Brioche. One of the great words of the French Language. It lends itself to all manner of deliciousness (including, these days, burger buns), but in my humble opinion, nowhere is it greater than in a cinnamon roll.
Beautiful brioche dough
It’s buttery, its eggy, a little sweet, tender but still holds together like yeasted bread should… it makes gorgeous little buns, with or without raisins, with or without goobs of custard (very French). It also makes superlative fruit bread – just add one to two cups of mixed fruit like sultanas, Persian figs, chopped apricots and dates to the finished dough and knead in gently.
Ready for rolls
But it takes other fillings too, sweet or savoury, or in the case of one variation in this blog, sweet and savoury. Because Bacon.
But first up, white chocolate rhubarb.
pretty as a picture, just waiting to roll up
I first had white chocolate rhubarb brioches in my old building – the Vero Center on Shortland Street in New Zealand. I actually think it was the first time I was aware of brioche rolls – in the past I’d made them using potato bread and other variations of sweet breads. They made the brioches in muffin tins (a good idea!) and they were my go-to breakfast. I was pretty disappointed when for some reason they stopped making them.
ready for baking (after their half hour final proof time)
Rhubarb and white chocolate is a perfect pairing – the chocolate slightly caramelizes, the rhubarb softens, its tartness offsetting the white chocolate.
warm and glazey
Not gonna lie. It’s heaven. Blueberry white chocolate is another one of my favourite combos. But you can really go crazy here. Chocolate and nuts, raisins and crème patisserie (I haven’t actually made that one yet but it definitely needs to happen – just waiting for an opening in the baking/inspiration schedule)… just plain cinnamon/brown sugar/butter (like the recipe below), orange zest, pecan caramel… Oh dear, I need to have a little lie down.
So will you after you get a load of this idea. I only made half the dough into white chocolate rhubarb rolls. The other half, I upped the ante on traditional cinnamon/butter/brown sugar rolls and added bourbon to the butter mix, and then rashers of bacon. By the way, that butter and sugar spread caramelises into a gooey cinnamon caramel when they are baked. Heaven.
bacon, bacon, bacon
Conservatively I only used one rasher per roll. Definitely two rashers would be possible and desirable.
don’t they look snug all wrapped up in there?
Hungry yet? These are amazing. Look at the gooey caramel filling oozing out. I’ve seen them with frosting on, but frankly, I don’t think it’s necessary.
And of course, you can omit the bacon and the bourbon if you like for traditional cinnamon rolls!
Brioche
makes 12 brioche rolls – this recipe is a little like choose your own adventure – just make the dough below and have fun!
ingredients
2 tsp dried yeast
1/4 cup warm water
2 tbsp sugar
4 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp salt
2 whole eggs
2 egg yolks
1 cup milk, lukewarm
150g butter, softened
1-2 cups mixed dried fruit (for a fruit loaf)
1/4 cup sugar syrup, to glaze
mixing
Stir the yeast into the warm water, add sugar. Let the mixture froth up – about 5 minutes.
Combine the flour and salt in a large bowl of an electric mixer. Add the yeast mixture, eggs, milk and butter and mix, using the dough hook attachment until the dough is smooth and supple. If making a fruit loaf, knead in the fruit.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and a clean tea towel and let sit in a warm place until the dough has doubled in size (about an hour).
Knock the dough back and scoop out of the bowl. The dough can now be shaped any way you like, including into little rolls or simply put in a 30X12cm loaf tin to bake as brioche bread!
For brioche rolls, roll the dough out to a rectangle about 25×45 cm. Add the fillings, then beginning at one long edge, carefully roll the dough into a long log. Gently cut into 12 pieces, and transfer to a baking pan. This can be a baking sheet, a 30X40cm swiss roll tin, or you can slip the brioches into well greased muffin pans. Cover the brioches with a clean tea towel and leave in a warm place for a final proof (rise) of about half an hour.
Bake the brioches at 180 degrees Celsius for about 25 minutes, or until nicely golden (a loaf will take about 45 minutes – check for doneness by tapping the bottom of the loaf – it should sound hollow). Brush with sugar syrup while still hot.
White Chocolate Rhubarb Brioche Rolls
150g good quality white chocolate, chopped
2 cups (about 4 stalks) fresh rhubarb, finely sliced
Sprinkle the chocolate and rhubarb over the rectangle of dough. Roll up.
Bacon Bourbon Cinnamon Rolls
200g butter
300g brown sugar
6 tbsp cinnamon
1/4 cup bourbon
12 (or 24 if you are going the whole hog!) rashers of streaky bacon (or speck), rind removed
Beat the butter and sugar together until smooth. Add the cinnamon, beat until combined. Add the bourbon, a tablespoon at a time, beating until all incorporated.
Spread the butter mixture evenly over the surface of the dough. Lay the rashers of bacon evenly (12 rows in total) across the dough, parallel to the short edge of the rectangle. Roll up.
Other ideas
Berry white chocolate
Orange caramel pecan
Classy cheese and onion
Brioche au chocolat
The ideal breakfast. But there is bacon in them, so they would also work for dinner! You can have a rhubarb white chocolate one for dessert.
Enjoy!xxx
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