We use the no knead method for this dough, so no mixer needed!
This recipe is a fun variation on our no knead brioche, making 6 individual baskets that look very dainty. For this recipe we used organic raw cacao, which gives halve of the dough a light brown color. You can also choose to use Dutch processed cocoa powder, which will give a more intense brown color. Of course you can vary as much as you want, adding pieces of chocolate, orange zest, nuts and spices, but always be aware some ingredients can change the structure of the dough.
Hope you like this version as much as the original recipe and do not forget to look at the no knead brioche video to get a feel for the general method.
Enjoy!
| Ingredients for the Mini Brioches | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| makes 6 Brioche mini loaves | ||||
| 250 | g | French Type 55 flour / all purpose flour / plain flour | ||
| 100 | g | fresh dairy butter, melted | ||
| 70 | g | water at room temperature | ||
| 110 | g | organic eggs (1 medium egg is about 55g) | ||
| 50 | g | runny honey / 2.5 tablespoons (flower /acacia) | ||
| 5.5 | g | (sea) salt | ||
| 3 | g | instant yeast | ||
| 8 | g | raw cacao or cocoa powder (slightly over 1 tbsp) | ||
Plus one additional egg for brushing the tops and pearl sugar to sprinkle on top.
DAY 1
Making the brioche dough
In a bowl, combine eggs, honey, water, salt and melted butter and whisk, somewhat vigorously, for about 30 seconds. We do this with a Danish dough whisk. Add the instant yeast to the flour and sift it into the mixture. Again, with enthusiasm, whisk for 30 seconds until your dough looks smooth and homogeneous. Now divide this mixture in halve, putting one halve in a second bowl. Add the cacao powder and whisk it in until you have a homogeneous brown mixture. Cover both bowls and let the dough rest for one hour at room temperature to kick start the proofing process.
Take both doughs out of the bowl and onto a floured work surface and do one or two stretch and folds (full fold ones, left over right, right over left, bottom over top, top over bottom; see our bread movies to observe this technique if you are not familiar with it). If your dough is very ‘elastic’ and cooperative, do a few, if it starts to resist you can just stop. Please note that the dough is very sticky (and is supposed to be) so resist the urge to add a lot of flour, but instead take a dough scraper to help you or leave the dough in the bowls and do the stretch and folds by pulling up the dough from the sides and folding it to the middle.
Return the dough to the bowls, cover and take it to the fridge where it will stay for 24 hours. I have made several versions using both dough that had rested 24 hours and dough that was allowed to rest for 48 hours and I can say the results are both fine, not that big of a difference. So you can be a flexible when it comes to the amount of time in the fridge.
DAY 2
Shaping the brioches
Take the two bowls with the dough out of the fridge. Take both pieces of dough. Flatten each piece with both hands, then put the cacao version on top of the plain one. Now roll this up and give it a quick few kneads, so the two colors are very roughly combined. Divide the dough into 6 equal pieces and shape them into balls (shaping quickly while the dough is still very cold from the fridge goes best). Then elongate the balls by rolling over them with your hand, making an oval shape for your molds. Place them in your molds. The molds should be well buttered if you use metal ones, if you use bakeable paper molds like we do, you do not need to grease them.
Brush the brioches with some beaten egg (with a splash of water added to make it easier to brush on) right after shaping. Give it a thin layer and later repeat with another thin layer just before baking, same as with making our croissants recipe.
Cover and leave to proof for 2 to 3 hours, depending on the temperature of the dough and of the room. It is important to take the time needed, to proof the dough to perfection. You can also use your oven as a proofing cabinet to create a stable and warm environment for your brioches. In this case, it would be ideal to create an environment with a stable temperature of around 25 to 26ºC / 80ºF. You can check out our tips on dough temperature to help you improve your baking results.
Baking the brioches
Preheat your oven at 190ºC / 375ºF.
Brush the brioche with a second coat of egg wash, sprinkle the pearl sugar on top and put them in the oven on the bottom or middle tier.
Bake at 190ºC / 375ºF for about 8 minutes, then turn down the thermostat to 160ºC / 320ºF and bake for another 6 minutes, so 14 minutes in total.
Take them out of the oven and leave to cool before slicing it. You could slice it while warm, but the crumb needs to set a little bit and slicing it too soon could press it together and make it sort of sticky. If you cannot wait please slice with a very sharp knife that easily cuts the slices without having to put too much pressure on it.
The brioche keeps very well for a few days (in container or bag) and even after that it can be given some oomph by toasting it lightly or heating it quickly in the microwave. You can also reheat them in your oven, preheated at 170ºC / 340ºF until the outside is crisp, 5 to 7 minutes should do the trick.
Chocolate brioches
If you want to try an all chocolate version of this recipe, add 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder to the dough plus chopped dark chocolate (50 to 70 grams is a good amount we think). Adding orange zest to this chocolate version also makes a great flavour combination. Other combinations that work well are coffee, mint and spices like cardamom, cinnamon, clove and ginger. All versions are absolutely delicious with some (homemade) hazelnut spread.
We always love to read about your experience with our recipes, your own versions for our inspiration and your overall enthusiasm for baking in the comment section below!
Tia says
Hello,
I was wondering where you bought those lovely little molds you used for baking the breads? My kids love small things and this would make them feel even the more special! Hope to hear from you soon.
