How much fun are these honeycomb-shaped, brioche-style buns? The drizzle of honey glaze highlights the shape of the bee and honeycomb imprints while adding just the right degree of decadent sweetness. They’re perfect for a weekend breakfast, as a side to soup, or even with afternoon tea.
I made the Honeycomb buns to accompany Spring Minestrone Soup served in bee skep soup tureens on this sprightly spring Bee Skep tablescape.
Honeycomb Buns
Ingredients
Scale
Buns
- 360 g or 3 c unbleached all-purpose flour
- 6 g or 1 tsp kosher salt
- 7 g or 2 ¼ tsp instant yeast (I used SAF Gold)
- 113 g or ½ c milk, warm
- 57 g or 4 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
- 43 g or 2 tbsp honey
- 2 large eggs
- 5 ml or 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Glaze
- 14 g or 1 tbsp unsalted butter, cold
- 43 g or 2 tbsp honey
Instructions
Make the buns
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the flour, salt and yeast.
- In a large measuring cup, whisk together the milk, melted butter, honey, eggs, and vanilla. Add to the dry ingredients and beat until combined (2 minutes). Switch to the dough hook and knead to make a smooth, elastic dough (4 – 5 minutes).
- Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl, cover, and let rest (60 minutes).
- Spray the honeycomb cake pan with a good-quality baking spray containing flour. Or thoroughly grease and flour it.
- Gently deflate the dough and divide it into 19 equal pieces (36 g each).
- Pat each piece of dough into the separate cups of the honeycomb pan. (You can also use a mini muffin pan). Allow the buns to rest, covered, until just about doubled in bulk (45 – 60 minutes).
- Towards the end of the resting time, preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Bake the honeycomb buns until they’re a light golden brown (20 –22 minutes). Remove them from the oven. Let cool before turning them out of the pan (5 minutes).
Make the glaze
- Combine the butter and honey, and microwave to melt the butter (20 seconds).
- Brush the glaze over the hot buns and let them rest to allow them to absorb the glaze (5 minutes).
- Serve warm or at room temperature, with additional honey or honeycomb, if desired.
Notes
Adapted from King Arthur Baking Honeycomb Buns.
