Baking Brioche! Part 2...Sticky Buns!

If delicious soft brioche isn't sweet enough for you, you can always use your brioche dough to make the most decadent sticky buns you've ever had. A few weeks ago I posted about the best sticky buns from Devil's Teeth Baking Company...well this Julia Child recipe rivals what they bake. And for a first time brioche maker, I'm pretty sure that with some practice these could be the best pastry ever.

This recipe also comes from Baking With Julia, but thanks to Gourmet or Gourmand?, the recipe is available online. I used half of my brioche dough, which makes one batch of 7 sticky buns. The recipe is tailored to using half of the dough--just make two batches if you want to use the whole thing. Also, the original recipe calls for pecans, but I have changed it up for those who don't like nuts, and have added more cinnamon.


Ingredients:
Half batch of brioche dough
3 ounces unsalted butter at room temp (3/4 stick)
flour (for surface)
1 egg, beaten

3 tablespoons granulated sugar

1-2 tablespoons cinnamon (personal preference)

1 stick butter at room temp

1/2 cup brown sugar

Directions:

Before starting, I would suggest watching this Julia Child/Nancy Silverton video (there are two parts) for technique advice.

 

On a lightly floured surface, roll out your dough to a 11x14 inch rectangle. Try to keep the dough from sticking to the rolling pin or surface with flour. 

 

Dot the surface with the 3 ounces of butter, making sure to cover the entire surface. Fold the dough in to thirds, roll out slightly, then fold in to thirds again. Cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

 

Take the dough out of the fridge for the final roll. On a lightly floured surface, roll your dough out again to an 11x14 inch rectangle. Keep the dough from sticking, and cover any exposed butter with a dash of flour.

Brush the egg wash on the entire surface of the dough. Take your cinnamon and granulated sugar and sprinkle over the egg mixture, careful to leave an 11" strip of dough uncovered (to seal closed). 

 

 

Starting from the other end, roll the dough up (not too tight) so you have a roll that is 11" long. Cover in saran wrap and freeze for 45 minutes.

 

 

While this is chilling, prepare your 10 inch pie or cake pan. Spread one stick of butter on the bottom of the pan, covering evenly. Next add the brown sugar and do the same. I added an extra sprinkle of cinnamon at this point.

Once your roll has finished freezing, take it out and chop off the uneven edges. Divide the dough in to 7 pieces, approx 1.5" thick. Cut the roll and place in the prepared pan, making sure each piece does not touch. Set aside, uncovered, for a final rise of 2 hours. They should expand and just touch.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Once your sticky buns have finished rising, put them in the oven and bake for 25 minutes (or until golden brown). Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Mine really puffed up, but it was easy to fix--after they had cooled a bit I took a serrated knife and cut off the uneven tops. 

 

Take a large serving plate and place over the baking pan. Make sure to use oven mitts for the next step: carefully flip over the dish so that the rolls are upside down--letting the buttery/sugary glaze melt down through the layers of pastry. Take off the baking pan and let sit for an additional 5 minutes. Careful--the glaze is extremely hot!

 

 

Serve these warm, straight away with a glass of cold milk or a cup of hot coffee! These are the perfect treat for a brunch. They still taste good cold, but I would suggest warming them up in the oven for 5-10 minutes before serving later. 

 

Happy Snacking!

Antonia

Baking Brioche! Part 1

delicious individual brioche!

So it's probably to any of my Facebook friends, but I finally got the KitchenAid of my dreams!! After years of dreaming and yearning, the KitchenAid Pro600 Lift Stand Mixer is finally mine! I was very fortunate to get the color I wanted (dark pewter) during the Macy's Memorial Day Sale. A pretty decent discount, plus a rebate for an awesome ice cream maker attachment!

I decided to hit the ground running. The reason I wanted the Pro 600 series was for the 575w motor. It can do heavy duty breads and doughs, and I have been wanting to try my hand at brioche for a looong time (homemade sticky buns, anyone?). I got this book, Baking With Julia, from Will's mother about two years ago and it had the best looking bread recipes. So two days ago I decided to make my first batch. 

 This is definitely a time consuming recipe, and one that you follow to the letter. I had to get over my aversion to active dry yeast (as opposed to my awesome rapid rise). I split my dough in half and used part for midnight snack bread on Sunday, and sticky buns on Monday afternoon, so I am splitting this blog post up in to two parts. The recipe is also available online here.

i'm studying really hard, can't you tell?

It's a great weekend recipe: start it on Saturday and finish on Sunday morning for delicious brunch with brioche! Or get up early Sat and have some great bread for dinner and use the leftovers for sticky buns on Sunday. However you slice it, this brioche is delicious.

