The Comme Ca Brioche Burger Buns

I need to get the New York Times cookbook.   There are a limitless number of recipes that are delicious in there, apparently, because every one I make is a keeper.  This recipe also freezes well, baked, so you can make it on the weekend and pull out for your pulled pork, your hamburgers, or what have you at any time.  They are buttery, ever so slightly sweet, and soft on the inside.  If I had a complaint- which I don't- it would be that the inside is a little soft and can smush down ever so slightly under the weight of a big burger.  However, the flavor is soooooo much better than storebought that it's hardly worth mentioning.

Brioche Burger Buns
adapted from Smitten Kitchen who Adapted from Comme Ca through NY Times

Ingredients

3 tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
2 1/2 tablespoons sugar
2 large eggs, DIVIDED.
3 cups bread flour
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened.

In a glass measuring cup, combine 1 cup warm water (slightly warmer than usual as the milk will be cold), the milk, yeast and sugar. Let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, beat 1 egg.

In a large bowl, whisk flours with salt. Add butter and rub into flour between your fingers, making crumbs. Using a dough scraper, stir in yeast mixture and beaten egg until a dough forms. Knead by your preferred method until smooth and elastic, 8 to 10 minutes.

 Shape dough into a ball and return it to bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, 1 to 2 hours.

 Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using dough scraper, divide dough into 8 equal parts. Gently roll each into a ball and arrange 2 to 3 inches apart on baking sheet. Cover loosely with a clean kitchen towel and let buns rise in a warm place for 1 to 2 hours.

Set a large shallow pan of water on oven floor. Preheat oven to 400 degrees with rack in center. Beat remaining egg with 1 tablespoon water and brush some on top of buns. Bake, turning sheet halfway through baking, until tops are golden brown, about 15 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool completely.

makes 8 buns.