Name: Soft-Baked Brioche Hot Dog Buns
Prep time: 40 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 175 min
Ingredients: 350 grams all-purpose flour; 20 grams powdered milk; 6 grams instant yeast ((see notes for active dry yeast)); 5 grams diamond crystal kosher salt; 158 grams whole milk ((90°F)); 1 large egg ((room temperature)); 1 large egg yolk ((save the egg white for the egg wash)); 25 grams honey; 85 grams soft room temperature unsalted butter ((6 tablespoons)); 1 large egg white; 2 teaspoons whole milk

Jump to Recipe Jump to Video

This post may contain affiliate links

Ditch the dry, flavorless store-bought hot dog buns! These hand-rolled brioche hot dog buns are tender, soft baked, and emerge from the oven shiny and golden brown.

The secret to getting perfect texture? It's the addition of an extra egg yolk and a touch of milk powder to the dough!

These small but mighty ingredient adjustments result in a super-soft, buttery hot dog bun that actually holds your hot dog without breaking.

a hot dog in a brioche bun with a squiggle of mustard on it.

Try serving these soft hot dog buns with my homemade sage breakfast sausages, or any of your favorite bratwursts, hot dogs, sausages, lobster or tuna rolls, and more!

About These Hot Dog Buns

After finishing my recipes for a single loaf of brioche sandwich bread and soft brioche burger buns, I wasn't ready to call it quits with this soft, sweet, versatile bread dough. I turned my attention to a different type of bun: long and skinny hot dog buns.

To give these hot dog buns an even softer texture that allows them to accommodate your favorite hot dogs or sausages, I added an extra egg yolk to my base brioche dough, as well as a small amount of dry milk powder.

These two small changes make the hot dog buns extra soft, so that when you pick them up they don't spit the hot dogs back out at you. (You can even use this dough to make an even softer, fluffier version of my jelly-filled donuts or brioche dinner rolls!)

Don't worry, the extra egg white from that added egg yolk doesn't go to waste; instead of an egg wash, these brioche hot dog buns use a wash made of egg white and whole milk which gives them their shiny, soft, light golden brown color.

eight hot dog buns arranged in diagonal rows on a cooling rack.

Shaping hot dog buns is a pretty straightforward process too! These may not turn out quite as uniformly as store bought hot dog buns, particularly if you're new to shaping dough, but that's just part of their lovingly homemade appeal if you ask me.

If you're nervous about how to shape hot dog buns, don't be. My step-by-step hot dog bun bun shaping guide has plenty of visuals to help you approach the process with confidence.

As always, there's a video at the end of the post if you need more visual assistance!

Ingredient Notes

Here's what you'll need to make these soft homemade brioche hot dog buns! See recipe card for ingredient quantities.

all of the ingredients for brioche hot dog buns measured out and labeled.

All Purpose Flour - I use King Arthur Baking's all-purpose flour which has a slightly higher protein content than other all-purpose flours. If you're using generic or store brand of flour, you may see better results with their bread flour.
Milk - Whole milk works best for brioche doughs — the fat content is important for an enriched dough like this. Other milks will change the texture of the dough.
Egg and Egg Yolk - This recipe uses large eggs. If you use a different size egg, you may find the dough stickier or drier than it should be.
Milk Powder - I use King Arthur Baking's Baker's Special Dry Milk which is a nonfat dried milk powder, but you can also use Bob's Red Mill Nonfat Dry Milk Powder or Judee's Nonfat Milk Powder. I usually order it online, but if you're looking for it in the grocery store and it's not in the baking aisle, try checking near the baby formulas!
Honey - To sweeten the dough. The honey also also helps feed the yeast and encourages the hot dog buns to rise.
Instant Yeast - Instant yeast is sometimes also called "rapid rise," "quick rise," or "bread machine" yeast. (If you only have "active dry" yeast, use 7 grams of yeast instead.)
Salt - I use Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt which half as salty as other brands. As long as you measure your salt by weight, it doesn't matter what brand or type of salt you use. If you're measuring by volume, cut the amount of salt in half.
Unsalted Butter - Make sure the butter is softened to room temperature. You should be able to easily press a finger into it. The colder and firmer your butter is, the longer it will take to incorporate into the brioche dough.
Egg White - The leftover egg white from the extra yolk added to the dough will be used to make an egg wash to brush the hot dog buns with before baking.

