Bready or Not: Braided Cocoa and Cookie Butter Brioche
This Braided Cocoa and Cookie Butter Brioche is stunning in appearance and taste, so be warned: there are more pictures than usual for this post, including some process photos.
When I set out to rewrite the original recipe, featured in the January/February 2019 issue of Bake from Scratch, I knew this bread would be time-consuming. Intimidating, even.
The braiding process, shown here, had me worried to start, but that turned out to not be so bad after all.
What ended up being the most tedious aspect was all the necessary dishwashing between the various stages! This recipe would be a great time to have some helpful assistants around.
The original recipe used special black cocoa paired with peanut butter. I went with normal baking cocoa (Penzey’s), which is less dramatic in color but great with flavor, and my stalwart baking favorite, cookie butter.
Despite my evangelizing, some people are always meeting cookie butter for the first time. It’s found in jars near the nut butters in stores. Trader Joe’s carries it under the name Speculoos. The other major brand is Biscoff. It tastes like spice cookies pureed in oil, because that’s exactly what it is.
It’s also incredible to bake with because it can even make cookies taste inherently more cookie-like. Here, when it’s used with chocolate, cocoa, and fresh bread, it’s truly amazing.
During baking, I found the exposed swirls of cookie butter actually caramelized, creating a wonderful crunch in the same bite as tender enriched bread. That, along with chocolate?
Oh wow. Oh wow.
Bready or Not: Braided Cocoa and Cookie Butter Brioche
Equipment
- stand mixer
- food scale
- Rolling Pin
- uneven spatula
- bench knife
- pastry brush
Ingredients
- 1 cup warm milk (105-110-degrees F)
- 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick) melted
- 4 teaspoons vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste, divided
- 4 1/2 cup all-purpose flour plus more if needed
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 1 Tablespoon kosher salt
- 3/4 cup plus 2/3 cup confectioners' sugar divided
- 2/3 cup creamy cookie butter
- 3 Tablespoons unsalted butter melted
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate melted
- 1/3 cup cocoa powder sifted
- 1 large egg white
- 1 Tablespoon water
Instructions
- In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, stir together warm milk and yeast, letting it stand about 5 minutes to get foamy.
- Mix in the eggs, 1 stick melted butter, and 2 teaspoons vanilla. Follow up with the flour, sugar, and salt, beating until combined. Switch to the dough hook and beat for about 4 minutes, until smooth.
- Use nonstick spray on a large bowl. Lightly flour a flat surface and turn out the dough to form it into a round. Place it in a bowl, rotating it to grease the entire surface. Cover and let rise for about 1 hour, until it doubles in size.
- Clean everything and return to the stand mixer. Using the paddle attachment, beat the 2/3 cup confectioners’ sugar with the cookie butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and 3 Tablespoons melted butter, until smooth. Transfer the mixture to another bowl. set aside.
- Clean the mixer and paddle attachment again. Beat the final stick of softened butter, the melted chocolate, cocoa, remaining 3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar, and last 1 teaspoon vanilla, until smooth. Set aside.
- Lightly flour a flat surface again. Punch down the dough and turn it onto the surface. Use a food scale to divide the dough in half. Stash one half back in the bowl for now, covered to prevent drying. Roll the other half into a 20 by 9 rectangle. Use an uneven spatula to spread the cookie butter filling onto the dough, up to 1/2-inch of the edges all the way around. Starting on a long side, tightly roll up the dough, pinching the seam to seal. Set aside with the seam faced down.
- Roll out the other dough in the same way, this time spreading on the chocolate-cocoa filling. Roll it up as well, placing the two dough rolls side by side. Use a bench knife to cut each roll in half, lengthwise. With the multi-layered middles facing up, twine the strips together.
- Apply nonstick spray on tube pan. Lift braid into the pan and tug it to form a complete circle, tucking the ends beneath. Cover the bread and let it rise in a warm spot until it’s puffed, about 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven 350-degrees.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the egg white and water. Brush the top of the dough, touching the cookie butter strands first, then the chocolate; this will prevent the chocolate from smearing too much.
- Bake for about 50 to 55 minutes, covering the bread with foil halfway through to prevent too much browning. When done, the top should be golden and an instant-read thermometer should be above 190-degrees.
- Let cool in pan for about 15 minutes. Turn out onto a plate, then tip it back onto a rack to completely cool, top-up.
- The bread is best eaten within a day, but it can also be sliced up and frozen in pieces. It'll thaw later and taste beautifully fresh! Eat at room temperature or slightly warmed.
OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not Original: Bread Machine Beer Bread Rolls
Your home bread machine makes delicious carbs super-easy with these Bread Machine Beer Bread Rolls!
