Soft, fluffy and buttery brioche burger buns, I thought I died and went to heaven! I have been working on this recipe for over a year and I finally nailed it! These gluten free brioche burger buns are just as good if not better than the normal gluten filled kind.
Even though I have been living in Germany for almost 10 years, I still crave a good old fashioned cheeseburger. A loaded burger with all the toppings. Since I have moved to Germany, I have only seen one restaurant that served burgers with a gluten free bun. Did you catch that word, 'served' which means past tense. It is no longer a restaurant, but just a shop. While I can buy small pathetic packaged gluten free rolls at my local grocery store, they are dry and crumbly and horrible.
I knew I had to come up with the perfect gluten free burger bun recipe. I scoured the internet, researching and reading. Experimented with different combinations and amounts. The time and effort were 100% worth it, because I have now mastered the gluten free brioche burger bun. Soft and spongy on the inside but sturdy enough to hold a 200 gram (almost a 1/2lb) burger patty AND all the toppings you could want.
What do you need?
German Ingredients
Let's start at the top left and work our way across. We have...
Milk, xanthan gum, potato flour, salt, sugar, yeast (the little green packet), apple cider vinegar. Tapioca flour (also known as tapioca starch), white rice flour, brown rice flour, eggs, and butter.
If you are gluten free and love to bake, then I recommend having these ingredients on hand at all times. These are my staple pantry ingredients and who doesn't always have milk and eggs and butter???
The burger buns take no real work. You do have to plan ahead because they are yeast based so make sure to leave 60-90 minutes just for the dough to rest and an additional 30 minutes for the baking. But actual work... give yourself 30 minutes in total. And that includes cleaning up!
Time to proof our yeast. This is crazy important. It's science so buy yourself a baking thermometer. They are incredibly inexpensive and it will ensure that your breads and baked goods will always rise. Your goal temperature is between 103F (39.5C)- 108F (42C).
Warmed milk, 1 tablespoon sugar and yeast. Mixed together with a fork.
Directly after mixing After 15 minutes
See how the picture on the right completely foamed and bubbled up? That is what you want.
Now comes the easy part. Basically you just dump all the other ingredients into your stand mixer and let your dough hook do the rest.
Directly after 15 minutes of kneading
Working with gluten free dough IS hard. It takes practice. Normally when you are working with all-purpose flour, the dough is not this wet and sticky. But since we have a mixture of gluten free flours, we MUST have it in this consistency that you see pictured above. This will give us a light and tender burger bun. If you feel the need to add more flour, don't. You will just make the buns dense. The dough does form a ball on its own but if I touch it, the dough will stick to my fingers. That is good.
Then let the dough rest for at least 60 minutes, 90 minutes is ideal. It won't rise, but that is ok. I promise it will rise when baking.
After 90 minutes of resting
It looks exactly the same. Don't fret.
Use a clean surface and generously flour it. Remember our dough is crazy sticky. We just want to roll it around a little bit so that it becomes more pliable and easier to work with.
I am using my cool new silicone burger bun tray. I bought it off of Amazon.de and I was amazed at how easy it was to use and clean!
Here is the link if you are located in Germany and also want to purchase the same tray:
However using this tray is not necessary. You can just as easily take a baking sheet and line it with parchment paper. Then place your burger buns directly on top of the parchment paper.
Before you start to divide your dough, you do need to weigh once it is covered in enough flour.
The just divide by 6.
Try your best to smooth out the tops. Then generously brush each bun with an egg wash. I left one plain just so you could see the color difference. But don't worry, I quickly brushed that one too!
Now here is my favorite part. Watching them bake. Yes I was like a kid in a candy store jumping up and down. I waved my hands in the air and shouted for my husband to come into the kitchen. I couldn't believe my eyes...
LOOK HOW MUCH THEY ROSE!!!
I was thrilled! I was elated! I was HUNGRY! I sent my husband into the backyard to grill up some burgers. Not just any burgers. Normal beef burgers are great and amazing... but who wants that when one of your best friends is a hunter and instead of bringing flowers over he brings homemade wild boar burger patties... He shot the boar not far from where we live, did all the butchery and has a license to make and sell his meat. We have such cool friends!
And I thought we might still be hungry so I had my husband grill up some wild bratwurst.
If you are local then you must check out his Instagram account: wildkeller_rausch. Feel free to message him in English if you are looking for wild game (venison or wild boar). He does burgers, bratwurst, and so much more!
Look how easily these buns came out of the tray. Seriously it could not be easier.
Squishy and soft, full of air pockets and golden brown with glistening with butter. I knew before I even took my first bite that this burger would be a success.
Then after they cooled for about 10 minutes it was time to slice and build up my burger.
This burger was perfection, topped with swiss cheese, grilled onions, lettuce, mustard and mayo... sorry but I hate tomatoes on my burgers. These half pound burgers did not put a dent into these buns. Most gluten free burger buns get soggy and fall apart once piled high with a burger patty and all these toppings. But not my bun. These brioche buns are built for the king of all burgers. They will hold anything and everything while still having the light buttery airiness of a brioche bun.
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