🍽 Mise en place (aka "the setup")

Mise en place is a French culinary term that literally translates to "putting in place."

It basically means: Measure all your ingredients and make sure you have all the right tools and equipment ready to go when you need them before you start working.

This can make a huge difference in a) how enjoyable you find the baking and cooking process and b) the success of your recipe!

Here's the mise en place you'll need before you begin this recipe:

Soften the butter - The best way to soften butter to room temperature is to leave it out for 1-3 hours (or overnight if it’s very cold in your kitchen). If you're in a time crunch, microwave the cold wrapped stick of butter for 4 seconds per side. The butter should still feel cool to the touch, but soft enough to press a finger into (65°F).
Warm the Milk - Microwave the milk in 10-15 second bursts in the microwave until it is warm to the touch but not hot (90°F).
Bring the egg to room temperature - Submerge the eggs in very hot water for 5-10 minutes.

How to Make Brioche Dough

Brioche dough is enriched with fat from butter, milk, and eggs, as well as sugar (or honey, in this case). It's mixed and kneaded in two stages.

First, the liquid ingredients — milk, eggs, and honey — get mixed and kneaded into to the dry ingredients. Then the softened butter is gradually kneaded into the dough.

Why is brioche mixed this way? Butter is a solid fat and if added too soon it would coat the dry ingredients and prevent them from absorbing the liquids. Adding it second allows the dough to form a strong gluten network first. That way the butter coats the gluten network instead of coating the flour particles.

I've gone much into more detail about brioche dough and how to troubleshoot it in my brioche bread post, so pop over there to read more about it especially if it's your first time making brioche.

Here's the basic brioche process:

Mix the dough - Whisk the dry ingredients together, then whisk the liquid ingredients together and pour them into the dry ingredients. Mix everything together on low speed with a dough hook until it comes together in one mass on the dough hook and there aren't any dry bits of flour left in the bottom.
Knead the dough - Increase the speed and knead on medium until the dough passes the windowpane test.
Add the butter - Add the softened butter 1 tablespoon at a time, letting it fully incorporate between each addition.
Knead the dough - Once the butter has been added, knead the dough again on medium speed until it passes the windowpane test a second time.

After mixing, before kneading.

brioche dough after kneading but before adding butter is a smooth, tight ball on the dough hook in the mixing bowl.

After kneading, before adding butter.

brioche dough after adding all the butter and kneading is a smooth, slightly shiny ball of dough on the dough hook.

After adding butter and kneading. So smooth!

Each time you add a new piece of butter, the butter will smear all over the walls of the bowl and coat the outside of the dough. Your dough may fall apart a bit as it slides around in the bowl. Give it time, it will come back together. Pause to gather it back on the dough hook if you need to.

TIP: Be patient — you're asking the gluten network to incorporate quite a lot of fat each time you add a new chunk of butter! It can take 60 seconds for each cube of butter to incorporate.

At the end of each mixing stage, the dough will clear the sides of the bowl.

If the dough is super sticky, dust in more flour.
If the dough is super dry, you may need to drizzle more milk onto the dry bits ¼ teaspoon at a time.

Once all the butter has been incorporated, knead the dough for another 5-10 minutes, until it passes the windowpane test again.

Shape the dough into a ball by tucking all the ends under so the top is nice and smooth and place it in a lightly greased bowl. Cover the bowl and let it rise for about an hour at room temperature.

During this first rise, the brioche dough will double in size.

a ball of brioche dough in a metal bowl.

a ball of brioche dough in a metal bowl after rising. it now takes up most of the bowl and has doubled in size.

Kitchen temperature makes a big difference in how quickly your brioche rises. If your kitchen is cold, the butter will be more solid and the dough will rise slowly. If your kitchen is warm, the butter will be warm and the dough will rise quickly.

To check if the dough is ready to shape, gently press a lightly floured fingertip into the top of the dough. If the indentation fills in quickly and completely, it needs more time.

If the indentation it fills in slowly and leaves a slightly visible dent, it's ready to shape.

It's more important that the dough looks and feels right than that a certain amount of time has passed. If the dough needs another 30 or even 60 minutes to rise, that's fine.

