Nutella Brioche Flower

Just the other day someone on Facebook shared a killer time-lapse video of someone making an amazing dessert. The problem was it was all written in Italian. Even after using google translate it didn't really make sense so I set out to try to recreate what I saw in this video on my own. Essentially the dough is a brioche type of dough. After looking up multiple recipes I finally came up with a plan on how I was going to go about it all. I was pretty skeptical about it all with it being my first time attempting a brioche and because yeast is not my friend. I'm always a little nervous with with doughs that call for yeast. I was lucky because I had my dad for support and he helped me with little secrets on how to achieve the perfect dough. Of course I'm going to share those old-timer Hungarian secrets here so you all can try this at home. 

Brioche Recipes

makes 1 loaf or 2 Brioche Flowers

Ingredients;

1.10 pounds (500g) while flour 

1/4 cup (50g) sugar

1 packet (.75oz) dry yeast 

140ml warm milk

5 medium eggs 

Directions: 

1// In a mug warm up milk for about 1 minute. Pour in a whole packet of dry yeast into the warm milk. Stir milk and yeast together and set mug in a warm place to allow yeast to become active. I let it sit for about an hour. Once the yeast has grown you can start to make the dough. 

2// Put flour in a bowl fitted with a dough hook. Add sugar and soften butter. On the lowest setting mix that together. Once it's all incorporated then slowly start adding each egg. One at a time. Next start to pour the milky yeast, slowly. Now that everything is added into the mixing bowl let the dough hook work the dough on the lowest setting for about another 6-8 minutes. Dough will be soft, glossy and elastic. No worries! Tip dough into a glass bowl and cover with a towel. 

3// Time to let the dough sit in warm place to allow it to double in size and rise. This took about 2-3 hours for me. Patience is the key yet so very hard! I know. 

Tip: Keeping the milky yeast and dough in a warm place is very important. If you can't seem to find a warm place keep them in the microwave! I covered both the mug with the milky yeast and the dough with a thick dish towel and kept them in the microwave (of course not running!). Whatever works I say! 

Nutella Brioche Flower
(recipe makes two flowers)

Ingredients:
1 jar Nutella
flour for dusting
egg whites for brushing
non-stick spray

Directions:

1// Flour a working surface. Dump dough out and cut into 4 equal pieces. Starting with one piece take a rolling pin and flatten dough out pretty thin. Place a standard sized plate on top of dough and using a sharp knife cut out a circle shape. Discard excess dough into a separate pile. Layer a healthy amount of Nutella on top of dough. Gently pick up dough and transfer dough onto greased baking sheet. Follow same steps placing each pieces on top of each other layering them. The fourth and final pieces is the top and will not have Nutella spread on it. 

2// Now for the cutting! Place a small glass in the middle of the circle. Solid lines are where you cut first. Then the second cut goes in between the solid lines which are represented by the dashed lines. Lastly, another cut in between the solid line and the dashed line which is represented by the circles. So in the end you should have 4 little pie shapes in the four quadrants of the solid lines. I hope that all makes sense! If not the diagram should help!

3// The last and final step. Within in the each quarter of the circle there will be four little pie shapes. Grab two pieces and twist them outward completing a full 360. Do this all around the circle. You should end up with eight pieces that will look as if they are the pedals of the flower! To finish it off grab the ends of the each pedal and pinch them together to join them. Make sure you really pinch to combine the two pieces together.

4// Brush flower with egg whites and bake in an oven that's been preheated to 250 degrees for about 50 minutes or until it has browned slightly.

Reminder: Depending on how big you are making your circles you should have enough dough from the excess to create another brioche flower. I used a standard plate for sizing my circles which allowed me to do so!

Here is the original video that I had seen on my Facebook which inspired all of this to happen. It will help to make all these directions come to life, a visual really helps especially when all the twisting starts happening. 

The recipe for the brioche yields two of these beautiful flowers. I got creative with the second one and added a layer of raspberry jam! Best decision ever!
I haven't had this much fun in the kitchen in a while! The anticipation of it coming together and seeing the flowers shape come alive is so thrilling. It looks like a lot of work but really it's not all the bad. Most of it is just time. Waiting for the dough to rise was the worst of it. Hope all of you will try this out! Please let me know who it goes, post photos or tag me on Instagram @anita.schuler