Here is another recipe from Gail’s Artisan Bread. Roy Levy and Gail Mejia wrote this cookbook based on their bakery experiences in London. The intent was to provide great [aka French quality] bread in a town that was not famous for its bread baking. The first store opened in 2005 and now there are over 20. The chain is, as always, a bakery but the “bread” ideas there are elevated.

There is bread. And there is brioche. The French have perfected this bread amplified with butter, a soft rich dough that makes you wish breakfast would never end. The French love their breads and pastries, but do depend on those boulangeries just around the corner. They do not bake that much at home, but, if they do, then this is one of the elegant ideas to make brioche even better. As if that were possible. Ah, but it is possible.

Maple Brioche Buns

Yield: 18 small buns

Ingredients:

• 1 quantity brioche dough, at the end of its second rise in the fridge,
• Egg wash
• Demerara sugar, for sprinkling
• 130ml maple syrup or clear honey

Preparation:

Take the brioche dough out of the fridge and shape it into 18 little buns. [If you need help doing that, you need your own copy of Gail’s Artisan Bakery Cookbook; see page 30]. Place on a baking sheet lined with non-stick baking paper, leaving 2 inch gaps between each one. Or, if you’d prefer your finished buns to have a flatter base and a more muffin-like top, you can drop them into the cups of a muffin tin, well-greased with butter.

Put the sheet of buns inside a large plastic bag, well-inflated with air so that the bag doesn’t come into contact with the dough, and leave on the worktop to rise again for between 1 ½ and 2 hours until doubled in size. Preheat the oven to 375°F.

Brush the tops of the buns with egg wash without applying any pressure – otherwise you’ll knock the air out of them. Take a sharp pair of scissors and make two snips in the top of each bun to form a deep cross that cuts almost halfway down through the dough. Sprinkle over a little demerara sugar and bake for 13-15 minutes. They’ll open up like tulips as they bake. Test them by lifting one very gently and taking a good look at its base. If it’s an even golden brown, your buns are ready.

Take the buns out of the oven and, while still hot, use a pastry brush to coat them with maple syrup. It might seem excessive but use all the syrup. Cool for a few minutes before serving.

Serving suggestions include butter, jam, preserves, or compote. Or, if you want to feel very European, yogurt.

Source: Gail’s Artisan Bakery Cookbook by Roy Levy and Gail Mejia [Ebury Press, 2015]