There is a reason why this recipe is here. A year or so ago, in Sicily, I got up late one morning, went to a bar for breakfast and saw that instead of serving ice creams in cornets, they wodged a helping in the middle of a split, vaguely orange-scented brioche. I sat in the square, with a cup of coffee on the table, this exotic bun in my hand, having the best breakfast of my life.
Yes, I know that – especially in the heat of summer – making brioches at home is only one step away from madness, but you don’t have to do this the purist way. Even if you don’t feel like making everything from scratch, promise me the next time you invite people over for supper, you buy some little brioches from a proper pâtisserie and the best ice cream you can find, and serve them up, together, for the best pudding you will ever provide. Should you, however, feel like going in for a little domestic goddessery, then you need to have a blueprint to hand. I make the brioches much as I came across them in Sicily – that’s to say, without their French, globe-topped, crenellated form – just shaped simply into slightly bulbous oblongs, their form a cross between a normal roll and a pain au chocolat. Round or rectangular, though, it doesn’t matter: you just want them to provide a light, cakey casing for the ice cream that, burgerlike, they will later contain.
1 sachet easy-blend dried yeast
50g caster sugar
15g salt
500g white bread flour, plus more for kneading
juice of half an orange
6 eggs, beaten
250g soft unsalted butter
for the glaze:
1 egg yolk
orange juice
half a teaspoon of salt
Put the yeast, sugar, salt and flour into a bowl, and add the orange juice and beaten eggs to mix to a dough. Using either a dough hook or your hands, knead until you obtain a smooth elastic mixture which will take about 10 minutes with a mixer or 20 minutes (sorry) by hand.
Cut the butter into small pieces and add them to the dough a little at a time, letting the dough absorb the butter in the mixer before you throw in the next piece. If you are doing this by hand then squeeze the butter into the dough gradually in the same way. Once the butter is absorbed keep kneading the dough until it is smooth, glossy and elastic.
Cover the bowl with clingfilm and leave it to double in size at room temperature; this will take about one and a half to two hours.
Knock back the risen dough by gently punching it to expel the air – which is one of the most gratifying things you will ever do in the kitchen – and then form it into a smooth ball putting it back into the bowl and covering again. Put the dough in the fridge for a couple of hours or ideally overnight, but don’t leave it longer than 24 hours.
Before you are ready to cook the brioche buns, let the dough come to room temperature. When it is no longer cold, turn the dough on to a floured surface and knead again to make a large ball then pull off even-sized pieces to make about fourteen small rolls, shaping them into smooth rounds or ovals. You may want to make just about seven rolls and freeze the rest of the mixture as most of the ice-cream recipes above will not stretch to fill fourteen buns (but will certainly be enough for seven).
Put the shaped brioche buns on to baking sheets and glaze them with the beaten together egg yolk, orange juice and salt then leave to rise for about an hour until almost doubled in size. I know there is quite a bit of salt in the glaze but one of the wonderful things about these buns is the contrast between sweet and salt.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6.
Glaze again before baking and cook for about 15 minutes until the brioches are golden brown and sound hollow when you tap their bottoms. Leave to cool on a baking rack.
Makes about 14 buns.