The fluffiest milk bread brown butter garlic knots filled with brown butter and garlic, and topped off with more brown butter, parmesan & green onions.
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brown butter garlic knots (small batch)
Hello hello! ☺︎ Today I have for you a savory bake since the holidays are coming up. These are the perfect dinner rolls to serve at any holiday event — they’re made with a brown butter milk bread dough so they’re ridiculously soft, fluffy, and flavorful, and they’re filled with brown butter and garlic for even more deliciousness, aaaand they’re topped off with more brown butter, freshly grated parmesan and sliced green onions.
I know dough can seem a little intimidating but I have all my best tips and tricks for successfully making dough below. Plus, you can make the dough the night before so that you only have to worry about shaping & baking the day of. So let’s get into it! ☺︎
why you’ll love these brown butter garlic knots:
- The dough is super soft and fluffy: The tangzhong (milk bread) method makes these super soft and fluffy.
- Brown butter: it’s in the dough, in the filling, brushed on top of the rolls after they’re done baking, and it’s the easiest way to level up your dinner rolls.
- It’s easy to make: well, easier than you might think! Once you’ve got the dough together, the hardest part of this recipe is waiting for the dough to rise.
expert baking tips
Weigh your ingredients:
My recipes are all written in grams because it is the most accurate way to bake. When you use a kitchen scale, you ensure that your baked goods turn out as close to the written recipe as possible. Plus, the cleanup is way easier when using a scale! I will provide standard cup measurements but please note that I have not tested the recipe using cup measurements and therefore can not guarantee your recipe will come out how mine did. Here is my favorite kitchen scale.
Use room temperature ingredients:
It’s important that your ingredients are at room temperature so that they can easily incorporate with each other. Take out your cold ingredients about an hour before you’ll need them.
the dough will take a while to knead
Kneading this dough will take a longer time than you are probably used to. This dough is enriched with eggs and butter which makes it take longer for the proper amount of gluten to develop. Kneading in the mixer can take me anywhere from 10-20 minutes. The dough is ready to be used when it passes the windowpane test and has pulled away from the sides and bottom of the bowl. If you are weighing your ingredients, just trust the process! If you are using cup measurements and the dough just is not coming together after 15 minutes, try adding in 1 tbsp. of flour at a time.
how to tell your dough is done kneading: the windowpane test
The windowpane test is (in my opinion) the best way to tell that your dough has been properly kneaded. Once the dough starts to pull away from the sides and the bottom of the mixing bowl, it is most likely ready. However, just to be sure that it’s good to go I check if it passes the windowpane test. To do that, take some of the dough in your hands and start to slowly stretch it out. If it can get thin enough to where light passes through it before tearing, then it’s good to go! If not, keep kneading until it does!
A note on oven temperature:
Ovens vary and fluctuate in temperature and might not always actually be at the temperature they claim to be at. If you love to bake like I do, I highly recommend getting an oven thermometer. They are super helpful for letting you know when your oven might be lying to you! I use this one.
brown butter garlic knots ingredients –
Milk Bread dough:
- Bread flour: for structure and chewiness. You can sub in all purpose flour, just be sure that you are using a high-quality flour that has a high protein %, such as King Arthur (11.7%) so that your gluten will develop. If you’re using a low protein flour, the gluten will not develop enough and you will have to add a lot more flour to the brioche, which will alter the dough!
- Active dry yeast: for making the dough rise. You can easily substitute in instant yeast if that is what you have on hand (more notes on that later on.)
- Salt: for balancing and bringing out the sweetness of the brioche. Salt also “controls” the yeast to make sure that it does not overly expand.
- Granulated sugar: for sweetening the brioche and for helping the yeast with rising.
- Egg: for binding and adding moisture.
- Brown butter: for tenderizing the dough and giving it a buttery, melt-in-your-mouth feel, and for a toasty flavor. I would not recommend substituting in salted butter since salt is important to controlling yeast growth and the amount of salt in salted butter is a little variable.
- Whole milk: for tenderizing and hydrating the dough. Whole milk will provide the softest dough because the extra fat helps tenderize the dough. You can however swap in 1%, 2% or your favorite non dairy milk alternative! Just note that the dough may be a little less soft and fluffy due to the varying fat content.
brown butter garlic filling:
- Brown butter: for toasty, buttery deliciousness.
- Fresh garlic cloves: for flavor.
- Salt & pepper: for flavor, you could also add in some red pepper flakes for a hint of spice.
topping:
- Brown butter: for toasty, buttery deliciousness and for giving a nice shine to the baked rolls.
- Parmesan wedge: for grating fresh parmesan on top.
- Green onions: for garnish and flavor, you could also use chopped parsley here.
how to make brown butter garlic knots
Below are a few pictures of the steps for making these brown butter garlic knots. You can find the full recipe at the end of this post!
brown butter garlic knots
recipe q&a
what is tangzhong?
Tangzhong is a cooking method that involves cooking a portion of the flour in a recipe with 4-5x the amount of liquid. Cooking the flour pre-gelatinizes the starch in the flour, allowing it to hold on to more liquid. This leads to a bread that can hold way more liquid than it normally would be able to, which makes the bread softer, and fluffier, and keeps it from staling as fast. It’s basically a secret ingredient for better bread, using ingredients you already need for the bread! If you ever see the word “milk bread”, that means that that bread uses tangzhong!
how to store these brown butter garlic knots
Brioche is definitely going to taste the best and most fresh on the day that it is baked, and I highly recommend serving it the same day you bake it. If you won’t be eating them all at once, only top them with freshly grated parmesan right before eating them so that you can keep them stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days. If you top them all with parmesan, you’ll need to store them in the fridge where they will stale faster. I recommend heating them up in the microwave for a few seconds before eating them as well!
can I double this recipe?
