So it’s my first recipe of the new year. And well, I’m branching out a little. There is zero peanut butter for one (SHOCK! HORROR!) and it’s a savoury bake. I do savoury baking a fair bit, but usually it doesn’t make the blog. Simply because it tends to be eaten fresh or donated. I was given a few recipe books for Christmas and wanted to try a few things out. This was inspired by one of them, but not actually from that book. I had a full two weeks off over Christmas and the last Sunday before I returned to work my parents suggested a family meal at my sister’s in York. I taught my mother how to make my Maple and Mustard Pulled Pork last summer while we were on holiday in Scotland and she decided to do that. I thought this was the perfect opportunity to try my hand at Brioche buns. I’ve made plenty of bread, but it’s usually fairly heavy and involved cheese or some form of wholemeal.
These didn’t provide as much of a challenge as I had expected and came out nearly perfect. Something which I’m pleased about for a first attempt. They were light, glazed appropriately and were the perfect match for the pork. The only snag was that they were already a day old at this point, but they refreshed nicely in the oven.
This was also the first run out for my “cups” which I got for Christmas. So if I’m feeling particularly lazy, I may not convert to grams if I’ve used an American recipe (like this time, sorry guys!). I also apologise for the lack of good pictures. Things are a bit up in the air at the moment, so I just winged it a bit. I’ll make them again and re-shoot soon.
I’m going to be posting much more savoury things this year, as well as few more “lifestyle” type posts, so sorry in advance if you’re only here for the food. You may get a few more inane rambles as well.
- 1 cup warm water
- 3 tablespoons warm milk
- 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 2½ tablespoons sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 3 cups bread flour
- ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
- 1½ teaspoons salt
- 2½ tablespoons unsalted butter, softened.
- In a glass cup, combine the warm water, milk, sugar and yeast. Leave this to stand for about 5 minutes until it’s foaming. Beat one of the eggs separately.
- Using a stand mixer, or your hands if you don’t have one, mix the butter, flours and salt. Do this until it’s a breadcrumb like texture. If using the mixer this could take several minutes.
- Beat in the yeast mixture (making sure you get all the sugar if it hasn’t dissolved) and the egg. Do this on a medium speed for several minutes until a soft dough has formed.
- Shape the dough in to a ball, grease the inside of the bowl and return the dough. Cover with a damp cloth and place in a warm place. Leave to rise somewhere warm until it’s doubled in size. This could be anywhere between 1-3 hours. Do this based on size, rather than time.
- Line a baking tray with a baking sheet. Divide the in to 8 equal portions. Use a scale to make sure they are equal.
- To shape them , roll into a ball and flatten gently against a lightly floured surface. Make a cage shape with your hand against the surface with the dough inside. Move around in a circular motion until the buns have shaped well.
- Arrange on the tray, relatively well spaced. Allow to rise for another 1-2 hours in a warm place.
- While they are rising preheat the oven to 205°C(185°C Fan).
- Make the egg wash by beating the egg and adding a splash of water. Using a pastry brush, brush a small amount over the top of each bun.
- Add another tray underneath the oven shelf with a small amount of water in it. This will create steam to help the buns keep moist. Place the baking tray on the shelf and bake for 15-20 minutes.
