With the arrival of the holidays, here is a nice sweet, soft, and fragrant leavened bread with plenty of dried fruits inside. The process requires time for rising, but the recipe is much simpler than those of traditional Christmas leavened breads like panettone. The Christmas brioche is delicious and soft, especially great for breakfast, sliced and slightly warmed up. If you want to try other leavened doughs, you can check out my Mini chocolate and orange panettones, or glazed with almonds. Try this recipe, it’s really easy and delicious!
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- Difficulty: Medium
- Cost: Cheap
- Rest time: 3 Hours 30 Minutes
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Portions: 8 People
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Seasonality: Christmas
- Energy 300.68 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 49.92 (g) of which sugars 17.76 (g)
- Proteins 7.82 (g)
- Fat 8.38 (g) of which saturated 3.41 (g)of which unsaturated 1.99 (g)
- Fibers 1.56 (g)
- Sodium 138.38 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 100 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients
With these amounts, you can make one large braid, or two medium-sized ones.
- 12.35 oz Manitoba flour (or 330W flour)
- 5.29 oz all-purpose flour
- 1.23 tsp dry yeast
- 3 oz sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 cup cup milk (+ 1 tablespoon for brushing)
- 4.23 oz butter (melted)
- 0.14 oz salt
- orange flavor (to taste)
- vanilla essence (to taste)
- 1 egg yolk (for brushing)
- 3.53 oz raisins
- 1.76 oz dried cranberries
- 1.76 oz walnuts (shelled)
- 1.06 oz candied fruits (to taste)
- rum
Tools
- Stand Mixer
- Bowl
- Baking sheet
- Parchment paper
- Brush
Preparation
Put the flours, dry yeast, and sugar in the stand mixer. In a container, mix the egg with the milk and the melted butter (at room temperature).
With the paddle attachment (or the dough hook), pour the liquids gradually over the dry ingredients, allowing them to mix little by little.
Add the flavors (to taste) and the salt. Continue kneading for a few minutes at medium speed until you get a homogeneous and elastic dough, not too sticky (1).
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it rise away from drafts for about 2 and a half hours, or until the dough is almost tripled in volume (2).
In the meantime, shell the walnuts, weigh them and chop them coarsely. Soak the raisins in lukewarm water with a tablespoon of rum. When soft, squeeze them and dry with a paper towel.
When the rising is complete, turn the dough onto the work surface (lightly floured) and divide it into 3 equal parts.
Roll out 3 strips, using a rolling pin if preferred.
Spread the raisins, walnuts, cranberries, and candied fruits on each strip (3). Close each strip forming 3 sausages.
Now braid the dough, sealing the ends well, and place the braid on a baking sheet with parchment paper (4).
Let it rise again for 50-60 minutes, still away from drafts.
At the end, brush your braid with an egg yolk mixed with a tablespoon of milk (5).
Place the Christmas brioche in a fan-assisted oven at 356°F (or static at 374°F) and bake for about 30 minutes, until golden and puffed up (6). Adjust the times based on your oven’s characteristics.
When baked, let it cool on a rack. If desired, you can sprinkle it with a little powdered sugar.
The Christmas brioche with dried fruits is ready to be sliced… soft and fragrant!
Tips and Notes
The brioche braid stays soft for 2-3 days, you can consume it at room temperature, or warm it up for a few minutes. You can also freeze it, sliced.
If you use fresh yeast, you will need 20 g, dissolved in milk.
You can customize the filling with your favorite dried fruits, you can also slightly increase the quantities.
You can replace the melted butter with 50 g of sunflower seed oil.
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