Having a boyfriend obsessed with Egg & Bacon Rolls, and even with all the amazing bakeries around us, surprisingly scarce offering of brioche buns, making these soon became a must. They are quick (relative to other types of enriched sourdough dough) and easy to shape and make, and pretty forgiving if your timing isn’t exactly on point. These sourdough brioche buns are fluffy, rich and with a little bit of that sourdough tang, and will go perfect with the before mentioned breakfast staples, as burger buns, or even just with butter.

Ingredients:

Levain:

*note: this levain will be much stiffer than your usual one, so you might need to knead it for a minute before letting it mature

• 45g ripe sourdough starter
• 100g white flour (i used strong baker’s flour)
• 50g room temperature water

The Dough:

• 65g warm water
• 350g white flour (I used 00 but you can use all purpose white)
• 75g spelt flour (or any other whole grain flour should do)
• 60g honey
• 2 eggs, 1 yolk
• 60g butter
• 10g sea salt

Egg glaze:

• 1 egg
• pinch of salt
• 1tbs milk or water

Method:

You could make these on a 3 day schedule, similar to the process in my Hot Cross Buns and Cinnamon Scrolls Recipes. In that case, you’d put the levain together in the evening on day 1, let it rest on room temperature overnight, put the final dough together the next morning, let it rise at room temp for 4-5h, then shape the buns and proof them in the fridge overnight, so you can bake them fresh the next morning. I sped up this process a bit this time, and here is what I did:

1. In the morning on day 1, make your levain. Put it in a mason jar and to speed its ripening, fill a big bowl or your sink with warm water and place the jar in it. Change the water every hour or so to keep the temperature warm and steady. It should take 3-4 hours for your levain to be nice and bubbly.
2. Around 12 o’clock, put all the ingredients for your dough EXCEPT butter and salt in a self-standing mixer and let it knead on low speed for around 5min. Let the dough rest for 30min and then add softened butter and salt. Knead for 10more minutes until the dough is super shiney.
3. Let the dough rest in the bowl for 2 hour. After 2 hours, do some folds and turns every 30min or so, for the next 3 hours.
4. Now it is time to shape your brioche buns. Butter your kitchen bench and divide the dough into 10 equal parts and roll them into little balls and try and get them as nice and smooth as possible. I like to kind of pull the dough from the sides to stretch the top and tuck it under. Place the balls on a big baking tray or two, covered with baking paper.
5. As it is winter here in Melbourne, mine actually took very long to rise, so I would suggest to leave them out on the bench overnight, loosely covered with cling-wrap. Before covering them with the wrap, using a brush, gently dap them with some cold water to ensure they don’t dry at all. If it is warm where you are, you might want to place the trays in the fridge till late in the evening, and before going to bed put them out on the bench covered.
6. Preheat the oven on 170C-180C fan forced (knowing your oven you may need to go higher or lower). When you are ready to bake, for your glaze, whisk up an egg with a tiny spoon of milk or water and a pinch of salt. Brush the buns with the glaze and sprinkle with white or black sesame seeds.
7. Bake for 20 min and if baking 2 trays at the same time, swap them around after 10minutes.