Who doesn't love a slice of freshly baked brioche bread with sweet blueberries jam on top. Any kind of red or black berries jam, or apricot jam goes well too. This time I decided to bake the brioche with a little surprise hidden in the soft crumb: swirls of blueberries jam and hydrated cranberries. A very sweet surprise!
Recipe
How much time do you need?
Preparation time: 1 hr 20 min
Cooking time: 40 min
Proofing time: 2 hrs
Total time: 4 hrs
Material:
Loaf pan
Spatula
Standing mixer (or your hands)
2 Lts bowl
Small bowls
Small whisker
Baking paper
Cutlery
Kitchen towels
Cling wrap (film)
Ingredients
For the bread starter:
25 grs bread flour
60 ml whole milk
60 ml water
The starter will make the crumb softer and fluffier
For the bread dough:
320 grs bread flour
55 grs white sugar
3 grs teaspoon salt
1 egg (at room temperature)
125 ml warm whole milk (15 secs in microwave if it was refrigerated)
60 grs unsalted butter, at room temperature (20 secs in microwave if it was refrigerated)
1 packet active dry yeast (8 grs)
1/2 cup of soaked cranberries, or fruit of your choice (raisins, currants)
1/2 cup of blueberries jam, or jam of your choice
Method:
Make the starter:
In a small saucepan, whisk together flour, milk and water. Bring to a simmer, whisking continuously until mix has thickened, about 6 to 8 minutes. Pour into a small heatproof bowl, cover with plastic wrap and set aside to cool slightly. It should reach at least ~30°C before using it.
Make the bread dough:
In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, yeast and salt, and mix well. Add the egg, milk (~30°C) and cooled starter mix (~30°C or less, otherwise you risk killing the yeast). Knead the mixture until it comes together, and continue for another few minutes. Add butter and knead for another 10 to 15 minutes until the dough becomes uniformly smooth. It's always better to knead this dough with a standing mixer as the step of integrating the butter can be tricky. You can use your hands if you don't have a standing mixer. You might think 'it's not coming together, it's not coming together!!' but be patient, it will do.
When you have obtained a smooth and not too sticky dough, form a ball, and place it into a buttered bowl then cover with plastic wrap.
Allow the doughs to rise, covered, until they have at least doubled in size, about 50 minutes to 1 hour at room temperature ~25 degrees C. If you are living a cold place or you’re in the middle of winter, you can create a 'homemade proofing area':
Use the oven with the door cracked open, the light will create an environment of around 25 to 30 degrees C.
Use an old-fashioned incandescent bulb. They heat up the surrounding area really quick, also reaching temperature of around 25 to 32 degrees C.
Butter well a 30 cm loaf pan or line with baking paper.
Soak the cranberries in 1/4 cup of warm water and put in the microwave for 30 seconds and let rest for 30 minutes. If you don't have a microwave, soak the cranberries for longer, about 1 hour.
Once the dough has doubled, remove the dough from the bowl and punch it down to release the air. Portion the ball of dough into 4 equal parts, forming each parts into smooth balls and then covering all of the dough with plastic wrap to keep it moist.
Take a dough ball and roll it out into a small rectangle, taking care not to allow any air to become trapped inside. Next take half of the blueberries jam and spread it over the dough sheet using a spatula. Do not go till the edges and we want the jam to be kept inside the bread. Wrap the rectangle while encapsuling the jam and roll into a log. Place this very first log in the loaf pan.
Take another ball and repeat but this time, use the cranberries. See pictures below.
Repeat once more with the rest of the dough balls, the third one with jam again and the fourth one using the remaining cranberries.
Tip: Get creative and use any type of jam or sweet spread you have available at home. Apricot jam, dulce de leche (milk caramel), chocolate hazelnut spread, caramel, or even chocolate chips!
When all dough is rolled, cover the loaf pan in plastic wrap (very lighlty, you don't want that the film sticks to your dough), set a sheet pan on top and set aside to rise for another 50 minutes. Halfway through the proof, preheat oven to 170 degrees C.
One hour of proofing:
When dough has risen again, remove the sheet pan and plastic wrap (carefully), brush the top of the loaf with whole milk and bake for 35 to 40 minutes. When loaf is done, remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then turn out loaf and finish the cooling process on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes before slicing. Enjoy!
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