Preparation

• All ingredients should be at room temperature.

  Note The rising times depend on the strength of the yeast and the room temperature.

  First, let’s prepare the pre-ferment, which will help maintain the softness of our oil brioche roses over time.

  1st phase

  Dissolve the fresh yeast with a tablespoon of water (taken from the indicated amount, i.e., 80 ml). Add the sifted flour and the rest of the water in sequence. Mix well until a soft and sticky mixture is obtained, which will be left to rise until doubled (in the bowl or the mixer where it was worked), well covered with transparent food wrap.

  2nd phase

  Prepare the actual dough. When the pre-ferment has doubled in volume, also add the water provided for the actual dough and dissolve it with your hands; you will get a liquid mixture.

  At this point, add half of the sifted flour and half the sugar, the fine salt, and the flavors (grated citrus zest and liquor).

  Then add two egg yolks and start kneading.

  As soon as the two yolks are absorbed by the dough, add the rest of the flour, sugar, and finally the other two yolks. As soon as all the ingredients are fully absorbed, slowly pour in the light seed oil.

  The dough process will take a total of about 15 minutes (both by hand and with a mixer). If using a mixer (with a leaf hook), it should be turned off from time to time to collect the dough at the bottom of the bowl and turn it over. This way, not only will you have a homogeneous dough, but, above all, it will not overheat.

  This brioche dough will be very soft and quite sticky, but by flouring your hands and worktable, it will still be easy to work with.

  At this point, turn the dough onto a lightly oiled or floured table with a little durum wheat semolina to help dry the dough.

  Roll it out with a rolling pin, trying to obtain a shape as rectangular and regular as possible, with a thickness of about 1/8 inch.

  Brush the puff pastry with orange marmalade, reaching up to about 1/2 inch from the outer edges.

  Then, roll up the puff pastry as tightly as possible, starting from the long side and making sure the closure is underneath. You will get a long cylinder from which you will cut (trying not to squeeze the brioche dough too much) pieces of more or less the same size and weight (about 2 inches).

  Place the “roses,” spaced a finger apart from each other, in a round or rectangular mold with parchment paper, making sure that the closure of the “roses” is against the wall of the mold to prevent them from opening during baking.

  Cover them well without touching them with plastic wrap or otherwise, and let them rise again until doubled.

  Then bake them in a cold oven, setting the temperature to 340°F, in the middle position, for about 25-30 minutes, or until the oil brioche roses are well puffed and golden.

  Baking from cold will ensure that the brioches bake more slowly, without excessive heat, maintaining all their characteristic softness. Obviously, not all ovens are the same, so always check the baking.

  When they are cooked, turn off the oven, take them out immediately to prevent the residual heat from drying them out too much, and transfer them to a rack to cool.

  These very soft brioches can be dusted with powdered sugar or with a glaze of water or fruit juice mixed with powdered sugar; or egg white and sugar, and so on.