The Sponge: 
1/3 cup warm whole milk (100- 110 degrees F) 
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 large egg 
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

The Dough:
 1/3 cup sugar 
1 teaspoon kosher salt 
4 large eggs, lightly beaten, room temp 
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (approx) 
6 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature


Directions:
Add the warmed milk, yeast, egg and 1 cup of the flour to the bowl of a heavy duty mixer. note: I'm pretty sure you could make a batch in a 375w mixer if you halve the recipe.

Mix the ingredients together with a rubber spatula, mixing just until everything is blended.

Use the remaining cup of flour to cover the sponge. Let rest uncovered for 30-40 minutes. The flour coating will start to crack, indicating the process is working properly. note: I think my flour mixture would crack more if I had used a thermometer to double check the heat of the milk. I tested it on the inside of my wrist to check them temp, making sure it isn't too hot (or the yeast will die)!

Add the sugar, salt, eggs, and 1 cup of the flour to the sponge. Using the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed for two minutes, until the ingredients are just incorporated. Sprinkle in 1/2 cup more flour while still mixing. 


 Increase the speed of the mixer to medium, and beat for about 15 minutes. Scrape down the bowl as needed. note: my mixer says do not use the dough hook above level 2, but I would do occasional bursts of speed at 4 to get the dough to pick up. The dough should come together, wrap around the hook, and slap the side of the bowl.

Before you add the butter, it must be the same consistency as the dough. In order to keep the butter cool but smooth and pliable, you can smack it with a rolling pin or use a dough scraper to smear it across a cold surface.

Add the butter to the dough a few tablespoons at a time with the mixer on medium-low (level 2). It will take a while for the butter to fully incorporate. note: the dough may look like it is falling apart at this stage--don't panic, that is normal.

When the butter has been added, raise the mixer speed to medium-high for 1 minute (level 4), then reduce the speed (level 2) and beat the dough for 5 minutes, or until the dough begins to slap the sides of the bowl again. Scrape down the bowl as you work, adding a tablespoon more flour if the dough does not come together.

The dough should feel cool to the touch. Transfer it to a large buttered bowl for the first rise. Cover tightly with saran wrap and let rise in a warm area for 2 - 2 1/2 hours (it should double in bulk.

Deflate the dough by lifting it up by the edges and letting it fall back. Rid of all major air bubbles before covering tightly again and letting chill in the refrigerator for 4-6 hour or overnight. note: At this point you can use the dough for whatever brioche recipe you like. I recommend watching a video of how to work with the dough--this series by Julia Child and Nancy Silverton (which is also hilarious). You can also freeze the dough and store for up to a month.

You can prepare regular brioche dough in a number of different ways. Loaves and individual buns are the most popular, so I tried one of each. This recipe can make 3 loaves of bread. However, I took half of my dough and left it in the fridge overnight to make a batch of sticky buns (see part 2).

So I used about a third of the dough to make a loaf, and the remaining dough to create individual buns. Create the loaves with 6 individual balls, rolling and shaping on a lightly floured surface. Each bun should be made with 3 individual balls. 

 

Place in greased loaf pans or muffin tins, spacing out evenly for a final rise (they will expand). Let rise for 2 hours at room temperature. 

 

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. note: my oven tends to run hot, so I would reduce the temp to at least 365 or 370.

Brush each loaf lightly with egg wash, careful to not let egg hit the bottom of the pan (it will impede the rise). Snip each ball of dough with a pair of small, sharp scissors, making a cross. 

Bake for 25-30 minutes, letting cool at least 10 minutes on a rack before serving. 

this is definitely the hardest part.

We didn't wait long before eating that entire loaf warm. It was really amazing with butter and homemade strawberry preserves. Reward yourself for all the hard work and go to town!

And think about the delicious sticky buns you can make the next day. Stay tune for part 2!

Happy Snacking!

Antonia

Rachel's Chocolate Salted Caramel Cupcakes

My friend Rachel celebrated her 21st birthday this weekend. And while the traditional gift (or baked good) should contain booze, I stumbled upon a version of this recipe and thought it would be perfect. Thanks to this recipe, from 20somethingcupcakes. I adapted it with my own version of caramel, and used my classic hummingbird bakery chocolate cupcake. A chocolate cupcake with salted caramel filling, topped with salted caramel buttercream frosting. Below are all the ingredients for the recipe, with links to my original posts for each step:

Chocolate Salted Caramel Cupcakes

Chocolate Cake Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

5 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 cups fine granulated, or caster, sugar

3 teaspoons baking powder

a pinch of salt

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup whole milk

2 eggs

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Salted Caramel Filling:

1/4 cup water

1 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Salted Caramel Buttercream:

2-3 cups confectioner's (powdered) sugar, sifted

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temp

2 tablespoons whole milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/3 cup caramel (leftover from filling)

Specialty Item:

Cupcake Corer, like this one from Williams Sonoma.

note: if you don't have one, you can always use a spoon to hollow out the cupcake (but be careful!), or just save the caramel to drizzle on top of the finished cupcakes.

