I’ve been thinking that the no-knead brioche dough would make great hamburger buns so tonight I did a bit of an experiment…

Using over-sized muffin tins, I made some rolls.  Fantastic tasting.  A wee bit too big!  Definitely no way they could be used as a bun, although I did make sandwiches with them tonight with grilled london broil.  Did I say a wee bit too big?!?  Let me rephrase that…  really too big!  But dayum, were they good!

I made the dough last night using the basic recipe.  I didn’t weigh them when I made them today, but I have a pretty good idea of how big they were – a little larger than a jumbo egg.  I’ll need to cut the size in half, at least.  I see another experiment in a day or so!

In the meantime, here’s what I did for dinner tonight.  Sliced grilled london broil with a chipotle powder rub on the rolls with a green chili mayonnaise.  And fries.

I didn’t even try to pick it up.  I made it open-faced and ate it with a knife and fork.

This recipe is direct from the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day website.  I have now made it twice and it’s completely foolproof!

Brioche dough

(makes about 4 loaves)

  • 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons granulated yeast (2 packets)
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt
  • 8 large eggs, lightly beaten
  • 1/2 cup honey (this is my all time favorite!)
  • 1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
  • 7 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

Mix the yeast, salt, eggs honey and melted butter with the water in a 5-quart bowl, or lidded (not airtight) food container.

Mix in the flour, using a spoon until all of the flour is incorporated.

Cover (not airtight), and allow to sit at room temperature for about two hours.

The dough can be used as soon as it is chilled. This dough is way too sticky to use after the initial rise, but once it is chilled it is very easy to handle. It can be used to create the Tatin or any of these brioche recipes: caramel sticky buns, grilled fruit tart, Fresh Fruit Muffins, Brioche à tête, apricot pastries and fabulous doughnuts! The dough can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. After that you can freeze the dough.

It’s gonna make an awesome burger bun!