I have said it before, and I will say it again – brioche is the most versatile dough. You can make anything with it. And if you did not know that then check out the Brioche page where I have plenty more delicious recipes using this soft and buttery dough.

But burger buns are a great introduction to it. Brioche buns are arguably the best burger vessels ever created. The sweetness of the bun balances the savoury filling, and the texture makes it effortless to bite through and get your teeth right into the burger.

The brioche dough does require a mixer unlike all my other recipes, but there is just no way of making this by hand. Or at least I have not learned of one yet.

The ingredients for the filling are enough to make 5 big burgers. But the total dough would make 10 buns. The reason for making double the dough is that my mixing bowl is quite large, and the mixer would not be able to pick up a smaller piece of dough and knead it properly. And I was not going to make 10 burgers, so I used the other half of the dough for another project. I would suggest you do the same and check out my other brioche recipes for inspiration.

You can fill these buns with what ever you like if you do not want to mess around making the Korean fried chicken, but if you have never tried it, I would strongly suggest giving it a go. The sauce is spicy, sweet, sour, and sticky and the best part is that the chicken stays nice and crispy. The other fillings like the slaw and pickles compliment it well cutting through the sweetness and fattiness. It is a well-balanced and crazy delicious burger!

Lastly, the dough will take around 25 minutes of total mixing so you must ensure that all the ingredients are stone cold before you begin. The eggs, butter, water, and flour! I even put my flour in the freezer, so it gets super cold alongside the dough hook. And I refrigerated the mixing bowl. Do not even attempt making this without chilling your ingredients because you will fail.

To learn more about dough temperature control click here.

Watch the video down below for detailed instructions.

Ingredients

For the dough –

500g (1.1lb) strong white bread flour, chilled

45g (1.6oz) water, chilled

250g (8.8oz) eggs, chilled

13g (0.45oz) salt

60g (2.1oz) sugar

8g (0.28oz) instant dry yeast or 9.6g (0.33oz) active dry yeast or 24g (0.84oz) fresh yeast

200g (7oz) cold butter that has been pressed between baking paper to make it soft

For the chicken –

5 large boneless chicken thigs. I used 6 in the video, but that is because they were small.

12g (0.4oz) salt

150g (5.3oz) buttermilk

150g (5.3oz) flour

150g (5.3oz) corn starch

5g (0.17oz) more salt to season the flour and starch mix.

For the gochujang sauce –

80g (2.8oz) gochujang (Korean chilli paste)

30g (1oz) mirin or Shaoxing wine

30g (1oz) dark soy sauce

40g (1.4oz) honey

20g (0.7oz) soft brown sugar

20g (0.7oz) finely chopped garlic

20g (0.7oz) finely chopped ginger

20g (0.7oz) vinegar. You can use pretty much any vinegar you like. I used apple cider vinegar. To keep it more authentic you can use rice vinegar.

For the slaw –

Thinly sliced Chinese (napa) cabbage

Thinly sliced spring onions

Thinly sliced ginger

Sesame oil

Sesame seeds

Lime juice

Salt to season

For baking the buns –

1 egg yolk mixed with 1 teaspoon of milk for glazing

Sesame seeds to sprinkle on top

To assemble the burgers –

Mayonnaise. Kewpie mayo is the ultimate one for this, but you can use any mayo you like.

Sliced pickled gherkins

Kimchi. This is optional as the napa cabbage and the sauce on the chicken are basically what kimchi is made of so you can skip it not missing out on much.

You will also need oil for frying and more butter for toasting the buns.

