When he first came to her with the project, she was hesitant. Would her baking skills hold up under pressure? He was the “meat guy,” contributing a 12-inch, six pound burger to the project. He needed a brioche bun to match. Having never made hamburger buns – let alone a giant bun – she was daunted.
A cake pan wouldn’t be large enough – her largest, a springform, was a mere 10-inches across. She settled on a 12-inch sauté pan and found a working recipe to build from. Three test buns, plenty of jokes about her giant, fluffy, white buns and a few tweaks later, her contribution was perfected.
Their giant burger raised over $250 for charity.
Giant Brioche Hamburger Bun
If your culinary adventures ever call for a giant 12-inch bun, I have the ideal recipe for you.
Ingredients
- Starter
- 2/3 cup milk (heated to 107⁰ F)
- 1 package active dry yeast
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour (3 ¼ oz.)
- 3 Tablespoons sugar Dough
- 3 cups plus 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour (14 oz.)
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- 4 large eggs
- 1 stick (8 Tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened Egg Wash
- 1 large egg
- 1 Tablespoon water
- Sesame seeds (optional)
Directions
- Line the sides and bottom of a 12” sauté pan (with straight sides and oven-safe handle) with parchment paper. In a glass measuring cup, combine milk and yeast and let stand for 5 minutes.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine ¾ cup all-purpose flour and sugar and stir in yeast mixture. Cover with plastic wrap and let stand for 30 minutes (the mixture should appear fluffy and covered with bubbles).
- With the dough hook, mix in the remaining flour, salt, and eggs. Once fully combined, continue kneading for 4-5 minutes.
- With the machine running, slowly add the softened butter, two tablespoons at a time, and knead for an additional 10 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. (The dough will be very soft and sticky).
- Oil a large bowl. Scrape the dough into the bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and place in a warm area (proofing drawer or near a cooling stove) for 1 ½ hours or until doubled in size.
- Punch the dough down and scrape onto a lightly-floured surface. Fold over a few times and shape into a round disk. Transfer to prepared pan, flattening the dough until it touches the sides of the pan. Cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm area for 45 minutes until dough is slightly domed.
- Heat oven to 400⁰ F. Whisk together remaining egg and water. Bush the egg gently over the bun and sprinkle with sesame seeds, if using.
- Bake for 15 minutes at 400⁰ F. Reduce oven to 350⁰ F. and bake for 20 minutes longer until golden brown and internal temperature reads 200⁰ F. Cover with foil if browning too quickly.
- Cool, slice and enjoy!
* adapted from The Spruce Eats Buttery Brioche Hamburger Buns
Two-Bit Tart 
I made this for a friend looking for a giant bun and it came out perfectly. Thank you for sharing this recipe!
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I’m so glad to hear that! Thank you for the feedback!
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It’s my nephew’s birthday coming up and I was asking him what his favorite cake or pie was, ” honestly he explains that he’d rather have a giant hamburger instead, one he says everyone can cut a piece off, he’s really not expecting it but I can’t wait to try this recipe especially sence I can’t find a large enough bun anywhere else.
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Caeli,
So glad I could help! Just a tip from our experience – it’s good to have two people on hand to flip the burger. Ours was 6 lbs. and we used 4 spatulas to flip it. A pizza peel probably would have helped.
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