I am a crusty bread lover and I always bake good hearty rustic bread for daily consumption. But when it comes to occasional indulging, I like to go all in and make brioche. If you haven’t made my sourdough brioche yet, then book mark that recipe. It is to die for! If you want a vegan recipe, no problem my vegan sourdough pumpkin brioche is equally delicious and you wouldn’t believe it hasn’t got any dairy or eggs.
Our favorite way to use brioche is of course to make French toasts. Any leftovers will be turned into Bostock. If you haven’t tried Bostock, it is an absolute must. The brioche is topped with a layer of fluffy almond cream(frangipane) and almond flakes and baked to perfection. That, was my inspiration in creating this recipe.
I thought, why bother making the brioche first when you can turn the dough into (kind of) Bostock straight away! This is similar to brioche custard tarts but instead of a baked custard center this will have a crispy and chewy frangipane.
The dough
The brioche dough I use here, has got less eggs and butter than a traditional brioche. So the dough is rich and soft yet very manageable. It will hold it’s shape nicely while proofing. If you want to bake this vegan, check the vegan sourdough pumpkin brioche to see how you can substitute the eggs and butter.
Frangipane
A simple mixture of butter sugar eggs and almond meal. To get the best texture, make sure you beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy before adding the egg. Once the egg is added, beat until the mixture is fluffy again. Then fold the sifted almond flour/meal without loosing the light airy texture. Use a hand beater for this purpose. If using a hand whisk, make sure to beat thoroughly.
Fruit to use
Use any seasonal fleshy fruit. I found some juicy delicious strawberries and they were perfect. You can use;
cherries
peaches
pears
apricot
nectarine
mango
pineapple etc.
Avoid using watery fruit like melons, kiwis etc.
Make the sweet stiff starter about 10-12 hours prior to mixing the dough. I usually make this around 10 pm the night before and use it around 7-8 am in the morning.
Add all the ingredients except butter and mix until a dough is developed.
The dough should have some gluten development. Check the picture. Now rest this dough for 15 minutes.
Add butter a tablespoon at a time and mix/knead using the dough hook. Use medium-low speed.
Spread the butter on the dough like shown in the picture so it will better incorporate. Once the butter is cleared, add another tablespoon.
The dough will look messy, greasy and sticky like this but that’s okay keep adding and mixing butter.
Once all the butter is added, scrape the ball and mix for a minute or two. The dough will be considerably, soft and sticky at this stage.
Bring the soft, sticky dough on to a surface (table/non-stick counter top)
Leave to rest for about 10-15 minutes
Using wet/greased hands slap and fold the dough until it becomes fairly smooth, silky and elastic.
After the slap and folds, the dough will look smooth. It will be less sticky and feel elastic.
Place this dough in a greased bowl, cover and leave in a slightly warm(25-27°C) place until doubled (almost double in size)
about 5-6 hours
Once the dough has doubled you have two options:
– Punch down, cover and refrigerate over night (several hours) to retard
– Punch down, cover and refrigerate for 2 hours and move on to baking on the same day
Punch down the dough, cover and refrigerate to retard. I will leave this over night to slow proof as usual. But feel free to bake on the same day if you want.
Remove the dough from the fridge and let it soften up a bit. Dough should still be cold but soft.
Place the dough on a floured surface and start rolling out
Roll out to a rectangle of roughly 20″ by 25″. Even if it is a square, it doesn’t matter. This size perfectly match the Half-sheet tray I have.
Dough thickness should be around 1/2 cm. A little over is fine. Don’t roll out too thin, it will be difficult to handle and the tart won’t have enough body to it.
Let the dough rest for 5-10 minutes and cut into 12 squares. Arrange squares on a tray, cover loosely and leave in a warm(25-27°C) place to proof
For about 2-3 hours
In the mean time, make the frangipane and set aside.
Proofed squares will look puffy and swollen. Pre heat the oven to 400°F, before you start to decorate these.
wash and slice the fruit. I did this design with strawberries. With apricots, peaches slice them and you can overlap the slices to create a beautiful pattern
Before piping the almond cream, press the centers slightly to create an indent
Pipe a thin layer of frangipane and spread using a spatula or your fingers.
Do not over fill with frangipane or the center won’t be cooked through.