First things first: the type of beer. You could try this with any number of beers, but I suggest a darker one. I’ve tried this with Kiltlifter (a major local beer in Arizona) and also Guinness. Guinness definitely created rolls that were darker with a deeper flavor. I have not tried this with a nonalcoholic beer.
Really, choose a beer that will go well with the meal. Don’t worry about alcohol amounts in the final product, either. It’ll burn off in the baking process. Also, you don’t have to like beer to like these rolls. I do not like beer (seriously, I really do not like beer) but I do enjoy the hoppy flavor it imbues in this bread!
A food scale will be an immense help in creating like-sized rolls. I’ve used this recipe to make medium-sized rolls, good for a butter-lacquered side dish, as well as big rolls suitable for BBQ-sauce shredded pork or other heaped-on fixings.
The rolls are fantastic fresh and will keep fine for a few days, and they are great to freeze. If you freeze them soon after they come out from the oven, they will taste just that fresh when you later thaw them!
Bready or Not Original: Bread Machine Beer Bread Rolls
Equipment
- bread machine
- food thermometer
- food scale
Ingredients
- 12 ounces dark beer such as Kiltlifter or Guinness
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
- 4 to 4 1/2 cups bread flour plus more for dusting
- 1 1/2 teaspoons instant dry yeast
Instructions
- This may be a travesty for some, but place the beer and water in a large microwave-safe dish. Give the liquid a brief zap in the microwave to raise the temperature to 100 to 110-degrees. Place in the pan of the bread machine. Add the salt, 4 cups bread flour, and yeast. Start the machine on the dough setting.
- Check on the dough as it begins mixing. If your bread machine allows, as the cycle is on-going, add more flour if the dough looks too loose, or add a touch more water if it is too dense and lumpy.
- When the cycle is done, weight the dough and do the math to divide into rolls of desired size. Prepare a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Divide the dough with the help of the food scale, shaping and smoothing each piece into a roll. Set spaced out on sheet.
- Cover dough balls with plastic wrap or towels and set in a place to rise, 30 minutes to an hour.
- Preheat oven at 350-degrees. Remove cover from dough and baking sheet. For medium rolls, bake for around 24 minutes; for larger rolls, bake for about 28 minutes. Check for doneness by tapping rolls and listening for a hollow sound, or plunge the food thermometer into a discreet place to verify the temperature in the middle if above 190-degrees.
- Cool at least 20 minutes before eating. Rolls will keep in a sealed bag at room temperature for up to 2 days, and can also be frozen to enjoy much later.
OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not: Crescent Rolls
Crescent Rolls are a classic yeast bread side. This recipe guides you through the steps to make these tear-apart hot bready bits of heaven.
As I grew up, the only fresh crescent rolls I got to have came out of a can, and they were a real treat. Those still have a major advantage in convenience.
Here’s the thing, though–from-scratch rolls do take a while to make, but this recipe makes a big batch (24) and they are fantastic to freeze. That means if you dedicate a day to bread-making, you can portion out your rolls and freeze a bunch to last for weeks.
That also involves some measure of self-control, because these Crescent Rolls are AMAZING.
These things are enriched, meaning they include both milk and butter. That gives them a soft, tender texture inside. They are also brushed with butter before and after baking, because butter makes everything better.
There’s nothing quite like unspooling a hot, steamy Crescent Roll, the dough flaking apart between your fingertips.
Recipe modified from Bake from Scratch November-December 2018.
Bready or Not: Crescent Rolls
Equipment
- kitchen scale
- two large baking sheets
- parchment paper
- pizza cutter
- pastry brush
Ingredients
- 4 1/4 cups bread flour
- 1 Tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
- 1 Tablespoon kosher salt
- 1 cup milk
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter 1 stick
- 2 Tablespoons white sugar
- 2 Tablespoons honey
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 1 large egg yolk room temperature
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter half stick, melted
Instructions
- Using a stand mixer with a dough hook attached, combine the flour, yeast, and salt.
- Use a microwave or stove top to warm the milk, butter, sugar and honey to about 120-degrees (if it gets above that, give it a few minutes to drop down). Add the warm milk mixture to the flour until just combined, scraping the bowl as needed. Follow up with the egg and egg yolk, and continue to beat for about 6 more minutes. The dough should be smooth and elastic.
- Add nonstick spray to a large bowl. Drop in the dough, flipping it to grease the surface all over. Cover with a towel or plastic wrap and let rise in a warm spot until it is doubled, about 45 minutes.
- Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Punch down the dough in the bowl. Lightly flour a work surface. Use a food scale to weigh the dough; divide it in half. Keep one of the halves covered while the other is rolled out to a foot-wide circle. Use a pizza cutter or knife to slice it into twelve triangles, like a pizza.
