Well there you have it. SORTED – Chocolate and Apricot Brioche with a The Great British Bake Off Season 4 Technical Challenge Episode 6 Technical Challenge glaze. My first collaboration with Yvonne. Perfecto.
INGREDIENTS :
(for brioche)
250 g of plain flour
80 g of butter, room tempature
2 eggs
1 tbsp instant dried yeast
2 tbsp caster sugar
80 ml of warm milk
pinch of salt
1 extra egg for glazing
large handful of dark chocolate chips
large handful of dried apricots, chopped
(for glaze)
50 g of apricot jam
100 g of icing sugar
25 g of toasted flaked almonds
RECIPE :
DISSOLVE the yeast into the warm milk by whisking together in a bowl.
MIX the flour, eggs, butter, salt and sugar together in a mixer with a dough hook until combined and dough like.
SPLASH in the milk and continue to knead until smooth and elastic. It will be very sticky.
TRANSFER to a bowl and cover bowl with Clingfilm or a clean tea towel.
LEAVE to rest in a warm place for 1-2 hours until it doubles in size.
CUT chocolate and dried apricots (I didn’t have chocolate chips!)
ADD chocolate chips to half and the apricot pieces to the other, using a little flour dusted on a work surface.
PLACE the chocolate half into the bottom of a 900g loaf tin (lined if it isn’t non stick).
LAY the apricot half on top of that, then cover again and leave to rise for 30mins.
PREHEAT an oven to 180˚C
BRUSH the risen dough with the egg wash.
BAKE for 30mins.
ADD splash of water to apricot jam, heat up and stir.
ADD splash of water to icing sugar and stir till thick and consistent
GLAZE by spreading apricot jam over, spamming flaked almonds and drizzling icing sugar
SLICE and bon appetit.
=
The result is a very light fluffy loaf which you can pull apart. It tastes part-bread, part-cake. The moment you sink your teeth, the sweet jam glaze hits you with the soft crust followed by an explosion of apricot and dark chocolate. The two simply complement one another in terms of flavor but the glaze does it’s magic by balancing the sweetness and bitterness of this brioche. The texture is exquisite and amazing, it tastes good, what more can I ask for?