Take care
Tia
Weekend Bakers says
Hello Tia,
Thank you very much. We sell them in our WKB shop:
www.weekendbakery.com/websh…-8-cm.html
They are made in Italy, we are located in Holland. We can understand, depending on where you are, it is maybe not economical to order with us. In that case we hope you will find them closer to home.
Happy brioche baking!
LiLian says
Just baked this after resting the dough for 26 hours in the fridge. It’s delicious, with a lovely soft texture.
I didn’t have pearl sugar so used a little demerara sugar instead, but I think the pearl sugar would have been much better. I also used large muffin cases as I didn’t have those loaf cases. I’m fortunate to have a steam assisted oven, so used medium steam for the first 8 minutes, then no steam for the last 6.
To be honest I hadn’t expected it to work because after mixing up the doughs I realised that the plain flour I used has a lower protein % (7.9% according to the packet but that must be a misprint) than the one you use, but it was ok in the end. The dough was very sticky as you warned. If I do it again I’ll use nonstick paper when flattening out and combining. I also used fresh yeast, and by the way, your conversion charts are great! Thank you so much!
Weekend Bakers says
Hi Lilian,
Thank you very much for your feedback ad sharing your experience with the recipe. Yes the pearl sugar gives this special soft crunch with slight caramelizing of some pearls, which is delicious. 7.9% is indeed very, very low, but it’s the result that counts. Shaping with this dough works best if you can keep it as cool as possible from the fridge, it feels less sticky that way.
Enjoy the baking and sharing!
Marieke
WKB
Lilian says
I checked the flour protein % on their web site (Doves Farm) and it says 10%, so I think that must have been a mistake on the packet.
Pearl sugar isn’t easy to find in the UK but there seem to be two types, Swedish and Belgian. Do you think it makes a difference? Thanks again!
Weekend Bakers says
Hello Lilian,
That sounds more like the actual amount we would expect.
We think the pearl sugar we use in Holland is the same as the one in Belgium. The one we (and our Belgian neighbors) use on the delicious waffles too.
www.weekendbakery.com/posts…e-project/
I understand that Belgian pearl sugar is larger in size and can tolerate higher heat than Swedish pearl sugar. But both will work with the brioche we are sure.
LiLian says
I put the cat among the pigeons by contacting Doves Farm. They send batches for analysis and the % of that batch really was as printed. Now they are concerned that it was so low, and that no one noticed; they are investigating. No wonder I had to do so many stretch and folds!
Weekend Bakers says
Hi Lilian,
So it was correct but certainly also the lowest number / % we have ever seen on a bag of flour. I guess they will be grateful for your input so they can take action!
Lies says
Hoe bouw je dit om je naar een zuurdesemrecept?
Alvast dank voor jullie antwoord!
Weekend Bakers says
We begrijpen dat je dit wilt doen en het is natuurlijk mogelijk om recepten aan te passen, maar er is geen simpele formule die we je kunnen geven die we in een paar regels kunnen uitleggen. Elk recept (indien correct uitgevoerd) is een uitgebalanceerde formule en één ding veranderen betekent ook andere dingen veranderen. Het komt allemaal neer op tijd (en timing), temperatuur en hoeveelheden, dus als je een recept wilt aanpassen, moet je de werking van deze elementen kennen. In feite maak je dus een nieuw recept.
Je kunt de dag van tevoren proberen om zuurdesemstarter toe te voegen in plaats van gist, maar we kunnen je niet de exacte hoeveelheden en tijden geven die je nodig hebt voor dit deeg om een goed resultaat te krijgen op basis van onze eigen ervaring.
Als je het probeert en het resultaat je bevalt, dan horen we dat graag.
Vooral bij recepten met 100% zuurdesem zonder toegevoegde gist raden we als alternatief aan om een goede zuurdesem-versie te vinden die al hoeveelheden en timing heeft uitgewerkt voor een goed resultaat.
Succes ermee!
Jasmine says
Hello,
Could you make this into a big loaf of brioche? Like your brioche loaf recipe?
I am enjoying your recipes a lot!
Jasmine
Weekend Bakers says
Hello Jasmine,
Yes, that is no problem of course, just stick to the times / baking time for the larger loaf.
Hope it will be great and thank you for trying and liking the recipes!
Marieke
WKB
Rebeca says
I baked it last weekend. The texture is really nice and mixing the two doughs gives a fantastic result. My kids loved the aspect thought they found it missed a hint of sugar. Perhaps it depends on the honey used? Thanks for the recipe in any case.
Weekend Bakers says
Thank you for trying our recipe Rebecca. For us grownups there is maybe no need to make it any sweeter. There are several options to make it so, of course. Use sugar, use a bit more honey(we use acacia) or sugar, use more sugar on top, add pieces of sweet chocolate to the mixture and so on. The other option would be to let the children spread some sweet hazelnut paste on for example.
Enjoy your Holiday baking!
Marieke
Robyn Gibson says
Thank you for this recipe. I can’t wait to try it. I really appreciate your clear instructions and the friendly encouragement to experiment with other flavour combinations.
Weekend Bakers says
Thank you Robyn, hope it will be delicious. Let us know about your own version!