Five Minute Brioche Rolls

Well, it’s August now, which must mean Summer is going to be winding down soon (please Jesus!). Though I bet there are a fair share of you who are still getting some visitors turning up on their door. It doesn’t really happen too terribly often to us here in swampy, mosquito infested Virginia. But I bet those of you with more desirable locales are enjoying the company of some visiting friends and family. And if folks don’t appear this summer, the holidays aren’t too far around the corner. This recipe for Five Minute Brioche rolls is a godsend when you have folks staying with you for a few days. They will think you truly are some sort of domestic goddess as you appear from the kitchen daily, with not even one hair out-of-place, bearing a different type of freshly baked, delicious roll. Say… Pain au Chocolat rolls for breakfast, a cinnamon sugar bread loaf for afternoon tea and then savoury little pesto rolls for dinner. Now I suppose you could muss up the hair a bit and artfully dust yourself with flour if you wanted to go down the more dramatic path. But it would be all for show, because this recipe is sooo easy and you will be able to make all three of these breads, or rolls with whatever flavour combinations you fancy, by simply spending five minutes to mix the dough up at the onset of your friends stay.

That is the beauty of this bread! You just mix up the dough, which really does take only about 5 minutes. Let it rise for a couple of hours and then pop it into the fridge for at least two hours. It will keep in the fridge for up to five days. When you are ready to bake a batch of something delicious, you simply scoop out 1/3 of the dough, roll it out in a rectangle, add whatever type of add-ins you prefer (That’s right! This recipe is totally customizable.), roll it up like you would a cinnamon roll and then slice it into 12 portions which you bake in a muffin tin, or bread loaf pan if you wish. Ta Da! It is that easy. I made Pesto Swirl Muffins one day,

followed by Pain au Chocolate Muffins the next,

and then did a Cinnamon Sugar Swirl loaf on the third.

I first saw this brilliant recipe on The Café Sucré Farina‘s blog. (Fantastic site – you must take a peek!) Apparently there is actually a book (and website) called Artisan Bread in Five Minutes which has recipes for all different types of bread which can be made using this technique. Fascinating huh? I used to be very intimidated by yeast breads. But luckily I got over that, which is a good thing because yeast breads are just so delicious. And this Five Minute Technique shows you how easy making drool-worthy homemade bread can be. I was tempted to mix up another batch at the start of this week, but in the not too distant future I will be heading out on a beach vacation and eating batch upon batch of rich, buttery Brioche is not a good idea when one needs to be sporting a bikini. For those of you who know me well, I’m sure you’ve read that sentence over several times now and are concerned with how far the mercury has plummeted in Hell. Believe me, I agree it is a bit odd. I will have to let you know if I actually spontaneously combust at the moment my pale, pasty foot hits the sand. Wish me luck and effective sun screen coverage while eating a few of these Brioche rolls.

Five Minute Brioche Rolls

recipe adapted from: The Café Sucré Farina

yield: 12 Muffins per each 1/3 of dough

Ingredients:

For the Brioche:

• 1 ½ cups lukewarm water
• 1 tablespoon granulated yeast
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 8 large eggs, lightly beaten
• ½ cup honey
• 1 ½ cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
• 7 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour

Ingredients for the Pesto Swirled Rolls:

• ⅓ of the brioche dough
• ¼ cup pesto, purchased or homemade
• 1 large egg, mixed with 1 tablespoon of water for egg wash

Ingredients for the Pain Au Chocolat Rolls:

• 1/3 of the brioche dough
• 1 cup roughly chopped chocolate
• 1 large egg, mixed with 1 tablespoon of water for egg wash

Ingredients for the Cinnamon Swirl Loaf:

• 1/3 of the brioche dough
• 1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 3 tablespoons melted butter

Directions:

Mix the yeast, salt, eggs, honey and melted butter with the water in a 5-quart bowl, or lidded (not airtight) food container. I used this dough rising bucket that I purchased from King Arthur Flour and it works perfectly! Mix in the flour, using a spoon until all of the flour is incorporated.Cover (not airtight), and allow to sit at room temperature for about two hours. Refrigerate for a least two hours before proceeding with recipe.

Instructions for the Pesto Rolls:
Generously butter a 12 cup muffin pan.Scoop up approximately ⅓ of dough and place on a well-floured work surface. Turn dough several times till coated with flour on all sides. Roll dough into a 10×18 inch rectangle. Spread evenly with pesto to within 1/2-inch of edges.Beginning on one long side, roll the dough into a log and pinch edge to seal. Turn dough so that seam is faced down.Cut log into 12 portions, approximately 1-½ inches each. Place in prepared muffin cups with a swirled sides up and down. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and allow to rise for 40-60 minutes or until doubled in size. When almost doubled, preheat oven to 350˚F.Brush rolls with egg wash and place in oven. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Check rolls after 15 minutes. If they’re getting too brown, cover with foil and bake for 5 more minutes to ensure that center will not be doughy.Remove from oven and allow to cool for 1-2 minutes, then carefully transfer to cooling rack. When completely cool. transfer to an airtight container. May be frozen. Thaw and re-warm in a 325˚F oven for 5-8 minutes right before serving.Instructions for the Pain Au Chocolat Rolls:Follow the above instructions, but replace pesto with 1 cup of roughly chopped chocolate. I used dark chocolate and was quite pleased, but use whatever type you prefer.Instructions for the Cinnamon Swirl Brioche Loaf:

Generously butter a 5X9″ bread pan.

Whisk cinnamon into granulated sugar. Set aside.

Melt butter.

Scoop up approximately ⅓ of dough and place on a well-floured work surface. Turn dough several times till coated with flour on all sides. Roll dough into a 5X8″ rectangle.

Brush the surface of the dough lightly with melted butter. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar over the buttered dough, leaving a 1/4″ border.

Beginning with the 5″ side of the dough, roll up the entire length of dough and pinch seam closed. Gently rock the roll back and forth to even it out.

Place roll of dough in greased bread pan, seam side down.

Beginning on one long side, roll the dough into a log and pinch edge to seal. Turn dough so that seam is faced down.

Cover with a clean kitchen towel and allow to rise for 40-60 minutes or until doubled in size. When almost doubled, preheat oven to 350˚F.

Gently brush top of loaf with melted butter and sprinkle with remaining cinnamon sugar mix. Bake for 30 -35 minutes or until golden brown. If it is getting too brown, cover with foil.

Remove from oven and allow to cool for 1-2 minutes, then carefully transfer to cooling rack.

Enjoy!