Definitely – simply double the ingredients and bake it in two eighth sheet pans or two 8″ cake pans. I even more strongly recommend using a kitchen scale if you are scaling up the recipe, for the best results.
can I use instant yeast instead of active dry yeast?
Definitely – just pop all of the dough ingredients into your mixing bowl to start kneading. I recommend refrigerating the dough overnight to make it easier to work with and more flavorful. However, if you are making the recipe all in one day, and using instant yeast, just be mindful that the dough will double in size faster.
can I make the dough ahead of time?
Yes, and I highly recommend it! Brioche dough is a very enriched dough that can be hard to work with when warm. Knead the dough together, cover it, and leave it to rise in the fridge overnight. When you’re ready, take the dough out of the fridge and proceed with the recipe.
tools and ingredients:
You can find all my favorite tools and ingredients that I use on my Amazon Storefront page, here!
other recipes you might enjoy:
did you make this recipe?
I’d love to see and know your thoughts! please leave a comment and review below, and tag me on instagram @freshbeanbakery. #freshbeanbakery
Brown Butter Garlic Knots
Ingredients
Brown Butter
- 141 g unsalted butter (½ c. + 2 tbsp.)
Tangzhong
- 20 g bread flour (2 tbsp. + 2 tsp.)
- 80 g whole milk (2 ⅔ oz.)
Brioche Dough
- 200 g bread flour (1 ⅔ c.)
- 1 tbsp. granulated sugar
- 1 ¼ tsp. active dry yeast
- 1 tsp. salt
- 42 g brown butter room temperature (3 tbsp.)
- 1 egg room temperature
- 70 g whole milk (2 ⅓ oz.)
Brown Butter Garlic Filling
- 42 g brown butter (3 tbsp.)
- 3 cloves garlic
- salt & pepper to taste
Egg Wash
- 1 egg
- 30 g whole milk (2 tbsp.)
Topping
- 28 g brown butter (2 tbsp.)
- freshly grated parmesan to taste
- 1 stalk green onion finely sliced
Instructions
Brown Butter
- Add the butter to a small saucepan and set it over medium heat. Stir the butter occasionally until it starts to foam and turn amber in color, then remove it from the heat.
- Transfer the butter to a heat-safe container and weigh it — you should have about 113g left. If you have a lot more, you'll want to return it to the heat and continue cooking. If you have a lot less, you've unfortunately burned the butter and will want to start the process again.
- Set the butter aside at room temperature and start working on the dough.
Tangzhong
- In a small saucepan over medium heat, continuously stir together the flour and milk until the mixture and thickens into a thick slurry. Take off the heat and set aside. Alternatively, whisk together the flour and milk in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring after each, until the mixture becomes a thick slurry.
- Add the flour, sugar, yeast, salt, 42g of brown butter, egg, milk, and tangzhong mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment.
- Knead the mixture on medium speed for ~15-20 minutes. The dough is ready when it is no longer sticking to the sides or bottom of the bowl, and passes the windowpane test.*
- Once the dough is done kneading, shape the dough into a ball and place it back into the mixing bowl. Cover the mixing bowl with plastic wrap, and place it in a warm area to rise until doubled in size (~1 hr.)**
Brown Butter Garlic Filling
- Add 42g of brown butter to a small mixing bowl, melting it if it has firmed up.
- Use a fine grater to grate the garlic cloves into the butter, then add in a pinch of salt, a generous amount of black pepper, and some red pepper flakes if you want a little spice in the rolls. Mix well.
- Once the dough has finished rising, lightly punch it down to remove any excess air in it. Transfer the dough to a clean and lightly floured surface, then roll it out to a 12″ x 16″ (30 x 40 cm) rectangle. If the dough keeps springing back a lot while rolling it out, let it rest for 5 minutes before rolling it again.
- Pour the butter filling on to the dough, then gently spread it out into an even layer.
- From the longer side, fold the dough in half. Cut the dough into 6 strips that are ~2" wide and ~8" long.
- Cut each strip in half long-ways, leaving the strip still attached at the top. Twist the two strips together, then make a circle with the twisted dough and bring one end of the strip through the circle and gently pull on it to make a knot.
- Transfer the rolls to a lightly buttered and/or lined eighth sheet pan*** Lightly cover the pan with a towel, and let the rolls rise in a warm environment until doubled in size (~30 minutes).
Egg Wash
- Preheat the oven to 375°F / 190°C.
- Make an egg wash by whisking together an egg with 30g of milk, then brush it over the roll right before baking. (You will not use all of the egg wash, store the rest in the fridge or freezer for other pastries!)
- Bake for 18-22 minutes, until the tops of the knots are golden brown and the internal temperature of the rolls has reached 190°F / 88°C.
Topping
- Melt the remaining brown butter and brush it over the rolls while they are still warm. Top the rolls with freshly grated parmesan and sliced green onions, then serve & enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Please note that the nutrition facts are only an estimate and may vary based on different brands of ingredients and any substitutions made.