The honey brioche are incredibly soft brioche pastry croissants flavored with honey and filled with honey for a rich, delicious, and healthy breakfast. I chose spelt flour for my brioche and sulla honey, sweet, delicate, light-colored, a honey that crystallizes easily, produced from sulla grass, a type of legume that belongs to the fabaceae family. In Abruzzo, honey production covers the entire region and embraces the entire territory of the Gran Sasso National Park: wildflower, sulla, lupinella, sunflower, savory, acacia, dandelion, and chestnut are Abruzzo’s honeys. It is a P.A.T., a traditional agri-food product, the honey of Abruzzo, an excellence of the region that I recommend trying. Honey is always on my breakfast table: this time it’s all in the honey brioche!
With this recipe, I participate in the “Delicious Abruzzo” initiative organized by my colleagues Mary from “An American Among the Bears“, Francesca from “Spice Dust” and Niva from “Clouds and Clouds“
Not to be missed
- Difficulty: Medium
- Cost: Medium
- Rest time: 3 Hours
- Preparation time: 30 Minutes
- Portions: 8 croissants
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients
For homemade vanilla extract: HERE.
- 1/3 cup milk
- 1/4 cup water
- 10 g fresh yeast
- 1 egg
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 150 g spelt flour
- 200 g Manitoba flour
- 1/3 cup butter (soft and diced)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp Sulla honey (or other honey of choice)
- as needed Sulla honey
- 1 egg yolk
- as needed milk
- as needed brown sugar
Tools
To divide the croissants, I use the Tupperware croissant cutter. I’ve had it for many years, and it’s very handy. I’ll leave the link for you to see it. It’s not essential. You can simply cut the croissants with a knife or a wheel, but I tell you this tool is really practical for cutting uniform croissants: it helps you be precise.
- 1 Mixer Kitchen Aid Artisan
- 1 Bowl
- 1 Reusable Fabric Cover
- 1 Rolling Pin
- 1 Tupperware Croissant Cutter
Steps
In the mixer bowl, add the room temperature water and milk, then add the yeast and dissolve it well. Add the egg, sugar, tablespoon of honey, vanilla extract, and mix. Then also add the two flours and work the dough until it wraps around the hook. Add the soft butter in pieces, the salt, and work again.
You will obtain a soft and slightly sticky dough, but use only the necessary flour to work it. Do not add extra flour, or the croissants will be too hard as each addition unbalances the proportions.
Briefly work the dough on the work surface to form a ball and let it rise inside a bowl covered and sheltered from drafts for two hours or until it doubles in volume.
After the resting time, turn the dough onto the lightly floured work surface. Roll it out with the rolling pin to form a circle and divide it into eight wedges. Roll the croissants from the base to the tip and place them on a baking tray lined with parchment paper.
Cover the croissants with a cloth or plastic wrap and let them rest for 1 hour or until doubled.
In a small bowl, work the egg yolk with equal weight of milk and brush the croissants. Sprinkle with brown sugar and bake in a preheated hot oven at 340°F for ten minutes, then raise the temperature to 355°F and bake for another ten minutes.
When the croissants are cooked, let them cool on a wire rack, then cut them in half and fill them with Sulla honey when ready to enjoy.
Notes
Why didn’t I fill the croissants with honey before baking? I tried. But with the heat, the honey becomes more liquid, and during the rising process, it all leaked out, compromising the recipe’s success.
Follow the quantities and instructions without modifying or substituting. If you change the flour, it will alter the absorption of the liquids, and you may get a different result.
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