Brioche is the perfect Sunday recipe. It does take a little extra time and effort to make, so if you’re not working and having a cosy Sunday at home it’s perfect. It’s delicious, obviously. And it’s a bit of a treat, which Sundays are made for.
Brioche dough is a pretty beautiful thing. It’s light as air, fluffy, smooth, melt in your mouth goodness. Even plain I absolutely love it. Buuuuut of course I wanted to spice things up a bit, so here we have this gorgeous, summery brioche recipe.
It’s pretty well known that chocolate and orange are a great combo, Terry’s Chocolate Orange here’s looking at you. It’s the perfect balance of sweet, fresh, zest and bitterness, and the addition of thyme brings a gentle touch of savoury as well as making this recipe extra fresh and savoury. It’s quite easy to make brioche overly sweet, as it’s a very enriched dough on its own, so using herbs, fruits and something like dark chocolate as opposed to overly sweet additions works so well.
Brioche dough can be a little tricksy to make, and I would recommend if you can using a mixer with a dough hook attachment as it needs a lot of kneading, particularly when adding the butter, but if you don’t have one not to worry, you’re going to get a hella arm working making it. But I do promise that if you follow a recipe (preferably this one) carefully, you will have success and make a beautiful brioche! Please let me know how you get on if you do make it!
Thank you so much for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed this post and feel inspired to make something delicious!
If you’re hungry for more @claudiashomekitchen is full of all things yummy!
INGREDIENTS
- 450g strong white bread flour
- 1tsp fine salt
- 50g caster sugar
- 7g fast action dried yeast
- 100ml milk
- 3 eggs, beaten
- 190g butter, softened and cubed
- Zest of 2 oranges
- 100g dark chocolate chunks
- 1tbsp fresh thyme leaves
- 1 beaten egg to glaze
METHOD
- Warm the milk until “baby bath water” temperature, not hot. Sprinkle the yeast on top and add 1tbsp of the sugar then stir it all together and set aside for about 5 minutes until bubbling on top.
- In a large bowl with a dough hook attachment, or just do all this by hand, combine the flour, salt and the rest of the sugar and stir until combined, then create a well in the middle. Pour the yeasty milk mixture into the well and beginning mixing until it’s absorbed, then gradually add the beaten eggs until a dough begins to form. Mix for a couple minutes.
- About 2 cubes at a time add the soft butter (make sure it’s very soft), making sure they are properly incorporated with each addition, until all the butter has been added, this should take you about 8-10 minutes. Knead for a further 10 minutes until you have a smooth, light, soft dough. Add the dough into a lightly oiled bowl and leave to rise in a draft less area for 1.5 – 2 hours.
- Knock the dough back, sprinkle a little flour on top and pour out onto a clean surface. Roll into a rectangle, then add the orange zest, chocolate chunks and thyme all over the dough. Fold the edges in on each other and roll into a ball again, then knead for about 3-5 minutes until the flavours are evenly distributed throughout the dough.
- Line a baking tin/tray with baking parchment. Create 8 equal sized balls from the dough (I like to weigh the dough and divide by 8 to make sure they’re even), and place in the lined tin, ensuring you leave a little space between them to rise again. Then cover and leave for another 45 minutes to rise. Preheat your oven to 180C while this is happening.
- Brush the buns with a beaten egg and bake for 35-40 minutes, until well risen and golden. Allow to cool before tearing apart and enjoying!
Claudia's Home Kitchen 