- To form a crescent roll, start at the wide end of a dough piece and roll it up, tucking and pressing the pointed tip underneath. Set spaced-out on a prepared pan. Repeat to form more rolls. Cover with a towel or plastic wrap to rise another 45 minutes to an hour.
- Near the end of the rise, preheat the oven at 375-degrees. Melt the half stick of butter and brush about half over the rolls.
- Place both sheets on racks inside oven and bake for 7 minutes. Switch placement of baking sheets on the racks. Bake for another 5 to 8 minutes, until they are a nice golden brown. Brush on the rest of the butter.
- Eat immediately, while warmed, or at room temperature. Crescent rolls will keep in a sealed bag for at least 2 days, and can also be frozen for later enjoyment.
OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not Original: Comte Pull-Apart Rolls
Bread is awesome. Cheese is awesome. Combine them to achieve a special kind of awesome, especially in the case of these Comte Pull-Apart Rolls.
These rolls are tender, soft, and inherently savory. They are perfect to go along with roasts.
First of all, the cheese. If you live in a cheese-deprived area as I do, Comte may not be available (or is only available at Christmas, sigh) or is prohibitively expensive. Really, you can use any cheese you like here, but I advise using one with a savory note. Another alpine cheese or a bandage-wrapped cheddar would do the trick.
My recipe is based on one featured in the Nov/Dec 2018 issue of Bake from Scratch. I made significant modifications, the foremost being that I halved the recipe so that it would only produce 12 rolls.
This recipe isn’t as fussy as some homemade rolls, but it still takes some time and effort. I was very worried because my first rise was so low, but my rolls rose beautifully once they were formed. That’s the rise that really matters!
If you want to give your second rise a boost, use this trick: preheat your oven at 200-degrees. Shape your rolls or bread. Stick the dough in the oven without any plastic wrap or cover. Immediately turn the oven OFF. Set a timer for 30 to 40 minutes or longer; this will depend on the oven, so experiment. Once the bread has nicely puffed from the heat, remove it from the oven, then preheat it again for the full bake.
These rolls can be eaten at room temperature or warm, but for me, they really are far better hot. I want them to melt butter!
Bready or Not Original: Comte Pull-Apart Rolls
Equipment
- 9×9 pan
- parchment paper
- kitchen scale
- pastry brush
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup warm milk (105-110 degrees F), can substitute half & half
- 1/2 cup warm water (105-110 degrees F)
- 1/2 Tablespoon active dry yeast
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 2 Tablespoons white sugar
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter melted and divided
- 1/2 Tablespoon kosher salt
- 2 3/4 cup bread flour
- 2 Tablespoons dried parsley or other dried herbs
- 4 ounces grated Comte cheese 100 grams
- flaked salt for garnish, optional
Instructions
- In a stand mixer, place the warm liquids and yeast. Let stand for about 10 minutes, until the yeast is nice and foamy. Add the eggs, sugar, 2 Tablespoons of melted butter, and salt. Gradually beat in the flour, cheese, and parsley, until everything is well combined.
- Cover the bowl to let the dough rise for about an hour.
- Line a 9×9 pan with parchment paper cut to crisscross and extend up all four sides. Apply nonstick spray.
- Lightly flour a surface. Turn out the dough onto it. Use the kitchen scale to weigh the dough. Divide it into 12 equal portions, forming each into a tidy ball. Place in rows within the prepared pan, each roll touching. Cover the pan to let rolls rise for another 40 minutes to an hour.
- Preheat oven at 375-degrees. Brush rolls with remaining 2 Tablespoons butter and add a sprinkle of flaked salt, if desired.
- Bake rolls for 13 minutes. Check them. If they are getting quite brown, cover the pan with foil. Bake for another 13 to 15 minutes.
- Serve rolls at room temperature or warm.
OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not: Sally Lunn Bread in a Bundt Cake Pan
When I had the opportunity to visit the city of Bath in England in 2019, I knew the absolutely necessary stop for lunch was Sally Lunn Eating House, known for centuries for the Sally Lunn bun. I first learned of it from a history spot on the Great British Bake Off.
The bun has some mystery and history to it, but what is certain is that it is rather brioche-like and delicious. Upon coming home, I set about trying several recipes for a homemade version. The results were meh–until this one, which is odd because this bread is also very different.
The true Sally Lunn bun is a bun, made in a specialized bun mold. This recipe makes an enriched bread, mixed in a food processor, and risen and baked in a bundt pan. The result is a lush, sweet bread. The flavor and feel is right, even if the shape is radically different.
Though it has a browned crust, the bread itself is still somewhat delicate. It requires thick slices, which isn’t a bad thing at all, because it’s so soft and delicious.