Method

1. Marinade the chicken. Mix the buttermilk and salt. Add the chicken and coat it well. Leave in the fridge until needed.
2. Make the sauce. In a small pan combine all the ingredients. Bring up to a boil, turn down the heat and simmer for around 10 minutes or until thickened. Pour the sauce in a bowl, cover, and refrigerate until needed.
3. Make the dough. In a mixing bowl combine the water, salt, yeast, sugar, eggs, and flour. Switch the mixer on 2nd (slow) speed. Mix for 10 minutes. After the first 10 minutes start adding the butter in chunks. Mix for another 5 minutes scraping the sides of the bowl down if need be. Once the butter has mixed into the dough turn the speed up to medium which on my mixer is the 4th Mix for around 7 minutes or until the dough stops sticking to the sides and bottom of the mixing bowl. Turn the speed back down to the 2nd (slow) setting. Keep mixing for another 3 minutes. The total mixing time should not exceed 25 minutes. *Desired dough temperature 25 – 26C (77-79F).
4. Shape the dough into a ball, place it into a bowl, cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.
5. Fold.
6. Refrigerate for 1 more hour.
7. Divide the dough into 2 equal pieces and shape into balls. Wrap them in clingfilm and cold proof for up to 24 hours. One dough ball will make 5 large buns. If you want to use the whole dough to make 10 burgers, then keep it whole and give it one last fold instead of dividing it. And double the ingredients for the fillings.
8. The following day divide the dough into 5 equal pieces and pre-shape.
9. Rest for 20 minutes.
10. Final shaping.
11. Place the buns on a non-stick paper lined baking tray with generous gaps between them. Cover and ferment for around 3 – 4 hours or until doubled in size. The final proofing time will depend on the temperature of your kitchen. *During the final hour of fermentation preheat your oven to 160C (320F) fan on.
12. Brush the buns with the egg yolk & milk glaze. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.
13. Bake for around 25 minutes. You can turn the tray around half-way through for an even bake.
14. Leave the buns to cool down.
15. Prepare the chicken for frying. In a bowl combine the flour, corn starch, and salt. Mix well. Coat each chicken thighs in the flour mix and place on a tray or on a plate. Once you have coated all the thighs repeat the process.
16. Fry the chicken thigs in preheated oil at 180C (350F) for around 7 minutes or until the thickest part of the chicken comes up to at least 75C (170F). Fry it in batches and do not over crowd the pan as the chicken will cool down the oil. Make sure you do not get distracted when doing this. If you have kids or pets, then get them out of the kitchen. Distractions and hot oil are an accident waiting to happen!
17. Brush the chicken generously with sauce as soon as you finish frying. I left the sauce out to come up to room temperature before using. You can re-heat it in a microwave right from the fridge too.
18. Mix the salad and leave on the side.
19. Slice the burger buns in half, spread some butter on both sides and toast them in a pan on medium-high heat until golden.
20. Assemble your burger and tuck in! ?

Keep in mind that the conditions in each kitchen are different, so fermentation times may vary for you. It is up to the baker to control the bread and react accordingly.

Your oven may be different too, so your baking time may vary.

Yes, it has come to this! We are making cruffins out of brioche dough.

And why not, right? Buttery brioche dough laminated with even more butter. But fat content aside this is the ultimate cruffin. The texture and flavour are unmatched. Moderation is the key here. I would not suggest eating more than two in one go, but I won’t judge if you do.

If you have never made cruffins, brioche, or laminated bread dough, then this will be an information packed lesson. And besides that, we will make a fruit curd which in this case was mango flavour, but you can change it to your favourite flavour because the base of this curd does not change depending on which fruit you use. As always, I give you the tools and encourage you to experiment with your own flavours and fillings.

The brioche dough does require a mixer unlike all my other recipes, but there is just no way of making this by hand. Or at least I have not learned of one yet.

The mango curd and the lime whipped cream are enough for 8 – 9 cruffins which I made using only half of the brioche dough. The reason for making double the dough is that my mixing bowl is quite large, and the mixer would not be able to pick up a smaller piece of dough and knead it properly. And I did not want to make a huge amount of cruffins because brioche dough is the most versatile dough out there, so I used the other half for another project.

I would suggest you do the same and check out my other brioche recipes for inspiration.

Lastly, the dough will take around 25 minutes of total mixing so you must ensure that all the ingredients are stone cold before you begin. The eggs, butter, water, and flour! I even put my flour in the freezer, so it gets really cold alongside the dough hook. And I refrigerated the mixing bowl. Do not even attempt making this without chilling your ingredients because you will fail. To learn more about dough temperature control click here.

Watch the video down below for detailed instructions.

Ingredients

For the dough –

500g (1.1lb) strong white bread flour, chilled

45g (1.6oz) water, chilled

250g (8.8oz) eggs, chilled

13g (0.45oz) salt

60g (2.1oz) sugar

8g (0.28oz) instant dry yeast or 9.6g (0.33oz) active dry yeast or 24g (0.84oz) fresh yeast

200g (7oz) cold butter that has been pressed between baking paper to make it soft

To laminate the dough –

120g (4.25oz) butter, flattened to a 15cm (6in) square. See video.

