BRIOCHE BREAD BUNS

Brewer’s Yeast is back in stock! I saw it on the supermarket shelf and, like a nomad chancing upon water in the middle of a desert, I immediately bought four packs of it. Who’s going to stop me now? Well, for one, the use by date; fool that I am! I decided not to freeze it, afraid that it might, in revenge, decide not to work its magic in the future.

So here I am with four 25g packs of brewer’s yeast. How to make good use of them? A Pizza? A brioche batch? I would end up with at least 25g left over… I decide I’ll use one pack to attempt a brioche bread bun with some Greek yogurt and orange blossom honey.

I laid eyes on this recipe months ago, jotting it down in my notes at once (complete with two asterisks next to it, a signifier of eminent distinction!). I found the recipe while atop a wave of “baker’s enthusiasm” after baking my first successful batch of brioches (see the recipe ‘Brioche Time!’), then quickly forgot about it.

Here it is, straight from the utter chaos of my notes, light and airy as a birthday wish!

Let’s go to work…

INGREDIENTS:

600 gr. Flour

25 gr. Fresh brewer’s yeast

120 ml. milk

A handful of Sugar grains

2 whole eggs

1 egg yolk

150 gr. Orange blossom honey

250 gr. Greek yogurt

60 gr. Butter

Vanilla ( I used a small bourbon vanilla sachet)

Salt ( a pinch)

METHOD:

First of all, I made a starter like this:

I dissolved the yeast in the milk at room temperature, then mixed it with 50 gr. of flour. After mixing well, I covered it and left to rise for about 30 minutes. I used the time to prepare and weigh the rest of the ingredients.

In a large bowl I started mixing half of the remaining flour (about 275 gr.) with salt, I added the starter, followed by the yogurt. I then begun mixing more vigorously, and added the honey and the eggs, adding these one at a time and making sure each was well incorporated into the mixture before adding the next.

I at this point added all of the remaining flour and, once everything was well mixed together, finished by adding the softened butter.

I kept on kneading for about 10 minutes, then shaped the mixture into a ball, and put it in a large bowl. I left the bowl inside the oven ( with was turned off, but you can also use a cupboard, drawer, or any dry compartment that is spacious enough). I left the mixture to rise for about 2 hours.

Having now doubled in size, I took the mixture out and divided it in 6 smaller parts, which I shaped into loaves. I then wove three of the loaves into a Brioche Twist, and repeated the process to obtain a second twist.

Now you should have 2 Brioche Twists. Place them on an oven tray covered with some baking paper, and leave them to rise for another 60 minutes.

Now turn the oven on at 180 C° (ventilated), and prepare the Twists by brushing them with milk and a generous sprinkle of sugar granules. With the oven nice and hot, go ahead and stick the twists in for 30 minutes.

As you can tell from the pictures, they are like little clouds, soft and airy! Very light. Delicious! I can’t wait to make this again.