Festive Brioche

I travelled to London on a chilly sunny day this week to attend a Brioche Masterclass in association with Brioche Pasquier.  There were blogging friends old and new to natter with as we baked, and of course delicious morsels to keep us going.

After getting slightly lost on the way to the venue, involving a hike up and back down a very big hill, we got to the event and after a welcome cuppa got started on the brioche baking process.  Note to self: Never trust instructions on the website of a venue, always use your own map, and if Wharf is mentioned in the venue address it is unlikely to be uphill. Yes Helen, you were right!

I had a fab time and adapted the recipe from the event to bake some Festive Brioche which went down very well in our household.  These would be fab for afternoon tea, brunch or a breakfast on the go.

Festive Brioche

500g strong bread flour

100g water

3 free range eggs

125g butter

60g caster sugar

40g instant yeast

8g salt

60g caster sugar

1 tsp mixed spice or cinnamon

100g dried cranberries

100g chocolate chips, I used dark chocolate

Glaze:

1 free range egg

2 Tblsp milk

Put the flour into a bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook.  Add the salt and first measure of sugar to one side of the bowl and then add the yeast to the other side of the bowl.  Add the water, eggs and butter than mix on a low speed for 3 minutes then 5 minutes on medium speed.  Add the rest of the sugar and mixed spice before kneading for another 5 - 10 minutes until the dough is smooth, shiny and elastic.

Knead through the chocolate and cranberries.  Divide the dough into portions of 50g and shape each into a ball.  Put on lined baking trays and brush with water to stop the dough from drying out.  Leave to prove until doubled in size, this took about an hour and a half. Brush the brioche with the glaze and sprinkle over crushed sugar if you like.

Preheat your oven to 200C/180C Fan and bake the brioche for 10 - 12 minutes.  Leave the brioche to cool before serving.

I iced these Brioche with orange flavoured icing and topped them with festive sprinkles

I topped these Brioche with crunchy Demerara sugar before baking.

Many thanks to Brioche Pasquier for the goodie bag and for paying my travel expenses to attend the event.