These soft and fluffy brioche hamburger buns are made using the tangzhong method. They take any burger to the next level! It’s hard to believe they are made with fresh milled flour.
I’ve been milling my own flour for almost 3 years now and until now have been using my Basic Bread Recipe and shaping that into buns when I need them. They taste good, but they still aren’t quite the texture we were looking for in a hamburger bun. Most of the time the burger and toppings just kind of slide off the bun, but these soft and fluffy brioche hamburger buns wrap around and hang on to all of that goodness!
I kept hunting and researching different methods and finally landed on the tangzhong method for these brioche buns. I actually didn’t try to make it for a while because the extra step seemed too inconvenient…..but it’s SO simple.
What You’ll Need To Make These Soft and Fluffy Brioche Hamburger Buns
Flour– I used fresh milled hard white wheat for this recipe.
Milk
Active Dry Yeast
Salt
Sugar
Eggs
Butter
What Is The Tangzhong Method?
The tangzhong method is an Asian technique that is known to create soft, squishy bread. This method of pre-cooking a small amount of flour, milk, and water pre-gelatinizes the starches in the flour, resulting in more moisture in the dough.
This is great! It gives the fluffy, soft texture that we’re used to in store-bought bread. Pictures just don’t do them justice so you’ll just have to try for yourself and see what it’s all about. If you want to read more about the tangzhong method, check out this article by King Arthur.
Pictured above is the process of the tangzhong method in action. It changes fairly quickly in about 2-3 minutes.
How To Make Your Soft and Fluffy Brioche Hamburger Bun Dough
You’re going to start by making your tangzhong mixture by putting the flour, milk, and water in a small saucepan and whisk over medium heat so that no lumps are left. Keep mixing until thickened. This should take 2-3 minutes. You will go from liquid to a thick roux that will remind you of thick pudding. (see pictures above)
Then in your mixer bowl add the tangzhong mixture while it’s warm and the cold milk. This will even out the temperature before you add the yeast. Then add yeast and sugar in.
Next you’re going to add the rest of the flour, eggs, butter, and salt.
Knead the mixture for 8-10 minutes until the mixture is smooth and passes a windowpane test. If you don’t know what a windowpane test is watch here.
Form the dough into a ball, put it in a greased bowl, cover and rise for about an hour or until doubled in size. This will vary by the temperature in your home.
Once it’s doubled in size, oil your hands and punch the dough down. Separate into 8-9 equal pieces. I weigh mine out to 90-95 grams each and end up with 9 buns. Shape each piece like a ball as if you were making dinner rolls and then smoosh them down like pictured below. (These could also be shaped into hotdog buns.)
Next, cover with plastic wrap or a clean towel and let the buns rise until doubled and puffy.
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes.
Before putting your buns in the oven do an egg wash made with 1 egg and 1 tablespoon of water.
Bake for 14-16 minutes until they are a nice, deep golden brown. (time may vary with different ovens)
Remove from oven and brush with softened/melted butter and let cool on cooling rack.
Jump to RecipeTopping Ideas For Brioche Buns
**If adding toppings, make sure to add after you apply egg wash.
- Sesame seeds
- Poppy seeds
- Flaky Sea Salt
- Freshly ground pepper
- Everything Bagel Seasoning
- Flax Seeds
How To Store Brioche Buns
If you have any left to put away then put them in an airtight container or ziploc bag. They should last 3-4 days. Just don’t put them in the fridge or it will dry them out and make them stale. You can also read this article on more about bread storage.
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Brioche Hamburger Buns Made with Fresh Milled Flour (Soft & Fluffy)
Ingredients
Method
- Combine all ingredients for tangzhong into a small saucepan and whisk over medium heat to make sure there are no clumps.
- Stir constantly until thickened.2-3 minutes. I like to use a spatula after whisking so it doesn't stick to the edges. It will look like a thick roux similar to thick pudding.
- Mix the tangzhong mixture with the milk to cool it down so it doesn't kill the yeast.
- Next mix in the yeast and sugar.
- Add in flour and turn mixer on.
- While mixer is going add in the eggs. Mix until incorporated. Then add in your softened butter and salt.
