No-Knead Brioche Loaves and Rolls

• Whisk the flour, yeast, and salt together in large bowl.
• Whisk 6 eggs, water, and sugar together in medium bowl until the sugar has dissolved.
• Whisk in the warm butter until smooth.
• Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until a uniform mass forms and no dry flour remains, about 1 minute.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it stand for 10minutes.

2.Holding an edge of the dough with your fingertips—it will be sticky—, fold the dough over itself by gently lifting and folding the edge of dough toward middle. Turn the bowl 45 degrees; fold again. Turn the bowl and fold the dough 6 more times (total of 8 folds). Work quickly. It shouldn’t take more than 30 seconds to make all 8 folds. Cover the bowl with plastic and let the dough rest for 30 minutes. Repeat the folding and riesting every 30 minutes, 3 more times. After the fourth set of folds, cover the bowl tightly with plastic and refrigerate for at least 16 hours or up to 48 hours.

3.To shape loaves, transfer the dough to a well-floured counter and divide the dough into 4 pieces. Working with 1 piece of dough at a time, pat the dough into a 4-inch disk. Working around the circumference of dough, fold the edges of dough toward the center until a ball forms. Flip the dough over and, without applying pressure, move your hands in small circular motions to form the dough into a smooth, taut round. (If the dough sticks to your hands, lightly dust top of dough with flour.) Repeat with the remaining dough. Cover the dough rounds loosely with plastic and let rest for 5 minutes.

4.Grease two 8- by 4--inch loaf pans. After 5 minutes, flip each dough ball so the seam side is facing up, pat each into a 4-inch disk, and repeat the rounding step. Place 2 rounds, seam side down, side by side into the prepared pans and press gently into corners. Cover loaves loosely with plastic and let rise at room temperature until almost doubled in size (dough should rise to about 1/2 inch below top edge of pan), 1- to 2 hours. Could take longer in a chilly kitchen. Thirty minutes before baking, adjust an oven rack to the middle position, place a baking stone r rimmed baking sheet on the rack, and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

5.Remove the plastic and brush the loaves gently with the remaining 1 egg beaten with salt. Set the loaf pans on the stone or baking sheet and bake until golden brown and the internal temperature registers 190 degrees, 35 to 45 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through baking. Transfer the pans to a wire rack and let cool for 5 minutes. Remove the loaves from pans, return to wire rack, and let cool completely before slicing and serving, about 2 hours.

6.If making buns, butter or coat with cooking spray two standard 12-cup muffin tins. Divide the chilled dough into 24 equal portions, each weighing about 1 3/4 ounces. Shape each portion into a taut ball and place seam side down into a muffin cup. Coat surfaces of buns lightly with cooking pray and lay a sheet of plastic loosely over the pans. Let rise at room temperature until doubled in size, 1- to 2-hours. Buns will dome up above the rims of the cups.

7.Thirty minutes before baking, adjust two oven racks to divide the oven into thirds, place a rimmed baking sheet on each rack, and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Remove the plastic and brush the buns with the egg and salt. Bake the buns until their tops are nicely browned and the internal temperature registers 190 degrees, about 25 minutes. Rotate sheets and pans halfway through baking. Cool the buns in their pans 5 minutes, then remove to cooling racks to cool completely.