Easter sweet brioche bun Jidase
This sweet brioche bun called Judas or Jidáše in Czech is a traditional brioche buns made for Easter Thursday. Sweet buns are drizzled with hot honey and butter to give extra shine and sweetness.
Servings: 20 pieces
Calories: 230kcal
Ingredients
For brioche dough
- 4 ⅓ cup (500 g) all purpose flour
- 5 tbsp (70 g) unsalted butter room temperature
- 2 large egg yolks
- 1 ¼ cup (300 ml) whipped cream 35% lukewarm
- ⅓ cup (80 g) fine sugar
- 1 tsp (7 g) dry instant yeast (25 g) fresh yeast
- ½ tsp (6 g) salt
- 1 tsp (2 g) lemon zest
- 1/2 cup (80 g) raisins
- 1/2 cup (80 g) blanched almonds sliced
For egg wash
- 1 large egg
- 2 tbsp (30 g) hot water
For honey drizzle
- 2 tbsps (43 g) honey
- 1 tbsp (15 g) unsalted butter
Instructions
For the dough
- If you are using instant dry yeasts go directly to step 2. Take fresh yeast and crumble them in a coffee or measuring cup. Sprinkle with a teaspoon of sugar, pour 100 ml (7 tbsp) from lukewarm cream and mash it together with a fork. Sprinkle the yeast mixture with 1 tsp of flour. Cover the coffee cup with plastic food foil and let the yeast rise on warm place, until it doubles or for 10 minutes. If the yeast doesn't show any activity, start over and use new yeast.
- Measure all other ingredients in advance and add them to the standing mixer bowl with kneading hook, in this order: All-purpose flour, sugar, lemon zest and salt, give a quick stir. Then add instant yeast (or fresh proven yeast; see step 1), egg yolks and start mixing on low speed (I used speed 2 on KitchenAid).
- While the standing mixer is mixing, add slowly lukewarm whipping cream 35% and wait until the dough will start to form. At this stage it will be a little crumbly. Add the room temperature butter spoon by spoon. The dough will be sticky. Continue kneading with the standing mixer for another 5-10 minutes on higher speed 4-5. Mix until the dough will be elastic and won't stick any more to the mixing bowl. Now add the raisins and blanched almonds and mix until it's combined. About few seconds.
- Remove the dough from the bowl and place it on a clean floured surface (use extra flour) and knead 2-3 times just to shape the ball. Place the dough back in the bowl and cover with kitchen towel or plastic food foil (I prefer plastic food foil to keep warm humidity in). Leave the bowl with the dough on a warm, non-drafty place. Let it prove for about an hour or until the dough has doubled.
- Take out the dough from the bowl and place it onto a clean floured surface. Don't need to roll out the dough. With a knife or bread spatula cut the dough in 4 quarters, then each quarter cut into 5 pieces. In total, it will give you 20 equal pieces.
- Roll out the dough in a rope with your hands about 20-25 cm (10 inches) long and shape it in "S" shape. Place the shaped dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. All this dough should fit onto 2 baking sheets.
- Cover the baking sheets with plastic food foil or kitchen towel and let it prove for another 20 minutes. The Judas buns should double in size. In the meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180 C / 350 F. Rack in middle position.
For egg wash
- Brush the Judas buns with egg wash from 1 beaten egg & 2 tablespoons of water. Bake them for 15 minutes, on middle rack, until they are golden brown. If you will be baking two baking sheets at the same time: don't forget to turn the baking sheets in mid-time and swap the top baking sheet with the bottom one. Add also extra 1 to 2 minutes of baking.
For the honey drizzle
- Heat up the honey with butter in the microwave for 30 seconds, stir well and brush the buns immediately all over (sides too) with the honey drizzle.
- Let the buns to cool on the baking sheet for 5-10 minutes. They are best served when still warm as is, or with a slice of butter or jam.
Notes
Yeast starter note: If you will be using fresh yeast, use the sugar, whipped cream and flour from the ingredients measured for the dough. Do not add extra sugar, whipped cream or flour. Example: For starter use 100 ml / 7 tbsp of whipped cream; use this quantity from initial measured 300 ml / 1 1/4 cup of whipped cream. So the rest of the 200 ml (3/4 cup) will be used to add to the dough later.
Storing: Usually these sweet brioche buns, once baked are gone in 2 days. So you can keep the brioche buns in room temperature (around 20 C / 68 F) always covered with plastic food wrap or in Ziploc, so they don't dry out. Or you can store them in an airtight container. Make sure the buns are fully cooled before you will be placing them in Ziploc or in airtight container. You risk of spoiling the buns on the first day. The humidity created by hot bun speeds up the spoiling process. You can also freeze the buns in an airtight container or Ziploc bag for up to 3 months. Reheat the buns then in microwave for 10 seconds or until it's soft.
Read more tips in the body of the blog post.
*Please note, that nutritional facts values (Calories) are an estimate. I am not a nutritionist and cannot guarantee the accuracy of these values.