What’s best than brioche in the morning? Pineapple and Hazelnut filled brioche ! I am just twisting a very basic recipe here to add some caramelized pineapple and crunchy hazelnuts.
If you have never made brioche before, this is a very easy recipe to try out! There are few things to keep in mind when making brioche in general. The brioche kneads to be kneaded a long time to develop the gluten, it needs to rest a first time, be deflated and rest (rise) a second time before being baked. For this recipe, we are skipping the overnight in the fridge step to make it quicker and easier. If you want to prepare the brioche the day before to gain some time, feel free to knead your brioche and let it rest all night in the fridge. In the morning, you’ll just have to add the filling and roll into ball, let rise for an hour and bake.
The tip to get a nice and fluffy brioche is to check for the gluten development.
Check for gluten development
One way to make sure your brioche is ready and doesn’t need more kneading is to check for Gluten Development. In order to do so, take a piece of dough and stretch it into a square. The dough should get thin and translucent and shouldn’t tear. This means the gluten is developed. If when you stretch the dough, you realize it is not smooth and it tears right away, it means it needs more kneading. Don’t be afraid to knead more than what a recipe calls for (I sometimes have to knead for 15 minutes while the original recipe I’m trying only said 8 minutes). Try to check for gluten development, and once the dough is smooth and doesn’t tear, stop kneading, you don’t want to over knead, or you will get a dense and heavy brioche.
What about the filling?
I went for a pineapple and hazelnut filling to change from the regular brioche. You can of course use different fruits and create your own recipes. Next time, try maybe apple with cinnamon, or pear and walnuts?
If you don’t want to use any filling, you can also skip this part.
Additional tips
Make sure to always use fresh yeast when making brioche, bread and others preparation requiring yeast. Old yeast loses its rising power. If you are lucky enough to have access to fresh yeast, you can use 10g for this recipe.
Use a good quality flour to yield best results.
Always use a kitchen scale to measure all ingredients to be consistent and in order to always have the same results.
Any questions? Feel free to leave a comment or DM me on Instagram. Thank you!
Pineapple and Hazelnut filled Brioche
Ingredients
For the brioches:
- 300 g flour
- 10 g fresh yeast or 4g active dry yeast
- 130 g milk
- 50 g sugar
- 80 g butter
- 2 eggs
- ½ tbsp salt
For the filling:
- ½ pineapple
- 30 g butter
- 20 g sugar
- 50 g hazelnuts
Instructions
- Warm the milk and add the yeast to it. Let rest for 15 minutes.
- In your mixer with the hook attachment, mix flour, sugar and salt. Add milk+yeast and beaten egg. Knead for about 7 minutes, until all liquid is absorbed. Then add the butter. Knead for a good 10 minutes. The dough should become smooth and elastic, it shouldn’t stick as much to the bowl either.
- Cover and let rest for 2 hours at room temperature.
- Dice your pineapple. Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the pineapple and sugar. Let caramelized a few minutes.
- Crush the hazelnuts, add half to the pineapple and reserve the rest.
- Deflate the dough and divide into 6. Shape each portions of dough, and form a ball with a smooth, taut surface. Slightly press them to form a disc, add about one good tbsp of filling in the center, and foold the outer sides over the filling. Press well together the wedges to seal and place them seam down on a baking pan lined with parchment paper. Cover and let rise again for about 1 hour in a warm place.
- Preheat your oven to 350C. Beat one egg and brush the brioches with it. Mix the remaining hazelnuts with about 10g of sugar. Sprinkle on top of the brioche.
- Bake for 25 minutes. You can add powdered sugar on your brioche if you want before serving.