Place the fruit in the center and press on to the frangipane
Repeat until all the squares are decorated
Beat an egg, and lightly egg wash the edges
These are now ready for the oven.
Bake in the 400 °F oven for 20 – 25 minutes or until the tops are golden brown.
Rotate the tray if necessary towards the end of the bake to make sure all of them are evenly baked.
Once out of the oven, lightly brush the fruit with melted jam (apricot,/strawberry)
Leave to cool. Dust with icing sugar before serving
Sourdough Brioche Frangipane Tarts
Ingredients
For the starter
- 60g all purpose flour
- 25g water
- 25g mature starter
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
For the dough
- above starter
- 250 g all-purpose flour
- 50g sugar (4 tbsp.)
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 large eggs
- 60ml cream or full fat milk (1/4 cups)
- 1-2 tbsp. water if needed
- 100g butter (1 stick)
For the frangipane
- 3 tbsp soft butter
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup ground almond meal
- 1 tsp vanilla extract/paste
- 1 tbsp. all-purpose flour
To decorate
- Fruit of your choice
- Egg wash
- 3 tbsp. melted Jam (apricot/strawberry/raspberry)
- powdered sugar to dust
Instructions
- Make the stiff starter by mixing everything and kneading into a smooth dough
- Leave the stiff starter 10-12 hours until it is matured
- To make the dough, mix flour, sugar, salt in a bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook
- Add eggs, cream/milk and mix on low speed
- When it starts to come together add the stiff starter and continue to mix
- Scrape the bowl and if the mixture is too dry add 1-2 tbsp. of water
- Increase to medium speed and knead until a dough is developed (check images above)
- Leave this dough for 15 minutes in the bowl, covered
- Then add softened butter a tablespoon at a time and mix to incorporate
- Press the butter into the dough by hand before mixing
- Scrape the bowl as necessary
- When butter clears add more and continue until all the butter is added
- The dough will be sticky and soft
- Get this dough on to a non-stick surface
- Leave for 10-15 minutes to rest
- Then with greased hands slap and fold the dough until it becomes smooth and elastic. If the dough is too sticky, rest for 5 minutes and continue
- When the dough is smooth (less sticky) place in a lightly greased bowl, cover and leave in a warm place to double in size (bulk). Usually takes about 4-6 hours
- Once bulked, punch the dough down, mold into a dough ball, place in the same bowl, cover & refrigerate for several hours or overnight to ferment
- If baking on the same day, skip the long retardation and just leave in the fridge for 2 hours, just to harden the dough a bit and continue to make tarts
- If you retarded the dough, then take it our and leave at room temperature to soften up a bit. Dough should still be cold but malleable
- Take the dough onto a floured surface and roll out to a rectangle (roughly 20″by 25″) dough thickness about 1/2 cm
- Leave to rest for about 10 minutes and cut into 12 squares (roughly same size)
- Arrange the squares on a tray lined with parchment
- Loosely cover and leave in a warm place to proof for about 2-3 hours
- In the mean time make the frangipane
- Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy
- Add the egg, vanilla and beat until fluffy
- Sift the almost meal and flour together
- Fold the flour mixture into the batter
- Prepare the fruit by slicing them and set aside
- Preheat the oven to 400 °F
- Once the brioche squares are proofed, make a indent in the center and pipe about a tablespoon or two frangipane
- Smooth out using a wet finger or spatula
- Place the cut fruit on top
- Once done with all squares, beat an egg and egg wash the dough around the edges
- Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown
- Melt some jam in the microwave or stove top
- Once the brioche are baked, remove from the oven and brush the fruit with melted jam. This will prevent it from drying out and also give a nice finish (glaze)
- Leave on a wire rack to cool
- Dust with powdered sugar before serving
Notes
To store:
Store the remaining brioche tarts in the fridge in an airtight container. Refresh by baking for 10 minutes in a 350°F oven or by placing under a low grill for 5 minutes
2 comments
The measurements 20″ x25″ is that not 20 cms X 25 cms…..?
Please reply.
Thanks
Bijoy
It is inches. The size is for the whole sheet.
This size doesn’t have to be exact, just make sure the dough thickness is around 4-5mm.
Then you cut(divide) that big sheet into smaller squares.