- Knead dough for 8-10 minutes until the mixture is smooth and passes a windowpane test. Form the dough into a ball, put it in a greased bowl, cover and rise for about an hour or until doubled in size. This will vary by the temperature in your home.
- Once it's doubled in size, oil your hands and punch the dough down. Separate into 8-9 equal pieces. I weigh mine out to 90-95 grams each and end up with 9 buns. Shape each piece like a ball as if you were making dinner rolls and then smoosh them down
- Next, cover with plastic wrap or a clean towel and let the buns rise until doubled and puffy.
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes.
- Before putting your buns in the oven do an egg wash made with 1 egg and 1 tablespoon of water.
- Bake for 14-16 minutes until they are a nice, deep golden brown. (time may vary with different ovens)
- Remove from oven and brush with softened/melted butter and let cool on cooling rack.
If you try this recipe and love it, I would love if you gave it 5 stars! Thank you! Tag me on Instagram @freshmilledmama and please leave a review below on the blog!
For More Recipes Made with Fresh Milled Flour Try:
These were so good! I couldn’t get my dough to come together and thought I ruined them. But I decided to let them rise and see what happened. Perfection! The texture is so light and moist. We used them as dinner rolls and the recipe made 15 of them perfectly in a 9×13 pan. They would make killer hot dog buns and sandwich bread, too.
I’m so glad you liked them!
Hands down THE BEST buns ever! 😍
Thank you! I agree. 😉
When you say shape like a dinner roll do you add tension?
You want a nice round top, but tension in the way you might be thinking isn’t necessary. I just tuck the dough under to create a smooth ball and roll gently under my palm on my table to finish shaping it and then flatten it some to achieve the bun shape. Hope that makes sense?!?
I have a question. Is there a way to make the dough ahead of time and then when you are ready to cook the buns you just put them in the oven?
I’m not 100% sure, but maybe try freezing them after you shape them after the 1st rise and then take out of the freezer and thaw and rise to bake?
Can this recipe be adapted to sourdough?
I’m sure it could, I’m just not familiar enough with sourdough to swap out they yeast with sourdough starter. Sorry!
Best bun recipe and so simple to make! 😋
Can I use King Arthur unbleached flour with the tanghonz (probably spelled it wrong) method? I don’t have a mill to grind wheat berries..
You can, but just know the amount of flour won’t be the same as if you were following the recipe as stated.
Perfection – 2nd try. I doubled the recipe and the only change I made was the addition of 1 Tbsp of EVOO with the butter. I rise my bread in the oven after putting it on warm for 3 minutes and then shutting off for 3 minutes – then I out the bread into rise covered in plastic wrap and a cotton cloth on top. This has never failed me. I used my Bosch to knead and I added about 6 Tbsp of additional flour during the process to get it where I was happy. These came out PERFECT. I wish I could add a picture!
So happy to hear your results! Glad you enjoy them!
This is a fantastic recipe. I don’t have instant yeast so I used active dry and bloomed it in some of the liquid for a few minutes before adding. They took a little bit longer to rise, but otherwise it worked perfectly! We like more of a slider sized bun for our burgers so I made 15. They held up to the burgers amazingly well and tasted great! This will be my go to bun recipe from now on.
Glad to hear you enjoyed them!
Check the King Arthur website for a tangzhong recipe.
The ingredients list two eggs but the instructions say to add the egg and egg yolk. Do you use two whole eggs in the dough or just one egg and one egg yolk?
Add both whole eggs. Sorry about that! Thanks for letting me know so I can update that.
Have you ever done this using a yundane instead?
I haven’t. Doing the tangzhong method is pretty quick as well. It barely adds 5 minutes to your overall process.
It says two eggs – what size/weight? I was making pasta yesterday and the recipe said two large eggs (150g). Well, I was weighing ingredients already and found that two of my large eggs weighed in at only 100g, which explains why I needed more liquid the first time I made that recipe!
So, any idea how much your eggs weigh?
I use different size eggs all of the time for this since we have laying hens and sizes vary. I just tare out a scale with a bowl on it and add 2 eggs and top off with water until the liquid ingredients weigh 190 grams.
Could I substitute hard red if I don’t have hard white? Thank you 🙂
Yes, you can.
