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.

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.

Roasted Garlic, Cheddar and Rosemary Sourdough Loaf

Is there anything better than the aroma of fresh bread filling the house? Maybe the aroma of this particular loaf, a sourdough loaded with roasted garlic, chunks of mature cheddar and lots of rosemary. As the bread bakes the cheese slowly caramelises, filling your kitchen with the aroma of freshly made toasted cheese sandwiches, pure comfort and better than any scented candle you could imagine. 

I have made versions of this loaf multiple times now but always devour it so quickly that I’ve never quite gotten around to writing it up so I made another loaf, just for quality control of course, and this time I actually measured out everything I put into the loaf. To make the bread you need a sourdough starter and if you’ve already made my basic sourdough loaf your in for a treat. This recipe is a simple adaption of that recipe and follows the same basic patten, the only real difference is the way the additional ingredients are incorporated into the dough. 

Roasted Garlic, Cheddar and Rosemary Sourdough Loaf

Mix-Ins

1 large head of garlic
Olive oil
Flaked sea salt
125g mature cheddar, in small dice
3 springs of rosemary, leaved finely chopped

Sourdough Recipe

Levain
25g mature starter (my starter is 100% hydration)
50g 50/50 flour blend (my blend of white and wholemeal bread flours used for the starter)
50ml water at 27C

Dough
100g levain
450g white bread flour
50g wholemeal flour
375ml water at 27C
10g salt

9am - Make the levain

The levain needs to double in size to be ready to bake with. A healthy starter fed at a ratio of 1:2:2 should happily double if not triple in size within 4-5 hours if stored around 25-27ºC.

12pm - Autolyse

An hour before the levain is finished rising, we mix together the flour and water (keeping back 25ml for a later use). To do this we don’t need to knead the dough, or develop the gluten, we just want to hydrate the flour. Squeeze the mixture through your fingers, until everything is moistened, scrape any dry bits from the side of the bowl and then cover the bowl and pop it the oven alongside the levain until it finishes doubling. 

The purpose of the autolyse is to fully hydrate the flour, to make a dough that is extensible which is to say nice and stretchy. 

1pm - Mix-In Prep

When the levain and autolysed dough are almost finished prep your mix-in ingredients. Peel away most of the outer papery layers from the bulb of garlic and slice off the top. This cut should just be deep enough that the top of each clove of garlic is exposed. Place the garlic onto a piece of foil and drizzle over a little olive oil and sprinkle with a little flaked sea salt. Wrap the garlic in the foil and place onto a baking tray. With the oven preheated to 200ºC (160ºC Fan) roast the garlic for about 45-60 minutes or until the garlic is soft and a rich golden colour. Set aside to cool. In a bowl mix together the rosemary and cheddar. 

2pm - Bulk Fermentation

Bulk fermentation is the first rise of the bread and it is where the strength, where the gluten, is mainly going to be developed (the autolyse starts this process off). Unlike a traditional bread dough that is kneaded, sourdough, at least this method, is relatively hands off.

Before we mix everything together, test that the autolyse is ready by doing a float test. The recipe for the levain makes a total of 125g and we only need 100g for the dough itself, the rest is for this stage. Take a teaspoon of the the levain and pop it into a bowl of water. If it floats the mixture is full of gas and is ready to bake with, if it doesn’t we need to leave it a little longer. 

Scrape 100g of the levain on top of the autolysed dough and use your fingers to dimple it into the dough. We want to fully distribute the levain so once the dimpling stops working I start folding the dough on itself until it feels more uniform. Leave the dough for 15 minutes before adding the salt. 

Sprinkle the salt over the dough and use that last 25ml water to pour on top of the dough to help the salt dissolve. Repeat the dimpling and folding process until the salt is distributed. At this stage the dough will separate a little due to the added water but just keep folding the dough until it becomes uniform. As with the levain I like to keep the dough in the oven for the whole bulk to control the temperature.

The bulk should take a total of 4-5 hours depending on the temperature the dough rests at, and how warm the water you used was, and during that period you only have one job and that is to strengthen the dough. We do this via stretch and folds and something called coil folds.

