Dairy-Free Brioche Burger Buns

Brioche is usually an enriched dough with butter, egg, and milk. My wife has a milk allergy, so this is our dairy-free version for burger night. She has an egg intolerance too; we use one real egg in the batch because it gives a better brioche than replacer for us, but this is not vegan and may not suit every egg-free diet.

Once these became our default burger bun, we stopped buying brioche rolls.

Ingredients

• 3 tbsp warm almond milk (or other dairy-free milk)
• 2 tsp dried active yeast
• 2.5 tbsp caster sugar
• 240 ml warm water
• 360 g strong bread flour
• 60 g plain flour, plus extra for rolling
• 37 g dairy-free butter spread, softened
• 1.5 tsp salt
• 1 medium egg (beaten)

Method

1. Put the warm water, almond milk, yeast, and sugar in a jug. Stir and leave 5 minutes until the surface foams.
2. Add both flours, the dairy-free spread, and salt to a bowl. Rub together with your fingertips until there are no lumps of fat.
3. Pour in the yeast mixture and the beaten egg. Mix until you have a sticky dough.
4. Knead for about 10 minutes by hand (a dough scraper helps) or with dough hooks on a stand mixer.
5. Place the dough in a large bowl. Cover with a damp cloth or beeswax wrap and prove in a warm room until doubled (about 1–2 hours).
6. Line a baking tray with baking parchment or a silicone mat.
7. Tip the dough onto a floured surface and punch out the air. Divide into 8 pieces as evenly as you can.
8. Shape each piece into a ball: squash lightly, fold edges into the centre, pinch underneath, then turn over so the top is smooth and tight. Space buns well apart on the tray (they spread).
9. Slide the tray into a large proving bag (or clean bin liner) without the plastic touching the dough. Prove again until almost doubled (about 1.5–2 hours).
10. Heat the oven to 200°C (fan 180°C if you use fan).
11. Brush the tops and sides gently with almond milk. Do not overload the brush or milk pools at the base.
12. Bake about 15 minutes until deep golden brown. Cool 5 minutes on the tray, then transfer to a rack.

Tips & notes

• Dairy-free vs vegan: we tried off-the-shelf egg replacer in the original version. A real egg is simpler and tastes better here. Use a flax egg only if you need the recipe fully vegan.
• Beeswax wrap works well for covering the bowl; wipe clean and reuse.
• Worth the long prove. These freeze well once cool.