Sunday, June 01, 2008

Apricot Brioche Breakfast Plait

Melissa from Baking a Sweet Life is hosting this month's Bread Baking Day and selected the theme of Breakfast Breads - this has provided me with another opportunity to delve into the pages of Dean Brettschneider's Global Baker.

The recipe is a simple brioche dough that is flavoured with finely diced apricots - the dough does need to rest overnight in the fridge so you'll have to take that into consideration when planning to make this. The dough is also a lot softer than you would be used to but that is due to the particular method that Dean uses.

Apricot Brioche Breakfast Plait

Apricot Brioche Breakfast Plait
[Makes 1 plait]

250 grams strong plain flour
5 grams salt
25 grams sugar
5 grams/1 teaspoon dried yeast
4 small eggs, lightly beaten
125 grams softened butter, cut into small dice
150 grams dried apricots, diced finely
pearl sugar, for decoration
icing sugar, for dusting
Egg wash
1 egg
2 tablespoons water

Sift the flour, salt, sugar and yeast into a large bowl - make a well in the centre and stir in three-quarters of the egg to form a soft dough.

Dust the bench with a little flour and tip out the dough. Knead the dough for about 2 minutes - it will be very soft - then form into a ball and cover with a bowl and let it rest for a minute. You need to repeat this 2 minute knead/1 minute rest for a total of 10 minutes or so until the gluten has developed.

Next, knead in the remaining egg slowly. the dough will move from being sticky to smooth and shiny over time.

Once this is done, knead the butter in slowly until the dough is elastic and silky.

Finally, sprinkle the apricot pieces onto the bench and knead them into the dough.

Form into a ball and place in an oiled bowl - cover and let it rest in a warm spot until doubled in size.

Lightly flour the bench again and tip the risen dough onto it - very gently fold the dough back onto itself. Reshape into a ball and return it to the lightly oiled bowl to rest, covered, overnight in the fridge.

The next day, tip the dough onto a floured bench and cut into three equal pieces.

Roll each piece into a 30cm/12 inch long rope and then plait these ropes to form your loaf.

Place it onto a baking paper lined tray, cover, and allow to rise until doubled in size.

apricot brioche breakfast plait

Once risen, brush with the eggwash and sprinkle over with pearl sugar.

Bake in a preheated 180°C/350°F oven for about 20-25 minute or until golden and cooked through.

Place the plait on a wire rack to cool - finish off with a dusting of icing sugar.

apricot brioche breakfast plait

Sliced through you can appreciate the golden dough brilliantly studded with apricot jewels.

apricot brioche breakfast plait

Eat it straight from the oven or if you can restrain yourself, toasted the next day with lashings of good butter.

31 comments

  1. holy moley, that looks delicious!

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  2. Wow! That looks so very delectable. I could eat the whole thing right now.

    Great photos.

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  3. What beautiful bread! It's really a work of art :)

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  4. that's the sexiest dusting of icing sugar that I've ever seen!:)
    Can I ask why we need to leave it overnight in the fridge and not bake it at this stage or after another proving?

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  5. AnonymousJune 02, 2008

    Delicious Haalo. I can practically smell it here, on the other side of the world.

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  6. Thanks Pinky!

    Thanks Kitt!

    Thanks Magpie!

    Thanks Heart - it needs time in the fridge so that the butter can harden again before you create the final shape.

    Thanks Dayna!

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  7. AnonymousJune 02, 2008

    all I have to say: OMG
    ana-marija

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  8. Haalo, 2 words... your amazing!

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  9. Your brioche bread looks extremely good! A delicious treat! Wonderful!

    cheers,

    Rosa

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  10. AnonymousJune 04, 2008

    Wow, really beautiful. Serious restraint would be needed in order to have some left for next-day toast.

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  11. btw, got a food haiku contest happening at my place at the moment.

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  12. Thanks Ana!

    Thanks Marie!

    Thanks Kevin - hard not to love a bit of pastry!

    Thanks Rosa!

    Thanks Susan - it's pretty good toasted too!

    I'll pop over for a look Pinky!

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  13. Haalo, what a wonderful plait! I love the golden pieces of apricot, too.

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  14. AnonymousJune 05, 2008

    Saw your bread through the roundup. Apricots and brioche sound so good together.

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  15. Thanks Patricia!

    Thanks Jude!

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  16. beautiful bread, it really does look jewel-like.

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  17. AnonymousJune 06, 2008

    This looks quite delicious. I'll surely make it some time.

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  18. AnonymousJune 06, 2008

    Beautiful bread!

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  19. Wonderful plait and beautiful pics! I'm drooling.

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  20. Thanks Natashya.

    Thanks Tommi.

    Thanks KG!

    Thanks Zorra!.

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  21. This looks just utterly utterly delicious!! I just have to make this one soon; fantastic job!!!

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  22. AnonymousJune 07, 2008

    What a wonderful braid, congratulations!
    I think I must bake it soon...

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  23. Thanks Lien - hope you get to make it soon!

    Thanks Chaos!

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  24. Well I already did! It turned out quite well: http://www.ipernity.com/doc/notitievanlien/2171827.
    This is what I like about this events, you get so many great ideas and recipes and discover great blogs as well!
    Thanks for sharing!!

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  25. Hi Lien - it looks fantastic, I can't believe you made it so quickly!

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  26. I love this bread. All your recipes for bread are delicious. When the dough was sticky I wondered if I had made a terrible mistake but finally the gluten came to the party and what a great party it was! Thanks for another awesome bread to keep my friends under the illusion I make bread.

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  27. Thank you Katrina that is so very lovely of you to say, I am very happy to hear that the recipes have been enjoyed - I think you are selling yourself sort there, it's not an illusion, you are making bread!

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  28. AnonymousJuly 13, 2008

    I love some of these recipes,however I would like to get the measuerments in english.How can I achieve this.
    Thank you.
    Gloria

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  29. OK, again amazing recipe, it was a hit. I had instant rise yeast so I only let it rise for 30 min once and it was still delicious, I might let is rise twice next time. Thanks again for amazing recipe:0))))

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  30. Thanks Cathy - great to hear that it's turned out so well!

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