For the first fold you will preform a classic stretch and fold, lifting and gently stretching the dough and folding it back on itself, doing this four times around the edges of the dough. Rest the dough for 30 minutes before preforming the second set of stretch and folds, resting again for 30 minutes.  After this rest we will no longer preform stretch and folds, its time for to add the mix-ins. 

Very lightly oil your worksurface and scrape the dough out onto the worksurface. Gently stretch the dough out into a large thin rectangle, working slowly so you don’t rip the dough. Squeeze the garlic into a small bowl and use a fork to mash into a smooth paste. Using your fingers randomly dot the garlic over the dough and spread across the dough. Don’t worry if not every part of dough has garlic on it, just make it’s nicely distributed. Sprinkle over the cheddar mixture and gently press so it sticks to the dough. Fold the dough in thirds, as if folding a letter, encasing the mix-ins inside the dough. Roll the dough up and then place back into the bowl to continue bulk fermentation. Do another two sets of stretch and folds spaced 30 mins apart and then leave the dough to finish bulk fermentation. 

When evaluating if the dough has finished its bulk fermentation we are looking for a dough that has risen about 20-50% and shows clear signs of fermentation. This would mean a dough that jiggles when you rock the bowl gently and a dough that has bubbles on the top of the dough. Once thats achieved we are ready for shaping. 

Lightly flour the work surface and use a plastic dough scraper to tease the dough gently from the bowl. At this stage the underside of the dough is floured but the top is still sticky. Using lightly floured hands we are going to do a brief preshape. Go underneath the dough and fold it over itself multiple times as you go around the bowl, forming it into a rough circle. Turn the dough over and cover with a clean kitchen towel and leave to relax for 20 minutes. 

Whilst the dough is relaxing prepare you proving basket or bowl. If you using a traditional cane basket lightly dust with rice flour. Rice flour is your best friend and is wont be absorbed into the dough and helps the dough release easily from the basket. If you don’t have a basket you can use a mixing bowl. Line the bowl with a clean kitchen towel and dust that with flour.

To do the proper shaping lightly dust the top of the dough with flour and turn the dough over, using a metal bench scraper to help release it from the worksurface, turning it onto a non floured part of the work surface.

Think of the dough as a compass. Gently lift and stretch the east point of dough up and over towards the west. Gently lift and stretch the west point of dough up and over towards the east. Gently lift and stretch the north point of dough up and down towards the south. Finally gently lift and stretch the south point of the dough up and over towards the north. Turn the dough over so the seams are on the worksurface.

This rough shape now needs to be tightened up a little. Using both hands, which should remain in contact with the work surface the whole time, cup the dough and drag it towards yourself for a drag of about 15-20cm. The dough should drag along the work surface and you should feel the ball tighten up. Rotate the dough 90 degrees and repeat the dragging, doing this a few times until the dough is taught and round. Be careful at this stage as doing this too many times will tear the dough.

Carefully lift the dough and turn it into a proving basket, seams side up.

7.30pm - Proving

Pop the dough into the fridge and leave overnight

8.30am - Preheat The Oven

We are going to bake the bread in a cast iron pot, something like a large le creuset (I use a pot called a Challenger Bread Pan which I love for bread). We want it blisteringly hot so preheat it, as high as it will go, at least 250C, for a full hour.

9.30am - Baking

Take the dough from the fridge and carefully turn it out onto a crumpled piece of parchment. You can either leave the dough as it is or dust with little flour.

Using a bread lame or very sharp knife score a line across the top of the loaf (this helps to expand and open up fully as it bakes). 

Remove the cast iron pot from the oven and remove the lid. Cut away the remaining parchment and carefully transfer the loaf to the pan and place the lid back on. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes. Baking the loaf in the pan helps to trap the moisture from the dough, creating steam so the crust is slow to form and the bread can rise to its full potential. Reduce the temperature to 220C and remove the lid and bake for a further 20 minutes or until the crust is nice and dark. As this loaf is loaded with cheese you want to keep an eye on it so that it doesn’t burn. Once browned remove the pot from the oven and carefully remove the loaf and set onto a wire rack to cool completely. 

