Easter Loaf: Chocolate Orange Brioche with California Prunes

 

REVISED RECIPE

A delicious new recipe from award-winning baker Peter Cook, we can't WAIT to try it...

Brioche is a very light and indulgent bread that is wonderful eaten warm or toasted. The addition of orange, chocolate and prunes makes it a great Easter treat.  It is best made in a mixer because of the large amount of butter will turn it into a slippery, gooey mess before it magically becomes a shiny, silky dough. The dough is best left in a fridge for a few hours so that it is more manageable when shaping.

    Ingredients

    • 10g Caster sugar
    • 300g flour
    • 29g cold water
    • 3 medium eggs
    • 7g salt
    • 15g fresh yeast
    • Zest of one orange (10g)
    • 100g unsalted cold butter
    • 100g chopped prunes
    • 100g chocolate chips

    Method

    -In a mixer fitted with a dough hook, mix together the flour, sugar, water, eggs, salt, yeast and zest on slow speed for two minutes. Once the dough has come together and mixed on medium speed for 5 minutes, add in the diced butter.

    - Once the butter is fully incorporated scrape down the bowl and add in the chocolate chips. Mix for a minute or so on slow.

    - Lightly oil a bowl, put the dough in and cover. Leave it for an hour to rise then tip it out and gently stretch it out into a rectangle.

    - Spread the prunes out over the dough and roll it up towards you. Gently pat down the sausage of dough and roll it up length-ways. The resulting ball of brioche dough should be put back in the bowl, covered and put in a fridge for at least an hour, but preferably several.

    - Take a large, greased, 2lb/800g bread tin. Divide the dough into three equal parts and gently shape them round. Take care not to squash the prunes or handle the dough too much so that it warms up. You don’t want a buttery mess!

    - Place the three dough balls in the tin, cover with a clean plastic bag and leave to rise at room temperature until the loaf is about 50% bigger.

    - Heat the oven to 200 °C. When your brioche is proved, bake for 30 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. The sugar and butter in the dough will make it take on colour before it is actually fully baked. Remove the brioche from the tin and cool on a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.
     

    By Peter Cook 

    Peter’s new artisan bakery near Ledbury, Herefordshire, is a ‘Real Bread” bakery, which means that his bread is made without processing aids or any other artificial additives. He has over 20 years experience in the industry.

    Recipe courtesy of California Prunes.    For more information visit www.californiaprunes.co.uk

     
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