The inspiration for this recipe comes from our bakery, where brioche buns are among the wide variety of rolls and buns King Arthur bakers produce daily. These particular buns are rich, tender, and pillow-like, similar to our bakery's, and are the perfect vessel for a big, juicy burger.
Mix and knead the dough ingredients — in a mixer or bread machine — to make a smooth, shiny dough. It starts out sticky, and takes 15 to 20 minutes of kneading in a stand mixer to develop, so we don't recommend kneading this by hand.
Form the dough into a ball, place it in a greased bowl, cover, and let it rise for 1 hour.
Refrigerate the covered dough overnight, to slow its rise and make it easier to shape.
The next day, remove the dough from the refrigerator, and divide it into six pieces.
Shape each piece into a flattened ball, and place into the lightly greased cups of an individual pie and burger bun pan. Or place the buns on a lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheet, leaving about 2" to 3" between them.
Cover the buns, and let them rise until they're quite puffy. This may take as little as 1 hour; or up to 2 to 3 hours, depending on how warm your rising environment, and how cold the dough. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 375°F.
Brush the buns with egg wash, and bake on the middle rack of the oven for 14 to 18 minutes, tenting with foil after 10 minutes if they appear to be browning too quickly. The finished buns will register at least 190°F on a digital thermometer inserted into the center.
Remove the buns from the oven, and cool on a rack.
Yield: 6 buns.
