Winter Coffee Brioche Buns

This post is sponsored by Ozone Coffee UK

It’s time for Brunch. I’m not talking eggs Benedict, or avocado on toast, but coffee absolutely does make an appearance. This weeks recipe is a fabulous layering of flavours and textures and a coffee lovers dream. It starts with a classic brioche, which is treated almost like pastry, to make a tart base which is filled with a coffee custard and surrounded by a lightly spiced crumb. To finish, the custard is covered with a thin layer of grated chocolate. Brioche, coffee custard, spiced crumb and chocolate, sounds like a brilliant brunch dish if you ask me.

The centrepiece of this dish is a rich coffee custard and to get the perfect flavour I have partnered with Ozone Coffee and am using their brilliant Festive Blend. Ozone, one of my favourite London coffee roasters, have been releasing an annual festive blend for a couple years now and not only is it a brilliant coffee it also makes a great stocking stuffer; the beautiful packaging is even designed to be gifted. If you don’t know Ozone they are originally from New Zealand but have also been in London for over 10 years now. They have 4 locations across the city and at their two East London locations, Shoreditch and, my personal favourite, London Fields they also serve a mean brunch. If you’re in the area you should absolutely go and check out their new winter menu which launched this week.

Flavour-wise the coffee blend is inspired by mince pies and has tasting notes of sweet pastry, dried fruits and brown sugar. The flavours in the dish were designed to pair beautifully with the coffee; the spicing in the crumb is wintery and festive and the crunch reminds you of pastry. If you want to push the mince pie comparison even more you could even add a little alcohol to the custard, some rum or brandy would be perfect.

You can buy the Ozone Festive Blend in all of their locations and online on their website here.

Brioche Tips

Making brioche is not difficult but there are some things to bear in mind. When trying to develop gluten, fat can prevent that. This is why the butter isn’t added straight away. If the butter is added at the start of mixing, the flour becomes coated in fat, and the liquid in the bread cant team up with the flour as easily to develop gluten. Building up the gluten, before adding the butter is added, helps create a properly kneaded dough but adding the butter almost pulls this back a little and more kneading is required to ensure a properly elastic dough. You might think the kneading times are a little overblown but this is what you need to properly develop the dough. The reason for all of this kneading is a finished brioche with the proper texture, an under-kneaded dough will end up as dense brioche, too bready in texture. Well developed brioche, that is also properly proofed, will be incredibly light and fluffy, and will almost melt in the mouth.

Winter Coffee Brioche Tarts
Makes 8

Brioche

180g plain flour
180g strong white bread flour
20g caster sugar
1 tsp fine sea salt
7g fast action dried yeast
85ml whole milk
3 large eggs, plus one for egg wash
150g unsalted butter, room temperature

Coffee Custard

200ml whole milk
50ml double cream
2 tbsp coffee beans, roughly ground.
1 large egg
2 large egg yolks
100g caster sugar
25g cornflour
25g butter, diced
50g milk chocolate, grated, for garnish

Spiced Crumb

50g plain flour
50g caster sugar
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
Pinch of fine sea salt
40g unsalted butter

To make the brioche add the two flours, the sugar, salt and yeast to a large bowl and whisk to combine. Add the milk and eggs and using an electric stand mixer knead for about 10-15 minutes or until the dough is smooth, elastic and no longer sticking to the sides of the bowl. Add the diced butter and continue mixing until fully combined. Once the butter has been incorporated into the dough continue kneading until, once again, the dough is smooth and silky and no longer sticking to the sides of the bowl, this should take another 10-15 minutes. Tip the dough out onto your work surface and form into a ball. Place the dough into a lightly greased bowl and cover with clingfilm. Allow the dough to rest at room temperature for 30 minutes before moving to the fridge and chilling overnight.

