If You Give a Kid a Recipe... {Recipe: Brioche Hamburger Buns}

It is a challenge to raise kids in a fast food loving culture if you don't care for it yourself. My mother did not fall for the fast food boom of the '70's, even though she was a working woman. Her solution was to teach me to cook so I could prepare dinner if she was not able to. I can probably count on one hand the number of times I had fast food growing up.

After my kids were born I thought that I would never take them to fast food places, but that proved to be too much of a challenge for me. We live in a small town that does not offer a lot of options for kids' parties, so the popular spot to throw a kids party is McDonalds. I was not going to tell my kids that they could not attend their friends parties or tell they could go, but just don't eat anything. In addition, we like to travel a lot and sometimes fast food is the only option.

It pleases me that as my kids get older, they don't want fast food. There are a few exceptions, Chipotle is my son's favorite and my daughter will never turn down McDonalds french fries. In-N-Out is our whole families favorite.

As much as we enjoy In-N-Out, my husband and my daughter, Lili, came up with a burger that has surpasses a Double-Double any day!

Lili had seen some brioche hamburger buns at a French market we visit when we are in L.A. and decided she wanted to try and make them herself. I found a recipe for her that I thought she could make on her own. Having found something to occupy myself, I left her to it. If I hung out in the kitchen with her I would have gotten involved and I wanted to see how she could do on her own

This was the result:

This is the recipe she used:

Brioche Hamburger Buns

This recipe is from The New York Times. 

INGREDIENTS

• 3 tablespoons warm milk
• 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 2 ½ tablespoons sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 3 cups bread flour
• ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ teaspoons salt
• 2 ½ tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

• PREPARation 

1      In a glass measuring cup, combine 1 cup warm water, the milk, yeast and sugar. Let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, beat 1 egg.

2      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. Scrape dough onto clean, unfloured counter and knead, scooping dough up, slapping it on counter and turning it, until smooth and elastic, 8 to 10 minutes.

3      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.

4      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.

5      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.

With hamburger buns like these, the burger put on it better be good! Usually our grilled burgers turn out a bit dry and not that tasty, so my husband researched how to make a better burger. He found these tips on the Bon Appetit website: <http://www.bonappetit.com/test-kitchen/common-mistakes/article/burger-common-cooking-mistakes>. The burgers turned out great!

Enjoy!