Directions:

First create your salted caramel filling and let cool. You can find step-by-step instructions here.

Next, create your hummingbird bakery chocolate cupcake base. You can find the instructions here (now updated with pictures).

While the caramel and the cupcakes cool fully, prepare the salted caramel buttercream. I have adapted the hummingbird recipe for vanilla buttercream.

Beat the 2 cups of the confectioner's sugar and butter in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment on medium-slow speed until the mixture comes together and is well mixed (use your pouring shield, or cut in the butter with a pastry blender by hand).

Combine the milk and vanilla in a separate bowl, then add to the butter mixture a little at a time (mixer on slow speed). One the milk is incorporated, turn the mixer up to high and beat the frosting until light and fluffy, at least 5 minutes.

Pour in 1/3 cup of caramel filling (make sure it is not hot, but also not rock solid) and mix in by hand. If the buttercream is too thin (mine definitely was, but I wanted full caramel flavor), add an additional 1/2 cup to 1 cup of confectioner's sugar. Still want to have a light and whipped texture (do not use my photos for reference!)

 Now to assemble. Use your cupcake corer to create a space for the caramel filling. I am so happy I invested $5 in this handy little tool--you can fill your cupcakes or muffins with anything you like! Plus you can use the cores to dip in caramel and buttercream to taste test!

 Fill the cupcakes with caramel filling.

Finally, decorate with the salted caramel buttercream, and sprinkle a little bit of sea salt on top for decoration (or cocoa powder).

And voila! Delicious, and decadently sweet cupcakes. Hopefully your buttercream will turn out a bit lighter and fluffier than mine, and they will look as fantastic as they taste.

Happy Snacking,

Antonia

Midnight Snack Series: Pizza

So for the final night of the Midnight Snack Series I made homemade pizza. Will and I are huge pizza lovers, and that is the real reason I decided to do this series in the first place!

Last week I was watching "Good Eats" (surprise surprise) and the episode Flat is Beautiful caught my eye. For the first time in a while, I wanted to try my hand at a yeast based dough. I always failed with the proofing of yeast, so with instant I could solve the problem, right? After watching the episode a few more times, I decided to go for it.

After my success with Alton's bread recipe, I figured pizza dough would be a piece of cake. Well, I can honestly say that my first attempt was a disaster! Maybe I was over-confident from my recent success, but my sad dough hooks couldn't live up to the kneading task. Or maybe I didn't time it right--I still don't know if I over or under kneaded the dough, but it just became a sticky pile of goo on my countertop. It was beyond saving--very unfortunate.

So I started over. For round two I used the same recipe, only I kneaded the dough by hand. It picked up a lot more flour because of this method, which made it tougher (also, I probably didn't knead it long enough). According to the Alton's recipe, the dough must do a slow-rise in the fridge for 24 hours to get maximum flavor.

Well, in the long run I don't think it helped much. For one, the dough got dried out along the edges (even though I wrapped it the way I was instructed). Second, the flavor wasn't any better than a regular pizza crust.

But I did the pizza toss, as instructed. And I topped it with a tasty trio of cheeses--mozzarella, cheddar, and parmesan.

The pizza stone was definitely a good investment. It did look pretty, and the crust was much crispier than previously baked pizzas.

Since I do not recommend this recipe to any novice baker, I am only providing the link and not repeating the steps here. I wouldn't say the final night of the Midnight Snack Series was a disaster--the pizza was tasty. And it taught me what not to do. At least till I get my hands on that KitchenAid--this recipe was made for a certain method. If you don't follow Alton's steps to the letter, the project can easily fall apart.

In the future, I think I will not go for the overnight rise in the fridge, but stick to a standard 2 hour rise in a warm place. I'm gonna try a new recipe that a friend recommended as well. Keep an eye out for a post!

I did top off the evening with a pretty fantastic treat. Last week I froze my leftover pound cake, so I cut off a slice, heated up my caramel, and added a huge dollop of whipped cream. Who says leftovers can't be as fabulous as the originals?

Happy Snacking!

Antonia

Midnight Snack Series: Flourless Chocolate Cake with Salted Caramel Sauce

Note: What follows is a rather long post, and a three part recipe for Flourless Chocolate Cake with Salted Caramel Sauce and Whipped Cream. All made from scratch. A first for my kitchen.

I've noticed that I have two approaches to baking. One method starts when I sit down and weigh out what skills, limitations, and tools I have to start a new project. The other approach is purely spontaneous. Occasionally I will have an urge to try baking something--just because it sounds fun. In fact, this method is the reason I started baking in the first place. It produced my baklava, my pumpkin pie, and my eclairs.