LOVE this recipe! This was the first recipe i’ve made after switching to fresh milled wheat! It’s so easy. I have made it three times already!
Thank you for sharing and the emphasis on easy! It may seem extra to some to do the Tangzhong, but it’s so easy and worth the extra couple of minutes. Glad you enjoyed these!
Two questions, need to freeze the rolls after your meat will it dry out? And
I noticed there’s not an autolyse periodin the recipe. Does that affect the dough at all?
Thanks so much
I’ve personally never frozen my bread so I’m not sure, but a lot of people freeze their bread instead of refrigerating and I’ve heard good things. I didn’t Autolyse in this recipe. You can and just leave the yeast and salt out until you knead it like the brioche bread recipe.
I tried this recipe today and made dinner rolls and a blueberry cream cheese challah. I am so impressed. The instructions were easy, and the dough came together beautifully. It will be my go to recipe for many things!
Those looked amazing over in the group! Thank you for the feedback!
I am out of hard white. Can I use soft white with similar results? Thank you!
Soft white doesn’t have the same gluten content so it wouldn’t be a good substitute.
Can I use half hard red and half hard white? Trying to conserve my white and use up some red at the moment.
Yes, that should be fine!
These were delicious! This is my go to recipe for rolls! I make for hamburger rolls! I freeze them & they are great to take out when I need! Can this be made into a bread? Thank you!
Do you have a particular way you freeze them so they don’t get freezer burned? I have a large family so I prefer to do batch baking and stick extra in the freezer.
I love the tangzhong method. I’m wondering about how many hot dog buns would this make?
It makes the best bread! If you go with the average of 90-105 grams of dough per bun you’ll get somewhere between 8-10 buns per batch.
I’ve made these twice now. So easy and very good.
Glad to hear!
Easy to make. I used half hard white and half hard red. Added a little extra water as my dough was stiff. I think I had some dried out grains. They just came out of the oven and look beautiful.
<3
This is an excellent recipe! My go to hamburger rolls! Thank you!
Awesome! They’re our favorite, too! 😉
These are the best buns. I make these for sandwiches and burgers. They are so soft and delicious. I made them in the summer when we had guests for the weekend and they all raved over them. These are a must have!
Thanks! We love making smash burgers in the summer when we have friends and family over!
These were gorgeous and delicious! I am brand new to freshly-milled flour and it was really satisfying to make these. The dough was very sticky for me but it rose perfectly. I sprinkled with sesame seeds. Do oil your hands as suggested and it will make forming the buns much easier. So happy to have found this resource for recipes! Thank you!
<3 <3 <3 You're welcome!
Made these today and they are absolutely fabulous! When I took a bite of my ham sandwich ( for testing😉) with tomato and lettuce and cheese, my innards did not slide out of the bun. So soft too! Thank you for the recipe!
That’s the best part! When I would make buns out of my normal bread dough the toppings ALWAYS slid off. These buns actually keep your toppings on like they should! Glad you enjoyed them. <3
Took longer than most recipes to get the to windowpane. I’m not sure why. It was my 1st time using a tangzhong so maybe that was it? I”m guessing they’;ll rise fine but the dough is not as smooth as I like to get it.
I’m not sure why as it kneads up in 6-8 minutes for me in my Bosch. Are you using a different mixer?
Superb! Been searching for about 3 years to get the texture and airiness of fresh milled flour bread! This will be my go to! Thank you for posting!
That’s awesome! You’re very welcome!
Wow! So much flavor!! I’ve used all these ingredients in breads before but something about the method used here really changes the flavor and texture profile. My 2 year old even loves them by themselves as a snack!
So happy to hear that! <3 They are pretty tasty alone.
These are excellent and people can’t even believe they are whole wheat! If you have a white bread friend this is a great gateway recipe.
I whipped up a batch of these yesterday to take to a cookout and got so many compliments, they could not believe I made them from scratch. I told them it was easy but they were all quite impressed!
Thanks!!
That’s so awesome! Happy to hear they were enjoyed!
These are phenomenal! We had them with burgers for the 4th. I make your recipes one to two times per week. They’re always amazing. Thank you!
Woohoo! So glad you enjoy them!