How to Shape Hot Dog Buns

Gently deflate the dough, then turn it out onto a clean counter or work surface to shape. Do not flour the countertop; flour will prevent the dough from sticking to itself, and we want to use the slight stickiness to help build tension in the dough during shaping.

If the dough is very sticky because its warm in your kitchen and the butter is melting, cover and pop the dough in the fridge for about 10-15 minutes or up to 1 hour before you start shaping. Cooling down the butter in the dough makes brioche easier to handle.

Dividing dough using a kitchen scale. One piece of dough is on the scale weighing 111 grams.

Weigh the entire batch of dough, then divide it into eight equal portions using your kitchen scale.

flattening a piece of dough into a long rectangle-ish shape.

Gently flatten each portion of dough into a long rectangle-ish shape, stacking smaller pieces on top of larger pieces if needed.

rolling the flattened dough into a log, folding in the top two corners.

Roll the dough from the top down, folding down the top corners or folding in the two sides as needed to even out the dough.

rolling the dough into a log, pressing with fingertips to seal.

Each time you roll the dough forward, pinch with your fingertips to seal it. Finish with the seam tucked on the bottom.

gently rolling the dough with both hands to create an even log.

Gently roll the log of dough back and forth on an unfloured surface so the hot dog bun has an even thickness throughout.

a shaped brioche hot dog bun next to a ruler measuring it at 7 inches long.

I usually roll my hot dog buns about 7 inches long. You can taper the ends if you want, but I usually don't.

Brioche dough is very smooth, soft and stretchy. If you need to nudge or squish in one thinner end or roll a thicker end a bit thinner to get an even 7 inch rope of dough, that's absolutely fine.

Arrange the eight hot dog buns on a parchment lined sheet pan. Make sure you leave space between them as they're going to spread out as they rise.

It's important that the seam of the shaped hot dog buns is fully underneath as they rest. As the buns rise and expand, you want the seams to stay sealed together against the counter.

eight hot dog buns on a parchment lined sheet pan. They are arranged vertically in two rows of four.

Brush the tops of the buns with oil or spray them lightly with non-stick spray, then cover with plastic wrap.

eight hot dog buns after proofing on the sheet pan, they have doubled in size.

Let them rest for 1-2 hours at room temperature until they look puffy and have about doubled in size.

When you poke or tap the hot dog buns gently they should jiggle and spring back. If they're not ready after an hour, check on them in 15 minute increments until they're ready.

Remember: Warm dough will rise faster, cold dough will rise slower.

Baking Brioche Hot Dog Buns

Towards the end of the dough rising time, preheat the oven to 350°F.

Beat the leftover egg white with 2 teaspoons milk to make an egg wash. Brush the brioche hot dog buns with a thin layer of the egg wash.

brushing the hot dog buns with an egg wash.

eight brioche hot dog buns on a sheet pan that have been scored with one long slash down each one. a small UFO style lame sits on the corner of the pan.

Right before baking, lightly score the top of each hot dog bun with a long slash lengthwise down the middle to help them expand in the oven.

Scoring the top helps create a vent for steam to escape as the hot dog buns bake. If you don't score the hot dog buns, the steam will look for the weakest point to use as a vent and will blow out the bottom of the buns where the seam is.

Bake the hot dog buns at 350°F for 15-17 minutes or to an internal temperature of 190°F.

Let the hot dog buns cool on the pan for about 5 minutes, then carefully remove them to a rack to finish cooling completely. They're pretty small, they cool quickly!

Why do the hot dog buns need to cool before slicing? If you slice the hot dog buns while they're hot, the steam still trapped inside them will turn the starches into mush.

close up of homemade hot dog buns on a cooling rack.

Storing & Freezing Brioche Hot Dog Buns

These soft-baked hot dog buns will be at their softest on the same day you bake them and will become firmer over time.

You can store your homemade hot dog buns in an airtight bag with as much air pressed out of it as possible for 5-7 days at room temperature.

To defrost frozen brioche hot dog buns, leave them in the bag on the counter for about 30 minutes, then warm them up in a 250°F oven for about 8-10 minutes.

How to Do a Cold Rise with Hot Dog Buns

A long cold rise gives the brioche dough more time to develop its flavor and soft texture. It also helps you better fit the baking process into your schedule.

