Celtic Brioche!

Top of the mornin' to you and Happy St. Pat's Day!! Technically, I celebrated this holiday on last week's blog with a recipe for delicious green bagels (though spinach and parmesan aren't traditional flavors of Ireland - LOL!) However, I couldn't resist sending you one more recipe in honor of St. Patrick! (Also, just FYI, there are some other wonderful recipes for this holiday on this blog from prior years- check 'em out!) 

Today's recipe intrigued me......"Celtic" definitely evokes Irish/Ireland.....but "Brioche"? Not so much. Brioche is a VERY French term for a dense, cake-like, rich bread. So...."Celtic Brioche" - what's that?  I did some brief research on the history of this delicious bread and here's what I found: There is a popular restaurant in Dublin named "Brioche", so I'm wondering if that's where this recipe originated. Also, the beautiful form of this bread is very fun and free-looking, which, to me, is the spirit of the Irish. So that's what I've got for you! Whether it's March 17 or another day of the year, this bread is worth making for ANY celebration! 

Celtic Brioche!

Dough:

1 Tbsp. Red Star Platinum yeast

½ Cup milk, warmed

2 ½  Cups unbleached all-purpose flour

¼ Cup sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

2 eggs

1/3 Cup butter, softened

Brush on before baking:

1 egg yolk, mixed with 1 tsp. of milk

Glaze, if desired:

½ Cup powdered sugar

1 tsp. softened butter

1-2 Tbsp. milk

½ tsp. vanilla or almond extract

Place warm milk and yeast in EZ DOH bucket and stir to dissolve yeast. Let rest 1 minute. Add one cup of flour, then additional dough ingredients. EZ DOH-it for 2-3 minutes, or until dough is smooth and soft and all ingredients are incorporated. Remove dough from bucket, spray bucket with cooking spray, “smooth” dough and replace in bucket. Cover and let rise until doubled.

Divide dough into 8 equal pieces. Roll out each piece to a very thin sheet. Using a round 2” cookie cutter, cut circles out of the dough (I got about 6 circles out of each piece. I then combined the scraps, rolled it out and cut as many more circles as I could) . Stack three circles together and roll “jelly-roll”-style into a little cone-like form. Place, end-up, in a greased 8” cake pan. Continue until all the circles are used. The “cones” do not have to be super-close together – just fill the pan. If you have an odd amount of circles, just roll them up and tuck them in the pan. Cover and let rise until doubled. Preheat oven to 350. Bake rolls for 30-35 minutes – Cover with a piece of aluminum foil during the last 10-15 minutes of baking to prevent excess browning. Mix glaze ingredients. Remove rolls from pan and transfer to wire rack to cool. Brush hot rolls with glaze, if desired. You could also sprinkle the top of the rolls with powdered sugar as an alternative.

Celtic Brioche!