Sweet Brioche Buns with Cream Cheese and Lemon Curd
These Sweet Brioche Buns are filled in the center with a sweet cream cheese and then topped with a zesty lemon curd after baking, making them a delicious treat.
Equipment
- 1 Large baking sheet
Ingredients
Sweet Brioche Dough
- ¾ cup +1 tablespoon warm milk, 110℉ (202g) (see notes)
- 1 package active dry yeast (7g)
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- 3 cups (360g) bread flour
- ⅓ cup (66g) granulated sugar
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 2 egg yolks
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 6 tablespoon unsalted butter softened
Small Batch Lemon Curd
- 3 egg yolks
- ½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
- ½ tablespoon lemon zest
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- 4 tablespoon unsalted butter cubed, cold or room temperature
Sweet Cream Cheese
- 6 oz. cream cheese room temperature
- 3 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
Instructions
Sweet 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, vanilla extract, 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.
- Start adding the softened butter slowly until all is incorporated and knead for an additional 12-15 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.Humidity: If you live in an area with high humidity, you may need to add extra flour or reduce the amount of milk added to the dough. I've had readers have success with either adding more flour or reducing the milk. I've had to add more flour during the summer months when humidity is high.
- Place the dough in an oiled bowl and cover and let rise for at least an hour.
Lemon Curd
- In a medium sauce pan, bring 1-2 inches of water to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer.
- In a medium heat-proof bowl, add egg yolks, sugar, lemon zest, and lemon juice and whisk until combined, then place the bowl on top of the pot. You could also use a double boiler.
- Whisk the mixture until it thickens, about 7-10 minutes. When it has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon (or the temperature reaches 170℉). IF after 10 minutes, it has not thickened, increase the heat, but make sure it doesn't burn. Once thick enough, remove it from the heat and whisk in the butter.
- Strain the lemon curd through a fine sieve to remove any large bits of zest, then transfer to a glass container and cover with saran wrap, making sure the saran wrap touches the surface of the lemon curd.
- Chill in the refrigerator for up to a week.
Sweet Cream Cheese
- In a bowl, combine softened cream cheese, granulated sugar, vanilla extract and a pinch of salt and mix until completely smooth.
Shaping the Sweet Brioche Buns
- Prepare a large baking sheet 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 soft of disc that has a hole where we will fill them with the sweet cream cheese.
- Once all have been formed, transfer them to a baking sheet, cover with saran wrap and let rise for 30-45 minutes. Try to make sure there is enough space between them so that they aren't touching when rising.
- Preheat oven to 350°
- After 30-45 minutes, the buns should now be doubled in side. Take a cup or a small bowl (make sure it's floured so it doesn't stick) and create an even larger indent in the center (I used a ¼ cup initially, but found that a ⅓ cup was better).
- Add the sweet cream cheese to the each bun.
- (optional) brush the sides of each bun with egg wash. This will create a deeper color. Otherwise, it's not necessary.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes until the buns become golden brown and the cream cheese starts to form a bit of a color on top.
- Remove from the oven and let cool for at least 5 minutes, then top with lemon curd and powdered sugar.
- These Sweet Brioche Buns are delicious warm, but taste great at room temperature as well.
- Store any leftovers in an airtight container.
Notes
Note about metallic taste in Lemon Curd: The acid in the lemon reacts to metal, so it's very easy to pick up metallic flavor in the lemon curd. To avoid metallic taste in your lemon curd, use silicon whisk, glass or stainless steel bowls.
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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