As you may have noticed before, I love to eat and cook French-style dishes. Rich ‘ragouts’, croissants and delicate pies.. This time: Brioche! Brioche is a French dough enriched with butter and eggs. It takes some time and effort to make these beauties. Nevertheless, I find it quite relaxing to take care of the dough for a few days..
This recipe will give enough dough for two of these oven dishes, as above. However you can also make these brioche bagels with the other half of the dough.
Best Easter Brioche Buns
Ingredients
- 500 gram Flour
- 220 gram Butter room temperature
- 4 Eggs room temperature
- 8 gram Active Dry Yeast
- 10 gram Salt
- 20 gram Sugar
Decoration
- 1 Egg
- 200 gram Icing Sugar
- Bigarreaux candied cherries
Instructions
First Step
- Mix 150 grams of flour with the active dry yeast. Then slowly pour in some water and knead the dough. Keep repeating these steps until you have a smooth and soft dough.
- Spread some olive oil in a bowl to prevent the dough from sticking. Transfer the dough to the bowl and cover it with a damp tea towel. Let it rise double in size (on room temperature).
Preparations
- Crack the eggs in a bowl and mix the eggs with a fork. Next to that, you can dissolve the salt and sugar in 50 ml lukewarm water. And mix the butter until soft.
Second Step
- Time to enrich the dough! Add 350grams of flour and the salt/sugar water to the risen dough. Slowly pour in the egg mixture, while kneading. Keep kneading the dough until it is elastic and mixed. This probably takes about 10 minutes. The dough should easily get off your hands.
- Once all the four eggs are added to the dough, you can add the butter. I love to add the butter in parts so it incorporates easier in the dough. Moreover, a technique I love to use, is to fold the dough over the butter.
- Add the dough to a bowl, sprinkle some flour on top and cover with a damp tea towel. Let the dough rise for 6 hours on room temperature. If the room is warmer than 21 degrees Celsius 5 hours will do, if colder than 19 degrees Celsius 7 hours are needed.
Third Step
- Take the dough and knead it shortly. You just want to get all the bubbles out, and to fold the dough a few times.
- Transfer the dough back to the bowl and let it rise again for 6 hours. Or, if easier, keep the dough in refrigerator overnight (12 hours) whereafter you let it rise on room temperature for 4,5 hours.
Shaping
- The dough is ready, so time to shape the dough. You can make the buns, bagels or shape the dough in the traditional brioche mold. Don't forget to butter the mold or oven dishes!
- Once the dough is shaped, you can cover it for a last time with a damp tea towel. Let it rise for 30 minutes.
- In the meantime, preheat your oven on 200 degrees Celsius or 390 degrees Fahrenheit.
Baking
- Separate the egg yolk from the egg white. Use a brush to spread the egg yolk on top of the buns.
- Bake the buns for about 16-20 minutes in the preheated oven.
Decoration
- Mix the icing sugar with some egg white to create a nice and thick glaze. Don't add all the egg white at once, since this could dilute the glaze too much.
- Once the buns are cooled down, you can add the glaze and candied cherries!