Marzipan-Filled Brioche

One of the hardest things about being a food-blogger is that you can never eat anything you've baked straight away. While it's still warm and fresh out of the oven, you have to wait until it's completely cooled and the lighting is good so you can photograph it. I know. It's hard. That freshly-baked smell that lingers through your kitchen is almost unbearable when your stomach is rumbling. Today I cheated. I already cut two slices of marzipan-filled brioche and stuffed them into my mouth as quickly as I could before I shot a single photo. Bad girl!

You can tell from the weekly poll that I'm currently in a yeast-phase of baking. Also, the yeast and marzipan were nearing their expiration dates very soon. So I rolled up my sleeves and made them useful. This recipe is adapted from a great and relatively-easy chocolate swirl brioche that I've made once before. I substituted the chocolate for marzipan, et voilà, an almond-scented brioche with a crunchy marzipan center was born! Rating: 5- out of 5.




Marzipan-Filled Brioche: adapted from Martha Stewart's chocolate swirl brioche

Ingredients: makes 2 loaves
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons, softened, plus more for bowl and pans
- 2 tablespoons warm (105 degrees to 110 degrees) water
- ¼ cup plus 1 teaspoon sugar
- 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 4 to 4 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
- 2 ¼ teaspoons salt
- 9 large eggs
- 4 ounces marzipan, shaped into a log
- Coarse sanding sugar, for sprinkling

Instructions:
- Butter a large bowl; set aside. Stir together warm water, 1 teaspoon sugar, and the yeast in a small bowl. Let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes.
- Put 4 cups flour, remaining ¼ cup sugar, and the salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add yeast mixture; mix on medium speed until combined. Add 8 eggs, 1 at a time, mixing well after each addition; mix until well combined, about 2 minutes. Replace paddle with dough hook. Mix on medium speed 2 minutes.
- Add butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing until combined after each addition. Mix until dough is smooth, shiny, and elastic, about 10 minutes. If dough is very sticky and wet, add up to ½ cup flour (only the bottom quarter of the dough should stick to the bowl); mix until combined. Transfer dough to buttered bowl. Cover with a clean kitchen towel, and let rise at room temperature until almost doubled in bulk, about 1 ½ hours. Punch down dough; cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight (at least 12 hours).
- Butter two 8½-by-4½-by-2½-inch loaf pans; set aside. Transfer dough to a lightly floured work surface. Divide dough in half. Roll out each half into a 7-by-15-inch rectangle. Cut marzipan-log into half and place horizontal on the short side of the dough. Starting from a short side, tightly roll each into a log; pinch seam to seal. Place each log, seam down, in a buttered pan. Cover with a clean kitchen towel; let rise at room temperature until dough reaches rim of pans and no longer feels cool, about 3 hours.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly beat remaining egg; brush tops of loaves with egg. Sprinkle with sanding sugar. Bake until tops are deep golden brown, about 35 minutes (cover with foil after 20 minutes if browning too quickly). Run a knife around edges of pans to loosen, and turn out onto a wire rack; let cool completely.



Before you declare me insane, it's actually normal to eat
chocolate sprinkles on bread in some European countries :)