For the coffee custard place the milk and cream into a large saucepan along with the ground coffee and bring to a simmer. Once at temperature turn off the heat, cover and set aside for about an hour to infuse the flavour of the coffee. Once the hour is up, bring the milk mixture back to a simmer then pour through a fine mesh sieve, into a measuring jug, to strain out the ground coffee. The coffee can absorb a little of the liquid so top up with extra milk if needed. Whilst the milk is coming to a simmer add the egg, yolks, sugar and cornflour to a large bowl and whisk together. Pour the strained milk mixture onto the egg mixture, whisking as you pour to prevent the eggs from scrambling. Pour the custard mixture back into the saucepan and place over medium heat and cook, whisking constantly, until the mixture bubbles and thickens. Cook for another minute before scraping into a bowl. Add the butter and mix until combined. Cover with clingfilm and refrigerate until needed.

To assemble the brioche remove the dough from the fridge and tip out onto a lightly floured worksurface. Press flat and then divide into 8 equally sized pieces. Form each piece of dough into a neat round and then roll out into an 11cm circle. Lightly grease eight 10cm loose bottomed tart tins and use the discs of brioche to line the tart tin as if using pastry. Place the brioche tarts onto a large baking tray and cover lightly with clingfilm and set aside until the brioche has doubled in size, this should take about 2 hours.

Whilst the brioche is rising make the crumb topping. Add the flour, sugar, spices and salt to a mixing bowl and whisk to combine. Add the butter to a small pan and melt. Pour the melted butter into the flour mixture and use a fork to stir to combine, making a crumble like topping. Refrigerate until the brioche has finished proofing.

When almost ready to bake preheat the oven to 190ºC (170ºC Fan).

To assemble the tarts remove the custard from the fridge and beat until smooth and silky. Using your lightly floured fingers, gently reinforce the depression in the middle of the brioche tarts (as the brioche proofs the depression starts to fill in). Brush the outside of the brioche with egg wash and spoon, or pipe the custard into the middle of the brioche buns. Sprinkle the crumb around the outside of the brioche.

Bake in the preheated oven for about 20-25 minutes or until the brioche is golden brown. When removed from the oven the custard will have puffed up but as it cools will sink lightly. Set aside until the brioche is cooled.

To finish the brioche scatter the grated chocolate over the custard. To make this neat I place a small cookie cutter on the top of brioche, so that the entire custard is covered, and spoon in the chocolate so it forms a neat circle.

The brioche is best served on the day it is made but can be covered and stored for a further day.

Braided Brioche Loaf with Cardamom and Blueberries

This post is sponsored by Wilfa UK

Let’s talk about brioche, that incredibly rich and tender bread that has been enriched with milk, eggs and of course lots and lots of butter. Brioche is often considered a trickier recipe to make, because it is one hell of a sticky dough; you’re adding room temperature butter to a bread dough and combining the two, stickiness will naturally ensue. This is why most recipes suggest using a stand mixer. It’s not that it’s impossible to make by hand its more that it’s significantly easier by machine, more on that in a second.

Once you have made you’re brioche you have a whole host of recipes you can make from simple brioche loaves, buns for burgers or more elaborate bakes like I have for you today. This recipe is a braided loaf filled with a cardamom infused almond frangipane and lots of blueberries. Once braided the loaf is covered with plenty of flaked almonds and crunchy pearl sugar and If you’re getting a Scandinavian vibe, you know your international flavours because this recipe is inspired by the Norwegian Fastelavnsboller. The Norwegian equivalent of the Swedish Semla, both of these recipes are are baked in celebration of the start of lent. Normally, in Norway, this would be a brioche like bun filled with jam and cream, blueberries being a popular choice. Whilst we are a long way from Lent I love both the Swedish and Norwegian versions of these bakes and I couldn’t resist making a loaf with the all those amazing flavours. I also wanted to make something with a decidedly Norwegian influence because today marks the start of an exciting partnership with the Norwegian company Wilfa.

If you haven’t heard of Wilfa, they’re a family owned and operated kitchen appliance company founded in 1948 and based in Oslo, Norway. I first came across the company because of their stellar reputation in the world of coffee. Years ago my brother, a certified coffee obsessive, bought me one of their coffee grinders and I’ve been a fan of the company ever since. When they announced they were launching a bigger range in the UK I was excited to try out more of what they had to offer. When Wilfa approached me to work with them I asked to spend some time testing out the products before I made a decision. I ended up using the products for 6 months before I joined them as their global ambassador, I really wanted to make sure the products were as good as they said they were. As you know it is incredibly important to me to only work with and recommend brands that I actually use and believe in, hence the extended amount of time I put into testing the products. As you are reading this you can obviously tell I loved the products, they’re stellar!

