Almond Brioche

gailanng's Note:

A favorite Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day that will garner raves and praise.

• Total Time: 4 hrs 30 mins
• Prep Time: 3 hrs 30 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs

Ingredients:

Servings: 10

Brioche

• 3/4 cup lukewarm water
• 3/4 tablespoon yeast
• 3/4 tablespoon salt
• 4 eggs
• 1/4 cup honey
• 3/4 cup butter, melted
• 3 1/2-3 3/4 cups flour

Almond Cream

• 1/2 cup almond paste
• 4 tablespoons butter (at room temperature)
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 egg
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract

Topping

• 1/4 cup sugar
• zest from an orange (about 2 tablespoons)
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds

Directions:

1. To make the brioche: mix the salt, yeast, eggs, honey and melted butter with the water in a large bowl. Mix in the flour without kneading. The dough will be loose, but will firm up when chilled. Cover the dough with a towel (not to be covered air-tight at this point) and allow to rest a room temperature for 2 hours. Next, cover the dough bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge before proceeding to work with it.
2. To make the almond cream: cream together the butter, almond paste, flour, egg and almond extract in a food processor until smooth and set aside. Note: The creamy consistency requires a processor for a smooth blend.
3. To assemble the brioche: Dust the brioche dough with flour and gather into a ball, stretching the dough around the bottom and sides of the ball.
4. Roll dough out in an 10×14″ rectangle, about a 1/4″ thick. This may require quite a bit of flour on the counter to make sure the dough does not stick.
5. Spread the almond cream on the dough, leaving an inch clear around the edges. Roll up dough, starting from a short end, jelly-roll style. Freeze log for about 15 minutes.
6. Grease a 10″ round springform pan with butter and dust with sugar.
7. Cut chilled dough into eight pieces (dental floss works well for a clean cut) and arrange in pan swirl-side up. Allow dough to rest for one hour.
8. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Just before baking, mix together sugar, zest and almonds and sprinkle over brioche. Bake 50-65 minutes, until set in the middle.
9. Remove from oven and allow to sit for 2-3 minutes. Then run a knife around the inside and slide the brioche onto a serving plate. Enjoy warm or room temperature.