I am trying to work out how to make the perfect brioche bun for burgers.
I followed the Pink Whisk recipe, but that had a few problems.
The main one was that the buns spread wide during the rise, rather than up. This is a problem I have had before with bread bun recipes.
How can I ensure that my buns rise up, and not sideways?
If you had the same problem with different recipes, it's probably caused by technique. The key to round buns is surface tension. If the skin is taut, the expanding gas will cause the bun to expand like a balloon instead of "flowing" sideways.
When shaping your buns, make sure you create tension by either repeatedly folding the outer edge inwards or by using a rotating movement with a cupped hand - the base of your thumb and your pinky press lightly onto the dough ball while swirling it around. Do not use much flour (if any at all), because the dough should stick ever so slightly to the work surface. If you turn the now round bun over, you should ideally see a "spiral" on the bottom and the skin of the bun is pretty tight:
A video incuding slow-motion can be found here, for example.
If you find this too complicated, use your standard "fold under" method and repeat until the skin is taut.
Try placing the buns closer together on a smaller baking tray, this should stop them spreading and force them to rise.
Extremely late to the party but since this answer shows up quite high on Google thought I'd chime in. You could always try using ring molds or a pan designed for burger buns or large muffin crowns. Any bun that has a crease between the heel and the crown would have been baked in one of these pans or in a mold. The slight indentation (usually about an inch) gives the bottom of the bun something to cling to as it rises and encourages the dough upwards rather than outwards (spreading). Just be careful with the amount of dough used in each mold as too much dough will create a weird mushroom shape.