So when Will and I were craving something rich and chocolately, I thought to peruse my favorite recipe sites. Martha hit gold--flourless chocolate cake! Recently we went to Bistro Aix in the Marina and had the most decadent flourless cake with a rich chocolate sauce on top. And since I've had a recent foodie crush on Alton Brown (well, his recipes), I decided to seek out his assistance.

Using the search words "Alton Brown Flourless Cake," I stumbled upon this amazing idea from Curly Girl Kitchen. A flourless chocolate cake with salted caramel sauce. Bingo! So I decided to use Martha's recipe, with Curly Girl Kitchen's fabulous salted caramel sauce. Ok, so Alton didn't supply the recipe this time, but at least he pointed me in the right direction with my computer's search parameters!

Oh Alton. You and I share a thirst for knowledge and caramel.

So after baking bread and tackling my proofing phobia, I found a recipe that would help me take on my other two great fears--meringue (or rather, in this case, folding in egg whites!), and making a candy that normally requires a candy thermometer. And I can admit it wasn't the smoothest evening of baking.

I was mostly focused on the caramel. I had never worked with corn syrup before and, more importantly, I do not own a candy thermometer. Sorry Alton (ps: do watch his video, at least to see the steps of caramel production)! The only thing that made me feel I could do this was the fact that the recipe I had picked did not specify a thermometer, and gave me handy time approximations. So I tried it.

And I am not ashamed to admit that I screwed up the first batch royally. Anyone like super-burnt caramel sauce? My main mistake was that I didn't watch the pot religiously. They say a watched pot never boils, but I can tell you that an unmanned pot can boil over!

if your caramel is this dark, it's burnt.

If this is your first time cooking caramel, err on the side of "underdone." It will continue to boil when removed from the heat--even as you add the cream. Once it turns from amber to brown, it's toast. Yet I'm happy to say I learned by trial and error, and the second batch actually turned out quite yummy! Perhaps it's time to tackle that Caramel Chocolate Popcorn...

Here are the steps for the caramel, courtesy of Curly Girl Kitchen:

Ingredients:
1/4 cup water
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Directions:
In a large saucepan combine the sugar, water, and corn syrup. Dissolve the mixture over low heat, about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Once the sugar is dissolved, turn the heat up to medium/high.

Let the mixture boil, without stirring, until the sugar becomes an amber color (5-10 minutes). Do not let the mixture burn!

Remove from the heat and pour in the cream--it will bubble up. Stir vigorously, incorporating the cream. Return to the stove and stir over low heat to dissolve any leftover lumps. Stir in the butter one piece at a time.

Finally stir in the salt and vanilla until all ingredients are incorporated. Remove from the stove and let set. Can be refrigerated for up to one month.

mmm...

Next I tackled the flourless cake. Simple ingredients, but the cake was more difficult than I had anticipated. Looks like I need more practice folding egg whites.. The cake took longer to cook than the directions specified, and there were a few areas of the cake that didn't mix together all the way. Those areas were just meringue. I had to ditch about half the cake, but what survived was actually really tasty!

dense and light at the same time...an unusual paradox

Here is the recipe, courtesy of Martha Stewart.

Ingredients:
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
8 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
6 large eggs, separated
1/2 cup fine granulated sugar

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 275 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease the bottom and sides of a springform pan.

Melt the butter and the chocolate in a large saucepan on or bowl (either on the stovetop or the microwave). All the ingredients will eventually end up in this bowl. Let cool slightly, then whisk in the egg yolks.

Use a stand mixer to beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually add the sugar and continue beating till glossy stiff peaks form.

Whisk 1/4 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture, then gently fold in the remaining egg whites.

Pour batter into the springform pan and smooth the top with a rubber spatula. Bake 45-50 minutes (for me, 55-60), until the cake pulls away from the sides and the center is set. Cool completely on a wire rack before removing the sides of the pan. 

Finally I made some homemade whipped cream.

Here's a recipe adapted from Alton Brown:

Combine 2 tablespoons of sugar, vanilla, and heavy whipping cream. Whisk together until the cream reaches stiff peaks. This can also be done with a stand or hand-held mixer.

Finally all three elements were complete. I really did have to stand back from the project in order to see what I had accomplished. I was prepared for adequate. Yet I specifically waited for Will to come home before I tasted all of the pieces together. It was worth the wait.

Never before has the phrase "death by chocolate" seemed so fitting. Whipped Cream, Salted Caramel, Chocolate Cake--I've eaten decadent desserts before, but this one...dare I say...takes the cake. Will and I split this gorgeous piece and practically passed out afterwards. Now I would say that my patience and hard work had paid off. Successful spontaneity in the kitchen! Although I still need to improve my technique, I am proud of the tasty treat I prepared. Looking forward to making it again.

Happy Snacking!

Antonia