Todays recipe is made with the ProBaker, Wilfa’s stand mixer. This is a bread bakers dream, I have never used a stand mixer that kneads bread dough as efficiently or as well as the ProBaker. Both the bowl and the dough hook turn, which may be unusual but which actually makes the kneading more efficient. The design of the mixer and the style of dough hook also means the dough doesn’t climb up the hook so you don’t need to constantly stop the mixer and scrape it down. It also has a very strong motor (which is guaranteed for 10 years) which means it can also manage both large mixes, up to 5 loaves of bread, and dense mixes; no risk of the motor burning out. With the power of this mixer you might expect it to be loud but the opposite is true, I found it much quieter than other mixers I have used plus much more stable. You can actually sit a glass of water on the top of the mixer whilst it’s on high speed and the water will barely wobble, this is not a mixer that will dance all over the counter.

Use the code THEBOYWHOBAKES at checkout to get 20% off any purchase from Wilfa

Blueberry, Almond and Cardamom Brioche Braid
Serves 10-12

Brioche
500g strong white bread flour
25g caster sugar
1 tsp fine sea salt
7g fast action dried yeast
250ml whole milk
2 large eggs
100g unsalted butter, room temperature, diced

Almond Frangipane
50g unsalted butter, room temperature, diced
50g caster sugar
1 large egg
65g ground almonds
2 cardamom pods
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
1 tbsp plain flour

Blueberry Filling
100g blueberries
75g blueberry jam

To make the brioche place the flour, sugar, salt and yeast into the bowl of your Wilfa ProBaker. Mix together briefly just to distribute. Pour in the milk and eggs and, on medium speed with the dough hook attached, mix together until a shaggy dough is formed. Knead the dough on medium speed for about 10 minutes or until the dough is smooth, elastic and no longer sticking to the bottom or sides of the bowl. With the mixer still running add the butter and knead until it has disappeared into the dough. Continue kneading until the dough is smooth, silky and once again no longer sticking to the sides and bottom of the bowl. To test that the dough has finished kneading, stretch a little of the dough and if you can stretch it, without it tearing, so that its paper thin and you can almost see through it, then it is ready. This is what is commonly called the ‘window pane test’.

Scrape the dough out of the bowl and shape into a ball. Place the dough into a rectangular Tupperware container that has been lightly greased (I like a spray oil for this to evenly coat the whole container) and is at least double the size of the dough, to allow for the rising of the dough. Seal the container and refrigerate overnight. This allows the dough to rise slowly but also to firm up the dough making it easier to handle.

The following day make the frangipane by beating the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat to combine. Bash the cardamom pods in a pestle and mortar, discarding the pod and grinding the seeds into a powder. Add the cardamom, vanilla and flour to the bowl and beat until a smooth almond cream is formed. Scrape into a piping bag and set aside. For the blueberry filling mix together the fresh blueberries and the jam and set aside.

Remove the dough from the fridge and tip out onto a lightly floured worksurface. Use your hands to deflate,
trying to keep the dough in a neat rectangle, and then roll out the dough into a rectangle that is about 30x45cm. Because you stored the dough in a rectangular container you should find this easier than if it was stored in a bowl. Transfer the dough to a large sheet of parchment paper the same size as your large baking tray. Use a knife to score the dough, dividing it into three equal 10cm wide rectangles, along the long length of the dough. Use your knife to cut out the corners of the rectangle (these pieces should be 6x10cm). You should now be left with a large strip of dough with two slightly smaller strips attached along the sides. Using your knife cut the two shorter lengths of dough into horizontal strips, keeping them attached to the central column.

