brioche with vanilla hazelnut cream swirls

It's not a question of can or can't. There are some things in life you just do 

I have developed a close friendship with Alexandra’s book: Bread, Toast & Crumb over the years.

Whilst I don’t usually push my love of recipe books onto others, I adore this one so much, that I implore everyone who has an interest in learning more about the art of baking bread, and notably those who make me intimidated by it to order their copy immediately.

This book has paved the way for a new approachable method of making breads minimising the time spent and effort exhausted in the kneading process of bread making....and most importantly it will give you the confidence to bake unhindered.

What I also adore about this book is the generous amount of comforting recipes using the bread you have made. Recipes like: Savoury French Toast; Tarragon Chicken Sandwiches; Toasted Tomato Bread Soup or the genius idea of taking the crumbs from stale bread to make Alexandra’s Fish Sticks with Tartar Sauce or her Blueberry Brown Betty.

I took a permission from Alexandra to publish one of my favorite recipes from her book, which is now available on my blog: No Knead Brioche with Hazelnut Vanilla Swirls.

for the hazelnut cream

1 cup (150g) hazelnuts

½ cup (60) confectioners’ sugar

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

8 tablespoons (113g ) unsalted butter, softened

Beans scraped from half vanilla pod or 1 teaspoon of vanilla paste ( good quality)

1 egg

for the dough

6 cups (768 g) all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon kosher salt

⅓ cup (77 g) sugar

2 ½ teaspoons instant yeast

6 tablespoons (85g) unsalted butter, melted

2 cups lukewarm water

½ cup 2 percent or whole milk

2 eggs

for assembly ¼ to ½ cup (32 to 64 g) flour, for dusting Softened unsalted butter, for greasing 1 egg mixed with 1 tablespoon milk, for egg wash

Method :

Make the hazelnut cream: Preheat the oven to 350 f / 175c Spread the hazelnuts on a sheet pan in a single layer.

Toast in the oven for 12 minutes, or until lightly golden or when you start to smell nutty aroma.

Remove the hazelnuts and place on a cleankitchen towel and rub vigorously to remove the skins.

Let the nuts cool completely, placethe nuts in a food processor and let it pulse for 6 minutes until it becomes , creamy & smoothy. Scrape down the sides of the food processor bowl, then add the confectioners’ sugar, salt, butter, and vanilla bean . Runitagain to combine. Add the egg and blend until combined . Placethe hazelnut cream to a glass jar and store it in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

Make the dough: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, sugar, and instant yeast.

In a separate large bowl whisk together the melted butter, water, and milk. Add the eggs ans whisk again until combined.

Pour the wet mixture into the flour mixture and whisk with a rubber spatula or a danish whisk ( I highly recommend it ) until combined—the mixture will be wet and sticky. Cover the bowl with a tea towel or plastic wrap and let the dough rise in a warm spot for 1 ½ to 2 hours, until doubled in size.

Assemble the brioche: When the dough has risen, sprinkle ¼ cup (32 g) of flour onto a clean surface. Using two forks, deflate the dough by releasing it from the sides of the bowl and pulling it toward the center. Rotate the bowl quarter turns as you deflate, turning the mass into a rough ball.

And I really don’t recommend using your hands because the dough is way too wet to work with your palms, even if you dust them with flour, it’s going to really messy.

Using your two forks and working from the center out, divide the dough into even pieces. Use the forks to lift one piece of dough onto a clean surface. Cut the piece in half again, now you got four even pieces.

using as much flour as necessary from the board, shape the piece as best you can into a ball. Repeat with the remaining portion of dough to create four even size balls, each about 6 inches in diameter. Let the dough balls rest for 20 minutes without touching them.

Set a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat it to 375 ° F / 190c . Grease two 8.5 × 4.5-inch or 9 × 5-inch loaf pans generously with the softened butter and set aside. Dust a clean surface genoursly with flour.

Place one dough ball to the prepared surface and dust it the surface of the dough lightly with flour, with a rolling pin coverd lightly with flour, roll it out from the center out into an 8 × 11-inchrectangle but it doesn’t need to be very accurate.

Spread one-quarter of the hazelnut cream on top. Starting from one short end of the oval/ rectangle, roll the dough tightly into a coil. Repeat with one more round. Lay one rolled coil over the other rolled coil to make a plus sign. Twist the ends around each other to create a spiral. Transfer the spiral to a greased loaf pan. Repeat the above process with the remaining two dough balls. Brush the top of the coiled dough with the egg wash. Do not cover the pans.

Let the dough rise in a warm place for 10 to 15 minutes, until it puffs slightly above the ledge.

Transfer the pans to the oven and bake for 45 minutes until the tops are golden brown and firm to the touch. Remove the pans from the oven and turn the loaves out on a cooling rack. Let them cool on their sides for 20 minutes before cutting them.

recipe from bread toast crumb book by Alexandra stafford