Allow the bread to cool for at least an hour before cutting into it or you risk ending up with a gummy bread. 

Sourdough Focaccia

I have something shameful to admit. I abandoned my sourdough starter in the back of the fridge for months, forgotten and neglected. After languishing in the fridge for so long I wondered if it could have possibly survived or if could be revived. I am a firm believer that once your starter is properly established it becomes pretty hardy and almost indestructible. Pulling it from the fridge there was a thick dark layer of hooch and underneath was a very thick floury paste, it did not look healthy and it didn’t smell healthy either. I poured off the hooch and discarded all but a tablespoon of the starter that remained. From their I fed the starter as you would normally with a 50/50 mix of flour and water, leaving a day between feeds, and after three days of feeding the starter was back with a bang, it was tripling with each feed. I have made a bunch of focaccia since then and it feels safe to say that this proves even the most neglected starter can be brought back from the brink of death.

The reason I made focaccia instead of traditional country style loaf was a little laziness and a little wanting something different. Most sourdough I make is made with a no knead method, utilising stretch and folds instead of kneading but with focaccia its even easier as there isn’t really any shaping, it really is the easiest sourdough bread. 

A word advice on the pan you use for this bread, make sure it is either very good quality non stick or make sure you line it with parchment, there is nothing worse than your hard work becoming lodged in the pan.

Sourdough Focaccia
500g strong white bread flour
425ml water (25-27ºC)
150g sourdough starter (100% hydration and its peak)
10g salt
Olive oil, lots of it

Toppings
Flaked sea salt
2-3 sprigs fresh rosemary, roughly chopped

To make the focaccia dough pour the water, reserving 25ml for later, into a large bowl and scrape in the starter, mixing briefly to dissolve it into the water. Pour in the flour and use your hands to form a shaggy dough. At this stage you are not looking to knead the dough, simply ensuring all the flour is hydrated. To do this I start by stirring with my hand and when it starts to form a more uniform mass I squeeze the dough between my fingers, doing so until it feels like there is no dry spots. Cover the bowl and set aside for about 30 minutes. At this stage, and until the dough goes into the fridge, I like to keep the dough somewhere warm which helps with the fermentation of the dough.

Sprinkle the salt on top of the dough and pour over the last 25ml water. Dimple the dough, squeeze it through your fingers, fold it over on itself, generally working the dough until the water and salt have been combined. During this process the dough can look separated but just keep working it until it comes back into a uniform mass. Cover and rest again for 30 minutes. 

After 30 minutes we now do our first set of stretch and folds, which is our alternative to kneading and builds strength into the dough. Using a wet hand go under the dough pull a portion and then stretch it up and over the dough, repeating this four times around the bowl. Cover and rest for 30 minutes, repeating this process 3 more times. At this stage I then leave the dough for about 1-2 hours until the dough has risen around 40-50% and the dough is showing signs of fermentation. The dough should have a jiggle and have lots of bubbles on the surface of the dough. Grease a non-stick 9x13 pan (or a traditional 9x13 pan lined with parchment paper) with 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil. Carefully transfer the dough to the tin and top with a little oil to prevent it drying out. Cover the pan and refrigerate for 18-24 hours. 

To bake the focaccia the dough needs brining back to room temperature so remove the tin from the fridge and let it rest for 1-3 hours or until the dough has a jiggle to it. When almost ready preheat the oven to 240ºC (220ºC Fan)

Drizzle the focaccia generously with extra virgin olive oil and then using oiled fingers, dimple the dough all over. Sprinkle generously with flaked sea salt and chopped rosemary, if using. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes then reduce the temperature to 210ºC (190ºC Fan) and bake for a further 15 minutes or until the focaccia is golden brown. 

Remove from the oven and carefully transfer the bread from the tin to a wire rack to cool. 

Focaccia is best on the day made but is also great for a few days after baking. As with most breads focaccia also freezes brilliantly