Spread the blueberry filling across the central strip of dough, leaving the two ends clear. Snip the end off the piping bag and pipe the frangipane evenly over the blueberry filling. Fold the two ends of the brioche over the filling and then braid the strips, alternating left and right over the filling to create a simple braided effect. Because the braiding is done at a slight angle the last two stands of dough can be tucked under the loaf to finish the braiding in a neat fashion. Cover the loaf and set it aside until it has risen and is puffy. It is a little hard to judge the proofing on this loaf as the pieces of dough are relatively thin so judging if it has doubled can be tricky. In a kitchen that is about 24/25c it should take about an hour to an hour and a half and longer if its colder. You can use the finger poke test to see if the dough is fully proofed. Oil or flour a finger and give the dough a firm and assertive poke, if the dough springs back quickly and fully it is telling you it needs more time, if it springs back slowly and not all the way its telling you it is ready for the oven. When the brioche is almost done rising preheat the oven to 180ºC (160ºC Fan).

Brush the loaf with a beaten egg and sprinkle liberally with flaked almonds and pearl sugar. Bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes or until the brioche is a rich golden brown. As the loaf is jam packed with filling don’t worry too much of the braids tear a little during baking, thats to be expected. Proofing the dough properly keeps this to a minimum. Remove the baking tray from the oven and allow the brioche to cool fully before cutting into it.

The brioche is best served on the day made but is good for a couple days after baking.

Turkish Sesame Simit Bread

Simit is a quintessentially Turkish recipe, sold everywhere, it is a very popular bread, commonly served at breakfast or as a snack. The shaped bread is coated with a pomegranate molasses slurry before being coated generously in sesame seeds. The shaping of the bread may look daunting but the process is not as complicated than you may think. My favourite way to serve it is alongside another classic dish, Menemen, a Turkish style scrambled egg, its the perfect breakfast dish.

Simit
Makes 6

500g strong white bread flour
7g fast action dried yeast
15g fine sea salt
20g caster sugar
30ml olive oil
280ml whole milk

To Coat
75ml pomegranate molasses
25ml water
1/2 tbsp plain flour
100g sesame seeds

To make the dough place the flour, yeast, salt and sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the dough hook, and mix briefly to combine. Pour in the oil and whole milk and mix to form a shaggy dough. Once combined continue kneading the dough on a low/medium speed until the dough is smooth and elastic. This dough is relatively low hydration so if your stand mixer struggles with stiffer doughs you may want to knead this by hand, it should take about 15 minutes until the dough is ready. Form the dough into a ball and place into a lightly oiled bowl. Cover and set aside for 60-90 minutes or until doubled in size.

Whilst the dough is rising prep the topping, whisk together the molasses, water and flour. Place the sesame seeds into a shallow tray.

Divide the dough into 12 equal sized pieces and form each into a ball. Forming the dough into balls will make the dough tight so cover them with a damp kitchen towel and leave to rest for 15-20 minutes. Working with two balls of dough at a time, roll each piece of dough into long ropes, roughly 45-50cm long. Twist the two ropes of dough together, then form in a circle and press the ends together. You can lightly moisten the ends with water to ensure the ends stick together, but with enough pressure you shouldn’t need it. Carefully dip the simit into the molasses mixture, coating both sides, then transfer to the sesame seeds, coating both sides entirely with the seeds.

Place the simit onto one of two large parchment lined baking trays. Repeat with the remaining dough. Cover the trays lightly with kitchen towels or clingfilm and set aside for 45 minutes or until puffy and risen but not yet doubled in size. Whilst the bread is rising preheat the oven to 210ºC (190ºC Fan). Once risen bake in the preheated oven for about 15-18 minutes or until a deep golden brown. Remove and set aside to cool.

Kept covered the Simit will keep for 2 days but can also be frozen for up to a month.

Sourdough NY Style Bagels

I love making bread for many reasons, its meditative, its relaxing and it’s fun. But of course the main reason I enjoy it, is the eating. There are few things better than a slice of freshly baked homemade bread. Whether its sourdough or yeasted, a country loaf or brioche buns, homemade bread whilst still just a little warm is so gratifying and so utterly delightful. One of my favourite breads to make is the New York style bagel. Boiled and baked they have a great chewy texture and a wonderful flavour. You can find my yeasted recipe here but today we are talking about sourdough bagels.