For the mango curd –

90g (3.2oz) mango puree. You can use tinned puree or blend fresh mangoes.

10g (0.35oz) lime juice

100g (3.5oz) eggs

100g (3.5oz) sugar

100g (3.5oz) cold butter, cubed

15g (0.5oz) corn starch

For the lime cream –

200g (7oz) double cream

60g (2.1oz) powdered sugar

Zest of 1 lime

For the sugar syrup –

20g (0.7oz) sugar

20g (0.7oz) water

Bring up to a boil just before the cruffins come out the oven.

To finish –

Toasted coconut flakes

Lime zest

Method

1. Make the dough. In a mixing bowl combine the water, salt, yeast, sugar, eggs, and flour. Switch the mixer on 2nd (slow) speed. Mix for 10 minutes. After the first 10 minutes start adding the butter in chunks. Mix for another 5 minutes scraping the sides of the bowl down if need be. Once the butter has mixed into the dough turn the speed up to medium which on my mixer is the 4th Mix for around 7 minutes or until the dough stops sticking to the sides and bottom of the mixing bowl. Turn the speed back down to the 2nd (slow) setting. Keep mixing for another 3 minutes. The total mixing time should not exceed 25 minutes. *Desired dough temperature 25 – 26C (77-79F).
2. Shape the dough into a ball, place it into a bowl, cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.
3. Fold.
4. Refrigerate for 1 more hour.
5. Divide the dough into 2 equal pieces and shape into balls. Wrap them in clingfilm and cold proof for up to 24 hours. One of the dough balls is for the 8 – 9 cruffins. Use the other one for another project or if you want to make more cruffins, then keep the dough whole and double the amount of ingredients in the lamination, curd, and lime cream to make 16+ cruffins.
6. The next day roll the dough out to a square to fit the butter inside it. The points of the butter square must be placed between the points of the dough square. *It is best you watch the video for clearer instructions. Seal the butter into the dough square by folding the corners of the dough into the centre of the butter square. Press the seams together.
7. Roll the dough out to about three times its length. Fold the two sides to meet in the middle, then fold the dough in half. Wrap in clingfilm and chill for 30 minutes.
8. Whilst the dough is chilling make the filling and topping. In a large bowl combine the powdered sugar, lime zest and double cream. Whip until thick. Leave in the fridge for later.
9. Make the mango curd. In a small pan combine the sugar, corn starch, eggs, lime juice, and mango puree. Whisk until smooth. Cook on medium heat whisking occasionally until it becomes nice and thick. Take it off the heat and add half of the cubed butter. Whisk until the butter has emulsified and only then add the other half and repeat. Pour the curd in a bowl, cover with cling film so that it is touching the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until needed.
10. By now 30 minutes should have passed and you can perform the second fold on the dough. Roll it to about twice its length into the direction of the two open ends. This time fold the dough into 3 layers. Again, watch the video for a more detailed look at this. Wrap in clingfilm and chill for another 30 minutes.
11. Now comes the shaping part. You could make various things from here on. Feuilletée, croissants, pastries etc. But to make cruffins roll the dough out to a little longer than 33cm (1.1ft). Trim the top and the bottom and one side. Measure and mark the dough in 4cm (1.6in) increments from the trimmed side. Slice off the remaining side. You can use the trimmings to make an extra cruffin. Slice the dough into strips and roll them up. Place in greased muffin tins or your baking mould of choice.
12. Cover and ferment for around 4 hours. This will depend on the temperature of your kitchen. They must more than double in size. *During the final hour of fermentation preheat your oven to 160C (320F) fan on.
13. Bake the cruffins for 25 – 30 minutes.
14. Brush the cruffins with the hot sugar syrup as soon as they come out the oven. Leave to set for 5 minutes. Take them out of the moulds and leave to cool down completely.
15. Whilst the cruffins are cooling fill you lime cream and curd into piping bags. You may need to give the curd a quick whisking to ensure there are no lumps.
16. Fill the cooled down cruffins generously. The curd will be just enough for all of them. Jam the piping bag nozzle in deep and give it a good squeeze. Top them with the lime cream, toasted coconut flakes, and grate a bit of fresh lime zest to finish.

Enjoy the deliciousness – you earned it! ?

Keep in mind that the conditions in each kitchen are different, so fermentation times may vary for you. It is up to the baker to control the bread and react accordingly.

