Does anyone else go to their parents’ house and head straight for the fridge? I know I do! No matter how much I bake or cook, nothing compares to my mom’s home cooking. One thing I know that I will find in my mom’s freezer are brioche buns. My mom’s brioche is fluffy, full of the sweetness of yeast and sugar and the richness of chocolate. She makes her brioche in batches and freezes the extras in freezer bags. When I visit, I pop it into the microwave and in 30 seconds I have a nice fluffy brioche with a gooey chocolatey center...yum! Now that I live hours away, I’ve had my mom write out (or voice record) some of her recipes for me. Her instructions liberally use estimates and “feels” rather than exact weight, volume, or time “it will feel like a bread dough, just a pinch of salt, not too much, not too little, I add 3-8 eggs depending on how big the batch…” she notes.

I have taken my mom’s recipe and over the past few months experimented with it to create the detailed one below. My mom’s recipe does not require an overnight rise (like most brioche recipes), and while the buns look like any regular brioche bun, there is a surprise on the inside for anyone who bites into it or breaks it apart.

**it’s what’s on the inside…**

Chocolate is perfect for the inside, it melts and its gooeyness is complementary to the egg dough. If you want to use nuts instead, may we suggest combining them with melted butter that has been browned and combined with sugar for sweetness then cooled to hardness for easy handling.

Algerian Brioche

This dough requires a good amount of kneading (up to 15 minutes) to develop the gluten. A standing mixer would be a helpful tool to use.

by Sakina | April 2019

Prep time:40 minutes

Cook time: 15 minutes

Inactive time: 3 hours, 30 minutes

Total time: 4 hours, 25 minutes

Servings: 16 brioche buns

Ingredients:

3 eggs at room temperature *

½ cup sugar (3.5 ounces)

4 ⅔ cups flour (23 ounces)

¼ teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon instant or rapid rise yeast

1 cup warm milk (105-110 F) *

½ cup butter at room temperature *

1 egg yolk beaten, for the egg wash

Optional: ½ cup or more chocolate chips; sugar for sprinkling on the buns

Instructions:

Grease a baking sheet and set aside. Place the oven rack in the middle or lower middle level.

In a medium bowl, combine the eggs, sugar, yeast and milk. Whisk to combine.

Combine the flour and salt in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the egg and milk mixture and beat on low speed until the flour is absorbed and the dough come together. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Add the butter to the mixture and continue mixing at low speed until all the butter is absorbed.

Replace the paddle attachment with the hook attachment and knead the dough at medium-low speed until the dough is smooth and elastic. About 10-15 minutes. All this kneading promotes the development of gluten and the strengthening of the dough. The dough should be smooth and not sticky. If the dough is still sticky after 10 minutes of kneading, add flour 1 tablespoon at a time and knead betweeen each addition.

Place the dough back inside the bowl. Cover the bowl and let the dough proof for 1-1.5 hours or until it doubles in size

Push the dough down and roll into a ball.

Separate the dough in small balls, adding chocolate chips into the middle of the ball and making sure to pinch the ends together and roll the dough as to not have chocolate seep out.

Place the rolls 6 inches apart on the greased baking sheet and cover again for a second rise.

Let the balls rise for about 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 425 F.

Brush the top of each brioche roll with the egg wash and sprinkle with sugar for a crunchy texture.

Bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes.

Remove the brioche from the baking sheet while still hot and place on a cooling rack.

Serve slightly warm or at room temperature.

Notes:

This recipe can be kneaded by hand. If you are kneading the dough by hand, you should do it on a clean floured surface.

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