dough knead and come together. It will be tempting to add more flour, but trust the process. If you weighed your ingredients using a scale, the dough should all come together.
- Start adding the softened butter slowly until all is incorporated and knead for an additional 15 minutes until the dough forms a smooth ball and does not stick to the sides of the bowl. When touching with your finger, the dough should not stick at all. The dough will be tacky and a lot smoother/silkier than a regular dough. Don't add extra flour until you've kneaded a second time for AT LEAST 15 minutes. Important: Don't add more flour. Let the dough knead and come together. It will be tempting to add more flour, but trust the process. If you weighed your ingredients using a scale, the dough should all come together.
- Place the dough in an oiled bowl and cover and let rise for at least an hour.
Shaping the Brioche Buns
- Prepare 2 large baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
- Once dough has risen, remove from bowl and divide into 8 equal pieces using a kitchen scale. Roll each piece into a ball, then using your fingers press into the center of each ball, forming a center indent, which creates a sort of disc that has a hole.
- Once all have been formed, transfer them to a baking sheet (no more than 4 to one baking sheet), cover with saran wrap and let rise for 45 minutes to an hour. Make sure there is enough space between them so that they aren't touching when rising.
Blind Bake
- Preheat oven to 375°
- Once dough has risen, use your fingers to press into the center of each bun to create a well, making sure to keep the edges risen because you don't want the edges to deflate. Then add an oven-safe cup or bowl (I used a ramekin with a 3.5 in diameter) in the center.Instead of ramekins you can place parchment paper and then add pie weights or dry beans, but I had neither so I used ramekins.
- Bake for 5-7 minutes. Remove the ramekins carefully (they'll be SUPER hot), then bake for 1-2 more minutes.
Baking Breakfast Brioche Buns
- Remove from the oven, then press down in the center of each bun to make space for the egg, then add your eggs to each of the buns. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and then bake for 10-17 minutes, depending on how cooked you like your eggs. I like mine set but runny yolk, so I cooked mine for about 12 minutes. Check after 10 minutes and then gauge from there how you like it.
- Once baked, remove from the oven and add whatever toppings you desire.
Notes
Reader Feedback
Since developing my first brioche bun recipe in 2022, I've had many people remake them, with such great feedback. I have, however, had people mention that the dough can be a little too sticky/wet and they needed to add more flour. For this reason, I went back to the drawing board to test the recipe with ¼ cup less milk, so only ¾ cup total milk instead of 1 cup, and it turns out great! However, this is with my controlled environment, and with using a scale to weigh my flour. If you're a long-time reader who has had success with a whole cup of milk, then keep making the recipe that way. Tips for the best results:- Measure Flour Correctly: As always, with any recipe, use a kitchen scale, as it is the best form of measuring your ingredients. If you don’t have a kitchen scale, fluff your flour, scoop flour with a spoon into a measuring cup and level off.
- Don’t Skip Kneading: Knead the dough for at least 10 minutes before adding the softened butter. This will ensure the dough forms and pulls away from the bowl. Then once you add the butter, knead for another 10-20 minutes until the butter is completely incorporated and the dough has pulled away from the bowl again.
- Don’t add too much flour: This dough will be tacky, but shouldn’t stick to your hands. It will also be very silky (this due to all the butter added). If while kneading, the dough doesn’t come together after 15 minutes, you can add one tablespoon of flour at a time. But be patient before adding the flour. You don’t want a dry dough.
- Make Ahead: You can absolutely make this recipe ahead of time by letting the dough proof in the refrigerator overnight for the first rise. When you’re ready to use, remove from the refrigerator and continue with the recipe. You won’t need to let the dough come to room temperature because you’ll still need to proof a second time, so it will have plenty of time.
- Proof in pre-heated oven: One trick I love doing is to pre-heat the oven to 170 degrees Fahrenheit, then turning off the oven and letting my dough proof in the oven. This cuts down on proofing time, especially if I’m in a hurry, but it also helps in the winter when it’s especially cold.
- Windowpane test: To know if your dough is ready, perform the windowpane test where you take a small piece of dough and stretch it out between your fingers. If it stretches out without tearing and light can pass through, then it has passed the windowpane test. If it tears, let the dough knead another 5 minutes, then perform the test again.
- Humidity: Due to reader feedback, I've updated the recipe to reduce the amount of milk to ¾ of a cup instead of a whole cup. See Reader feedback for more info.
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