Your oven may be different too, so your baking time may vary.

I have said it before, and I will say it again – brioche is such as versatile dough.

You can use it for sweet or savoury dishes. Burger buns, croissants, German brioche cakes, hot dog buns, and of course donuts! The best part is that it is super easy to make. This recipe uses half of my brioche base dough recipe 550g (1.2lb). That will make 12 donuts. You could make the whole amount and perhaps use half for donuts and the other half for another brioche project.

Make the brioche dough, then refrigerate it overnight as I demonstrate in my brioche base recipe, and then use it for this or any other brioche recipe.

Watch the video down below for detailed instructions.

Ingredients

550g (1.2lb) brioche dough that has been cold proofed.

Vegetable or sunflower oil for frying

Caster sugar for dusting

For the filling –

500g (1.1lb) frozen or fresh strawberries

200g (7oz) sugar

Method

1. In a pot combine the strawberries and sugar. Cook on medium heat for around 15 minutes or until nice and thick. Break the strawberries up so that it would be easier to squeeze them through the piping bag nozzle later. Once the jam is done pour it into a bowl and leave on the side to cool down completely.
2. Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces and preshape into balls. Let them rest for 1 hour.
3. After the first hour of resting shape the dough balls again. Place them on a tray and cover with cling film. Ferment for 1.5 – 2 hours or until almost doubled in size.
4. Fry the donuts in hot oil at 160C (320F) for around 2 – 2.5 minutes per side.
5. Toss them in sugar as soon as they come out of the oil. Place on a rack to cool
6. Leave the donuts to cool down completely. After they have cooled down shake off any excess sugar.
7. Using a chopstick or a skewer poke a hole in each donut. Fill them up with jam and enjoy!

Let me introduce you to the wonderful world of brioche.

This bread defies reality. It contains so much butter that it should not be possible. But through some kind of magic, it is! And the result is amazing. I will show you how simple it is to make. The most important thing here is temperature. So, make sure that all the ingredients are stone cold before you even attempt it. This will be a recipe for the basic dough, which you can use to make buns or a loaf. Look in the Brioche section to find more awesome uses for this dough! This recipe makes around 1.1kg (2.4lb) of dough. If you want to make a smaller amount, then just halve the amount of ingredients in this recipe!

Watch the video down below to see detailed instructions.

Ingredients

500g (1.1lb) strong white bread flour, cold!

45g (1.6oz) cold water

250g (8.8oz) cold eggs

13g (0.45oz) salt

60g (2.1oz) sugar

8g (0.3oz) dry yeast or 3x the amount of fresh yeast

250g (8.8oz) cold, unsalted butter

To learn more about dough temperature control click here.

Method

1. Make sure your ingredients are completely cold. Place you flour, water, eggs, and butter in the fridge several hours before making the dough. If you do not do this, then your dough will warm up too much and overproof.
2. Press the butter with a rolling pin between parchment paper until it becomes pliable.
3. In your mixer add the water, salt, half of the sugar, yeast, eggs, and flour. Mix for around 6 minutes on second (low) speed.
4. Add the rest of the sugar and keep mixing for around 5 more minutes.
5. Start adding the butter in chunks. Now you can set a higher speed until the butter is incorporated into the dough and the dough starts coming off the sides of the bowl.
6. Once the dough has come together you can scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl and lower the speed. Keep mixing for another 5 minutes.
7. As soon as the dough is looking smooth and becomes stretchy and glutenous you can remove it from the mixer. Desired dough temperature 24 – 25C (75 – 77F). If your dough is warmer, then reduce the first proof time.
8. Fold the dough into a ball, place in a bowl and proof for 1 hour.
9. Fold.
10. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
11. Fold.
12. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
13. Depending on whether you made the full amount given above now you can either fold the whole piece of dough once again or divide it into several pieces for different uses, shape them into balls, wrap in clingfilm.
14. Refrigerate the dough overnight.
15. The next day divide your dough into desired size, pre-shape, and rest on the table for 30 minutes.
16. Final shape into rounds and oblongs or whatever shape you fancy.
17. Final proof 1.5 – 2 hours. During the final hour of fermentation pre-heat your oven to 190C (375F) no fan.
18. Brush with egg and bake for around 20 – 25 minutes.

Let it cool down and enjoy!