To work on this recipe I tested multiple batches of bagels and a few different methods of making them. Initially I worked on simply switching out the yeast in my old recipe for sourdough starter. I bulk fermented the dough then knocked it back and formed the dough into bagels before retarding them overnight in the fridge. Even though this worked great with my yeasted bagels for some reason it simply didn’t work with sourdough. The method I settled on was basically the same just switching up when we retard the dough. I made the dough, let it proof for a couple hours then transferred it to the fridge and retarded it overnight. In the morning I divided the dough formed it into bagels and proofed it for about an hour before boiling and baking.

Three big bits of advice before we get to the recipe. First thing you should know when making this recipe is that bagels require a very strong starter, if the starter is sluggish the bagels wont rise properly and can end up flat and too dense. The dough has a low hydration and the starter needs to work harder to proof the dough. The second thing is that the dough needs a lot of strength. To knead the dough you can use your mixer but be aware that this dough is going to put your mixer through the ringer, so much so that I would suggest if you have domestic stand mixer you may want to knead this by hand.

Sourdough New York Style Bagels
Makes 8

175g sourdough starter, recently doubled (or preferably tripled)
250g lukewarm water
1 tbsp barley malt syrup*
10g fine sea salt
500g strong white bread flour

To Boil
2 tbsp barley malt syrup
1 tbsp bicarbonate of soda

*barley malt syrup is a traditional flavouring in NY bagels but it isn’t commonly available from supermarkets. You’ll find it easily in health food stores or of course multiple places online. If you don’t want to buy the syrup you can use honey but the flavour wont be the same.

To make the dough place the starter into a large bowl and pour over the water and malt syrup and whisk together, breaking it up and dissolving the starter slightly. Add the salt and whisk in briefly. Add the flour and mix together to form a shaggy mass. Turn out and knead on the worksurface for around 12-15 minutes or until smooth and elastic. This dough is pretty dense and kneading it is a workout but persevere, the dough needs a lot of gluten development and you’ll be rewarded with a batch of wonderful bagels.

Form the dough into a ball and place into a lightly oiled bowl, turning to coat evenly in the oil. Cover the bowl and set aside for an hour, before transferring to the fridge overnight or up to 24 hours.

Remove the dough from the bowl and cut into 8 equal sized pieces. Form each piece into a ball, making sure the shaping creates a nice taught surface. Cover and set aside for 10 minutes. To form the dough into bagels you can either roll each ball into a rope and squish the ends together, rolling on the join to seal. The method I use most of the time is the poke-a-hole method. Place a ball of dough on the worksurface and press your finger into the middle of the dough, wiggling a little until you’ve pushed all the way through and can feel the worksurface. Spin the bagel around your finger a little to open up the hole then use your fingers to tease it wider. Make the hole a little wider than you think because it will spring back a little as you shape the remaining bagels and when the bagels bake the hole naturally gets smaller.

Place the shaped bagels onto a parchment lined baking tray that has been sprinkled with a thin layer of cornmeal, this helps prevent the bagels from sticking and makes then easier to manoeuvre later on. Cover the bagels and set aside for around an hour. The bagels won’t double in size you looking for them to looked a little puffed up.

A little before your bagels are ready for boiling and baking preheat the oven to 240ºC (220ºC). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and prepare plates/bowls with any toppings you are planning on using. Fill a large saucepan with water and bring to a gentle boil. Add the malt syrup and bicarbonate of soda (it will foam up a lot but after a couple minutes will settle down).

If you want to test the bagels are ready for boiling and baking you can do a float test. Place one of the bagels into the boiling water. If the bagel sinks but floats within 5-10 seconds they are ready to go. If they stay sunk for longer leave the remaining bagels for another half an hour or so to proof a little longer.

Add the bagels, 4 at a time, and boil for 30 seconds before flipping them and boiling for another 30 seconds. Lift from the water with a slotted spoon and transfer to the prepared baking trays. Repeat with the remaining bagels. After a minute or so, carefully lift the bagels and dunk them into your toppings, coating one side, before placing back onto the baking tray.

Bake the bagels for about 15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove and transfer the bagels to a wire rack to cool completely.

Bagels are best within a day or two of baking but they also freeze brilliantly for up to a month.