I'm going to preempt this by telling ya'll that my baking and cooking style isn't exactly to the tee. I'm one of those cooks that eyeballs measurements and goes with handfuls and dashes rather than cups and tablespoons but don't worry! this'll be as close to precise as I can possible make it.
- 4 1/2 c. unbleached all-purpose flour
- 3 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast
- 1/2 c. plus 1 tbsp. sugar
- 1 tbsp. salt
- 1/2 c. cold water
- 5 eggs
- 2 3/4 sticks (1 c. plus 6 tbsp.) butter - at room temperature
You can use either a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook or a food processor. I used a mixer but this would have been much easier with a food processor, don't be afraid though it was still totally doable with a mixer and my hands!
Add all the dry ingredients into the mixing bowl then mix them together until combined. After adding the cold water beat on low for about 4 minutes, make sure that all the flour is incorporated. After all the flour is incorporated continue mixing for another 3 to 4 minutes - the dough will be very dry.
Cut the butter into about ten pieces but make sure that it is a least room temperature otherwise incorporating it into the dough will become exceedingly difficult. Add each piece of butter one at a time. Do not add another piece until the previous one has disappeared into the dough. Use your hands if necessary to knead the butter into the dough. After all the slices have been incorporated mix on low for 10 minutes. At this point make sure that all the butter is thoroughly combined with the dough. Don't be afraid to use your hands! To make this easier when I was baking I would take out half of the dough, mix in a slice, take the mixed-in half out and replace it with the first half and combine that with another slice of butter. Cutting the butter into even smaller pieces will also help if you're really struggling!
Once all the butter has been mixed in (refrain from giving up on it'll be worth it!) increase the speed to medium and beat for 15 minutes. The dough will become sticky, soft, and shiny (kinda like butter.... imagine that?) It's amazing that it actual does transform to this texture right before your eyes - I had my doubts but it turned out ok! After your smooth buttery dough has is the proper texture beat it on medium-high for one minute.
To make sure that the dough is the right texture pull at it. It should stretch and give a little. If instead it breaks off into pieces when you pull it mix it on medium until it develops more strength. If, on the other hand, the dough is very batter-like and wet/loose add flour and mix until is is all incorporated.
Congratulations! You've your dough! Gather all your hard work into one piece and place it into an oiled bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap - the wrap should pressed onto the dough. So, now that you've spent all this time nurturing and messing with this dough you've got to let it proof in the fridge for 6 hours. This sucks! I felt like a kid sitting and waiting for Christmas morning while this was in the fridge (I let mine sit overnight so that I could have the real 'Santa came!' experience - opening the fridge in jammies with the bright eyed and bushy tailed expression included)! You don't need to bake your dough right away, the great thing about this recipe is that you can freeze half/bake half (not that you'll want to). The dough can be frozen for up to a week and used.
YAY! You've made it this far! The 6 longest hours of your life have come and gone!
*Preheat your oven to 350*
After preheating your oven hunt down your long lost cupcake pan (or muffin tin if that's what you prefer to call it) and either line or butter and flour 20 cups - it doesn't really matter. I used cupcake liners but that's just because mine were super cute and colorful!
Flour a relatively large work surface and plop half your dough down and roll in into a 10x15 in. rectangle-like shape. If you don't have a rolling pin you can also press it out but I would suggest using something that mimics a rolling pin because rolling the dough out was hard enough or maybe that's just my puny biceps (if you can even call them that). Cut the rectangle into 10 equal strips across and 5 down - 50 1 in. squares of dough (I suggest using a pizza cutter for this!).
Place 5 squares in each in half the muffin cups. Since my rectangle wasn't exactly a rectangle per se I ended up with more then 50 pieces and was able to get 12 buns out of each half of dough. Don't worry about having exactly 5 in each cup just as long as there aren't some cups that are much fuller than others.
Cover the tins (loosely) with plastics wrap and set them in a warm spot to rise for 1 1/2 hours. This is why I preheated the oven so early. In order to have my dough rise as much as possible I set it on top of my hot oven. For the last half hour I took off the plastic wrap and covered the tins with a dishcloth, I opened the oven a crack and moved the tins to the edge of stove so the heat from the oven would rise directly underneath them. This has worked before for me when I've had trouble getting dough to rise and it proved to be effective for me once again with these buns.
Bake the dough for 35 to 45 minutes or until golden brown. After the buns are done cooking allow from them to cool for about 5 to 10 minutes.
Cinna-yummy Mixture
- 1/2 c. Butter
- 1 c. sugar
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- Dash of salt
Don't be alarmed by this recipe. You are not going to use all of the sugar, butter, and cinnamon. Much to my parents chagrin I find nothing appalling about using salt when baking or making something sweet. I think that the saltiness of the um... salt brings out the sweetness of the cookies or whatever your cooking. If you don't agree and your highly sophisticated palette can detect even the tiniest grain of salt your buns will still be cinna-delicious without it .
Melt the butter in a small bowl. Mix the sugar, cinnamon, and salt together in a separate bowl (by a dash of salt, I really mean the teeny tiniest pinch).
While the buns are still warm take them out of their tins. At this point my buns were so buttery that they just came right out of the cupcake liners but no worries my short encounter with my beautiful liners satisfied my obsession with cute baking accessories.
With a pastry brush or paper towel brush the tops of the buns with butter and then roll each bun in the sugar mixture. I found it easiest to do one bun at a time for maximum sugar coat-age.
Congratulations your cinna-yummy brioche cupcakes are done! So now try to cram them all onto a cake stand then take a picture in bad lightening with a something that can be likened to a disposable camera glued to the world's first cordless phone (no I didn't spray these down with self-tanner as a tribute to my idol, Snookie - the lightening in my kitchen is just that bad).
This recipe was not that difficult and I highly suggest that you try it out - especially if you have food processor! My family went nuts over this! They were all eaten (the buns not my family) within 24 hours of being made and everyday since my brother has asked me when I'm going to make them again. So don't be intimidated by this recipe and if you ever happen to have a bunch of eggs and butter laying around you know what to do....