I don’t often share process photos on Bready or Not, but I think for this recipe, they will help. First of all, here’s what the bread looked like with the batter just placed in the bundt pan.
Here it is after the second rise!
We found that the bread needed to be eaten hot, with toasted being the best. Since the pan made a big loaf–18 thick slices–I had plenty of bread to experiment with. I hit on the idea of using it for grilled cheese sandwiches using the waffle iron. This is THE BEST way to make grilled cheese, by the way.
This shot shows how thick the bread was. I was still able to compress it in the waffle iron just fine, where in a matter of minutes, I created a no-fuss crispy, buttery masterpiece.
Bready or Not: Sally Lunn Bread in a Bundt Cake Pan
Equipment
- large food processor
- large bundt pan
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 cup water
- 3 1/2 to 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup white sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter 1 stick, room temperature
- 3 large eggs room temperature
Instructions
- Warm the milk and water together, by microwave or stovetop, to about 100-degrees.
- Fit a plastic dough blade inside the food processor. Add 2 cups flour, the sugar, salt, and yeast. Pulse a few times. Add the milk-water, butter, and eggs, and pulse more. Add 1/2 cup more flour. Pulse again. Add the rest of the flour, pulsing until the dough becomes stiff.
- Cover mixer bowl with lid or plastic wrap and let dough rise at room temperature for about an hour. It should double.
- Remove plastic wrap, if using, and affix lid. Pulse a few times to beat down again–but be warned, the dough is so thick, the processor might jump around. Stay right there. The dough only needs a few seconds of pulses.
- Thoroughly grease the bundt pan. Pour in the batter and smooth it out to an even level. Cover pan with plastic wrap or a towel and let the dough rise until it has doubled again, about 50 minutes.
- Preheat oven at 325-degrees.
- Bake for 50 minutes. The loaf should look golden brown on top, and a digital thermometer plunged into the middle of the bread should read at least 190-degrees.
- Let loaf cool in pan about 20 minutes, then invert onto a rack to cool more. The bread is fragile to cut and requires thick slices. This Sally Lunn loaf is best eaten warm, especially toasted. It can also be cut into individual slices and frozen for later enjoyment.
OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not Original: Bread Machine Cheesy Soft Dinner Rolls
I upgraded my original Soft Dinner Roll recipe in the most Beth Cato way possible: I added loads of cheese!
I don’t simply mix cheese into the dough like with a standard cheesy roll or biscuit recipe. Nah, that’s too mundane. I tried a take on lamination–the French technique wherein butter is layered to create flaky layers in pastry. But with cheese.
It worked out, in a beautiful way. In these pictures, you see a fine Vermont Cheddar. I highly recommend using an orange cheese (Cheddar, or if you are blessed, something like Red Leicester) because the finished rolls look amazing. White Cheddar would be great for flavor, too, though it would blend in more.
I wrote this recipe for bread machines, but it would be easy to modify to make by hand. Just let the dough have an initial rise for about an hour, mix the first portion of cheese in, then let it rise again before the lamination stage.
Bready or Not Original: Bread Machine Cheesy Soft Dinner Rolls
Equipment
- bread machine
- jelly roll pan or baking sheet
Ingredients
- 1 cup warm water about 110 degrees
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 2 Tablespoons white sugar
- 3 cups bread flour
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast or 1 packet instant yeast
- 6 ounces cheddar cheese shredded
Instructions
- Add ingredients EXCEPT cheese into the bread machine. That often means the liquids first. Set the machine on dough cycle and start; this should run for about 2 hours. Once the dough starts mixing, sprinkle in about half the cheese. If necessary–and if safely possible, dependent on the machine–use a spatula to press cheese into the dough. Let dough cycle continue until done.
- Prepare a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan by greasing with butter or nonstick spray.
- Pat out dough on an even lightly-greased surface. It’s time to add the rest of the cheese using a process roughly like French butter lamination.
- Sprinkle a handful of cheese over the lower portion of dough. Fold top part over it, then fold dough the other way, creating a fat dough ball. Pat out dough again. Repeat process again one or two more times, until only a handful of cheese is left.
- Pat out dough again. Use a small round cutter to slice out portions of dough. Place them in the prepared pan, spaced so they don’t quite touch. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top. Cover pan with plastic wrap or a light towel and let rise again in a warm spot for 30 minutes to 1 hour, until rolls become puffy and double in size.
- Preheat oven at 350-degrees.
- Bake rolls for 15 to 22 minutes. If they begin to brown too much, cover with foil halfway through. Let rolls cool a few minutes before serving.
- Completely cooled rolls can be frozen in gallon freezer bags for several months. Sealed rolls will keep well at room temperature for at least 6 days. They are good eaten at room temperature, but are best briefly warmed in the oven.