If you don’t plan to go to Sicily, make Sicily come to you.
With its fragrant, soft and fluffy brioche, ice-cold creamy granitas your start of the day will never be the same.
As you might already know, I'm not a huge fan of long intros to the recipe and random details that truly don't matter.
But what I do love is sharing with you guys & girls curious and useful things about the recipe, ingredients or the region of Italy it's coming from.
And, of course, tips & tricks that:
- Perfect the recipe.
- Make your life easier when cooking.
- Give alternative use of parts of the recipe.
- Best ways to serve and enjoy what you've just cooked 🙂
And here's what you really need to know about truly authentic Brioche.
Original Sicilian Brioche has a very high content of fat.
Back in the days, it used to be pork lard, but high quality butter gives equally awesome results.
You might be tempted or even have come across some brioche recipes with lower contents of fat, but let me assure you, the result is NOT the same.
I know you might be worried about the calories and such, but you can easily get away making your brioches a smaller size and of course enjoying it in the first half of the day.
This way you get plenty of time to burn it off PLUS you stay full and energized much longer.
Being already rich in fat, this brioche doesn't require any other condiment you would normally add on your toast. No butter, no jam. Just a plain brioche is a masterpiece on its own.
Classic Sicilian breakfast can't go without freshly backed brioches like this and an ice-cold coffee granita topped with whipped cream.
Now you might be wondering, Brioche with Tuppo...
Tuppo?? No worries, it's not a special ingredient you've never heard of 🙂
Yet, it's an integral part of Sicilian brioche and back in the days, tuppo was an integral part of Sicilian woman hairstyle.
Tuppo, in fact means - a bun.
And as you might have guessed, it's called brioche con tuppo because of its shape that resembles chignon hair style.
Full Recipe
Sicilian Brioche with Tuppo
Ingredients
Brioche Dough
- 500 grams bread flour
- 2 ⅓ teaspoon instant dry yeast , 7 grams sachet
- 100 grams sugar
- 170 grams water , cold from the fridge
- 2 eggs
- 2 egg yolks
- ½ teaspoon salt , 5 grams
- 60 grams unsalted butter , soft at room temperature but NOT melted
- 1 tablespoon orange zest or lemon zest or a mix of both
- ½ vanilla pod or 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Egg Wash
- 1 egg
Instructions
- Mix flour with instant dry yeast and add it to a bowl of a standing mixer.
- Slightly beat the eggs with HALF sugar from the total amount and mix with cold water. Add the mixture to the bowl with flour and start kneading with a dough hook on low speed. Knead for 7 minutes.Passed 7-minute mark the dough should be formed but will still tear apart easily and that's how it should be.Add the remaining sugar and salt. Knead for 2 more minutes.
- Add egg yolks one at a time. Let the previous egg yolk incorporate before adding the next.
- Once egg yolks are incorporated you'll notice the dough starts to become smoother. Start adding small portions of butter cut in cubes. Ideally you should add butter in 4 goes. Add the next portion only once the previous has been completely absorbed.At this point you can slightly increase the speed of your standing mixer.Total kneading time should come close to 15 minutes or slightly more.
- Fold the dough onto itself and place in a larger bowl with a lid or cover it with plastic. Let it rest at room temperature (75F or 24C) for 1 hour or a little more until it's slightly puffed (should NOT double). After that place the bowl with the dough in the fridge. Leave it there for 12 hours or overnight.It’ll continue leavening in the fridge. Don't leave it in the fridge for more than 24hrs.
- When ready transfer the dough to your working surface. Knead it lightly with a rolling move giving it a round but elongated shape.
- Cut into 10 large pieces 2.5 oz (75 grams) and 10 small ones 1 oz (25 grams).
- Roll the buns by covering a piece of the dough with your hand. With rotating and rolling moves start to press it lightly against the surface. Sprinkle the surface with a bit of flour if needed.
- Place the dough ball on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and let rest for 20 minutes. Past that time, gently make a whole in the middle of each large dough ball and open it up slightly arranging a small dough ball (tuppo) in the opening.
- Cover brioche with a poly bag or plastic and let rise for 1 hour in a warm place (82F or 28C).
- Preheat the oven to 350F (175C) on fan setting.
- Beat the egg for egg wash and brush each brioche before placing it into the oven.
- Bake at 350F (175C) 20-25 minutes until nicely brown.Let cool upside down.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Enjoy for breakfast or merenda (snack after lunch time).
But mostly important accompany your brioche with granita!
Coffee Granita for example.
Because brioche and granita is a match made in heaven.
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