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Recipe

Brie Burgers on Homemade Buns

home made 7oz bbq burger w onion and brie on homemade bun. cost — $2.75/burger

$2.75 a burger. I worked it out and then said it out loud, and I was right to — that is a seven-ounce patty, a wedge of brie and a bun you made yourself, against twelve dollars for something out of a paper box.

The buns are the reason it costs that. Flour, water, yeast, milk, a little butter and sugar: about twenty cents each, and they come out pale and soft and floury on top exactly the way they look in the picture. A bun with a hard crust fights the burger.

The brie goes on as a wedge with the rind on, not a slice. It slumps over the patty and holds together, and the rind is what stops it sliding off onto the plate.

Makes
8 burgers
Cost
About $2.75 each
Buns
3 hours, mostly waiting
Patties
7 oz each

Three hours for the buns, almost all of it rising. The burgers themselves take fifteen minutes.

Brie burgers on homemade buns at $2.75 eachThe brie burger pair posted again
Shot the night it was made. Open any picture for the full photograph.

What you need

The buns — makes 8

  • 4 cups bread flour
  • 1 cup warm whole milk
  • 1/4 cup warm water
  • 2 1/4 tsp instant yeast
  • 3 tbsp sugar
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 4 tbsp soft butter
  • 1 egg
  • Extra flour for dusting the tops

The burgers

  • 3 1/2 lb ground beef, 80/20 — 8 patties at 7 oz
  • Coarse salt and black pepper
  • 1 wheel of brie, cut into 8 wedges, rind on
  • 2 large white onions, in thick rings
  • Barbecue sauce
  • Sliced pickles

How it goes

  1. 1 — Mix the dough and let it do the work

    Yeast and sugar in the warm milk and water for five minutes, then flour, salt, egg and soft butter. Knead eight minutes to a smooth soft dough. Covered, until doubled — about an hour and a half.

  2. 2 — Eight balls, rolled tight

    Divided into eight, each one cupped under your palm against the counter and rolled until the surface goes tight and smooth. A slack ball spreads flat and bakes into a disc.

  3. 3 — Second rise, then flour on top

    An hour on a lined tray, well spaced, covered. Dusted generously with flour just before baking — that is where the pale floury top comes from, and it is the look of a homemade bun.

  4. 4 — 375°F for 16 minutes, no steam, no egg wash

    Egg wash gives you shine and a crust and this bun wants neither. Out when they are barely golden and sound hollow. Cooled completely before cutting.

  5. 5 — Seven ounces, loose, dimpled in the middle

    Weigh them. Formed gently, a thumbprint pressed into the centre of each so they do not dome up into a ball in the pan.

  6. 6 — Onions on the grill or in the pan first

    Thick rings, cooked until they are soft and marked but still holding their shape as rings. They have to survive being lifted onto a burger.

  7. 7 — Sear the patties hard, brie on at the flip

    Four minutes on the first side, flip, wedge of brie laid on straight away, lid or a bowl over the pan for two minutes. It softens and slumps without turning to liquid.

    pro tip — Brie melts far faster than cheddar. Two minutes under cover is plenty; four and it runs off the patty entirely.

  8. 8 — Build it: sauce, pickles, onion, patty

    Barbecue sauce on the bottom bun, pickles, then the onion ring, then the patty with its brie. Wet things underneath so the bun above stays dry.

$2.75 a burger. LFG. Better than a twelve dollar Big Mac and it is not close. LFG.

More of what comes out of this kitchen on the food wall.

Every picture on this page is one of mine. I paint for a living the rest of the time — that is the gallery, and the originals are for sale.