The nice thing about brioche dough is that it's incredibly resilient. Cold temperatures don't just slow down yeast activity, they also help the butter firm up, which further slows down the rising process.

Before shaping, this brioche dough will be fine in the fridge for up to 48 hours! Make sure it's in a bowl or container that gives it plenty of room to expand. Give it at least an hour to sit at room temperature before you divide and shape it.

a hand holding a hot dog with a squiggle of mustard in a hot dog bun.

Equipment Notes — Use a Stand Mixer!

You need a stand mixer with a dough hook to make brioche. If you have a KitchenAid mixer with the tilt head and the bowl that screws in at the base, the motor might have trouble with this dough. Hold the bowl in place to make sure it doesn’t unscrew during the kneading process.

If you have a bowl-lift model, still keep an eye on it during mixing and kneading. You don't want the mixer to walk off the counter!

Here's a cheat sheet to the speeds I'm referring to on my KitchenAid mixer in this recipe:

Slow = 2-3
Medium = 3-4
High = 5-6

If your mixer’s motor feels like it’s overheating, you can pause for 5 minutes and then resume mixing.

a black bread lame with a retractable razor blade.

Retractable Bread Lame

a round wooden lame with a razor blade sticking out one side.

Wiremonkey UFO Lame

a long wooden lame with a razor blade tucked into one end and a metal finger protector.

Black Walnut Lame

Practical Tips & Recipe Notes

These soft-baked hot dog buns work really well with the "bun length" hot dogs. If you have shorter hot dogs or sausages, you can certainly adjust the length of these hot dog buns to better fit your needs. You could also divide the dough into 6 instead of 8 to make 6 longer buns or 6 wider buns! Just add 2-3 minutes to the bake time.
If you don't reach a perfect windowpane before adding the butter and it's been at least 10 minutes of kneading that's okay — you can go ahead and start adding butter. It won't be a technically perfect brioche, but it will still be delicious!
If the butter chunks are struggling to incorporate, lightly dust in flour as the dough kneads — it will help the butter cling to the dough. Resist adding more flour unless absolutely needed!

a pile of hot dog buns on a cooling rack.

Can you convert this recipe to cups for me?

In order to make this brioche bread successfully, you need to measure your ingredients by weight. No, unfortunately I cannot convert it to cups for you.

A kitchen scale is more accurate than cup measurements and will give you the right ratio of milk, yeast, salt, honey, butter, and flour so that your brioche dough behaves the way you want it to. Depending on how much you pack the flour in and what brand of measuring cups you’re using, you may be off by 30-50 grams of flour per cup which can make a huge difference in how your brioche bread turns out.

I tested and developed this recipe using weight measurements. If I were to convert it to cups, I would be using Google — just like you would. And since there's no set standard for what "1 cup" of flour weighs, different online converters use different amounts, which means converting the recipe to cups would be very inaccurate.

Basically, if you convert this recipe to cup measurements, do so at your own risk. It will have a higher rate of failure. I don’t recommend it!

Troubleshooting Overproofed Brioche Dough

Overproofed brioche will be super airy and have lots of large air bubbles especially on the surface of the dough. When you go to poke the dough, it will deflate like a balloon.

Overproofing during the first rise is easily fixed: Knock all the air out, knead the dough against the counter to shape it back into a ball, and let it rise until it doubles in size again. Now it's ready to shape.

If the dough overproofs after you've shaped the hot dog buns, you can flatten, reshape, and repeat the rising process. Or just go ahead, cross your fingers, and bake them anyway. It's up to you!

TL;DR — Brioche Hot Dog Bun Recipe Summary

Mix wet ingredients into dry ingredients using a dough hook. Knead to windowpane stage.
Add room temperature butter 1 tablespoon at a time until incorporated.
Knead until windowpane stage is reached again.
Cover and rest at room temperature for 1 hour or until doubled in size.
Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces. Shape into hot dog buns.
Spray the hot dog buns with non-stick spray, cover with plastic wrap and rest 1-2 hours or until doubled in size.
Whisk egg and milk together, brush the buns with egg wash, score lengthwise, and bake for 15-17 minutes at 350°F.
Let cool briefly on the pan, then transfer to cooling rack.

📖 Recipe