Vegan Brioche Burger Buns

Is Brioche vegan? 

Brioche is a buttery French bread often eaten by itself or used in sweet or savoury dishes. Traditionally, brioche is not vegan as the dough is laden with eggs, dairy milk and butter. Also brioche is often glazed with an egg wash to give it a golden and shinny appearance and to trap in the moisture.

Much to my surprise, it is easy to veganise the French bread. I used simple substitutes such as vegan butter and non-dairy milk! To make the vegan brioche soft I used a Japanese method called "tongzhong"

What is tangzhong?

Tis is that magic ingredient-a paste of liquid and flour knowns as tangzhong. Tangzhng is a Japanese technique of cooking a small percentage of flour and liquid in the original recipe together until it thickens. The mix of flour and liquid is cooked together until all the moisture is absorbed into the flour and thick gelatinous mix (roux) is formed. This means that the dough made with tangzhong has higher percentage of water.

Ingredients:

Tangzhong:

• 37g flour
• 180g plant-based milk

Dough ingredients:

• 440g plain flour
• 14g dried yeast
• 25g sugar
• 165g plant-based milk, luke warm
• 9g salt
• 40g vegan butter

Vegan "egg" wash:

• 1 tbsp maple syrup
• 4 tbsp plant-based milk

Method:

First, make your tangzhong. Heat a pan on medium-heat and add the flour and milk. Whisk until the mixture thickens and forms a consistence paste. Set aside to cool.

Add the remaining flour, salt and sugar to a bowl. In a jug, mix the remaining milk and yeast. Allow the yeast to sit in the warm milk for 10 minutes until it goes foamy.

Pour the yeast mixture into the bowl of flour and add the tangzhong and vegan butter. Incorporate all the ingredients and hand knead for around 10-15 minutes. Once you have a nice shinny ball of dough, leave it to rise in a greased bowl for 1 hour or until it doubled in size. You may also use your electric mixer to mix the dough.

Once the dough has doubled in size, place it on your work surface and push out the air. Check the weigh and divide into 6-8 balls (6 for largerbuns and 8 for small to medium-sized buns). Place them on a tray with some baking paper, cover and leave them to rise for another hour.

Preheat your oven to 180ºC/160ºC for fan assist oven. Apply the vegan "egg" wash to the buns and add sesame seeds, poppy seeds or any kind of seeds if you wish. Place the buns inside the over and bake for 10-15 minutes. Keep a close watch on them and remove if they are browning too much.

Serve with your favourite burger and topping. Enjoy!!