Super Garlicky, Rosemary and Parmesan Tear and Share Buns
These soft, rich brioche buns are packed with roasted garlic, rosemary, and parmesan. They're great as a tear and share bead. Make a batch of these to dip into a baked camembert! This brioche recipe is made over 2 days, but most of that time it is just sat in the fridge proving. It will make 12 rolls.
Method
The evening before you bake
Place the flour, salt, yeast and sugar in a bowl and give them a good stir.
Warm the milk. You want it so you can comfortably dip a finger in, any higher and you risk killing your yeast. Add this to the bowl, along with the eggs and mix until it comes together. At this point it will be quite wet, sticky, and almost like a cake batter which is absolutely fine. If you have a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment it will make light work of this.
Whilst still in its bowl, gradually knead the butter about a tablespoon at a time. make sure the butter is completely incorporated before you add the next chunk. It might feel greasy and slick, and sticky. That is absolutely fine. Take your time and make sure all the butter is incorporated. Continue kneading for another 5 minutes once all the butter has been added. It won’t form a traditional bread dough, it will still be very wet and sticky. This is definitely made easier with a stand mixer. Once kneaded cover with cling film and put it into the fridge overnight.
On the day you are baking, start by preparing your garlic. Pre-heat your oven to 200ºC.
Remove the papery, outer skin from the garlic, and chop a couple of centimetres off the top to reveal the garlic bulbs themselves.
Place the garlic on a square of tin foil, and drizzle with a teaspoon of olive oil. Loosely wrap the bulb up in your tin foil and bake in your hot oven for 30 - 40 minutes until it feels soft and squidgy. Let the garlic cool completely in it’s foil parcel.
Once cooled place your garlic, rosemary, parmesan, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, and some salt and pepper into a pestle and mortar and smash until it forms a coarse paste.
To finish the bread, grease your tin with a little oil.
Take your dough out of the fridge and knock the air out before dividing into 12 roughly equal pieces. The easiest way to do this is roll into a log on a lightly floured work surface and slice using a knife dipped in flour.
Lightly flour your hands, and roll each portion into a ball, Flour your index finger and make a small, deep indent in the middle. Fill with a good teaspoon of the roasted garlic mixture, pinching the dough over the top to seal, and placing the dough ball sealed side down into your prepared tin. Keep going until you have finished all of your dough balls. Cover with clingfilm and leave to prove in a warm place for 1 - 2 hours until doubled in size.
Preheat your oven to 200°C. Brush each of your dough balls with some beaten egg and grate some parmesan over the top.
Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden and cooked through. Let them cool slightly in the tin before turning out onto a plate or cooling rack. They are best eaten warm, so if you bake in advance you can put them into a 160º oven for 10 minutes to just warm through.
Ingredients
For the dough
500g strong white bread flour
1 tsp salt
7g active dried yeast
50g caster sugar
150ml whole milk
5 medium eggs
250g unsalted butter, at room temperature
For the filling
1 large, fat bulb of garlic
1 teaspoon of olive oil
a large bunch of rosemary leaves, removed from the stalks and roughly chopped
30g parmesan
2 tbsp olive oil (normal or extra virgin are fine)
You will also need
A baking tin, roughly 28cm x 23cm big
1 beaten egg and some parmesan to top your buns before they bake
Top tips
Brioche takes longer to rise than normal bread dough, and benefits from a long prove in the fridge to build up the flavours. If you are short on time the minimum I would give the first prove is 8 hours in the fridge.
