HHDD #17 - Brioche pizza with strawberry jam and white chocolate

When I say Ivonne's entry to HHDD #17 I remembered that I forgot something...not making my entry for HHDD but posting about it. So here in the nick of time is at least a picture of my entry. Will update this post tomorrow evening...

Ok, this is tomorrow night....about the pizza. I like sweet so a sweet pizza it had to be for this month's HHDD hosted by 80 Breakfasts. The crust is made of brioche dough instead of regular pizza dough. Making brioche has been on my to-do list for a while so this seemed like a good opportunity to make it. The most important thing I learned when making the dough for the brioche was that I don't only want (and deserve :) a KitchenAid, I need one too! Up till last week I was very happy with my Braun Multisystem K1000 food processor most of the times. But making brioche dough didn't go that well. The mixing bowl has a lid which traps in the heat and heat is generated by kneading the dough. I had the same problem when I made Swiss meringue a while back. I have to admit that the dough had a pretty high temperature when I started kneading it in the machine but it kept on getting hotter and hotter. I had to stop kneading because I was afraid to kill the yeast (turned out I was time). Because of the heat the butter in the dough was very soft so the dough was very hard to handle. After the second rise in the fridge it was much more manageble luckily. But as I said, it would probably have been even better with a KitchenAid ;) so now I'm hoping that my Braun will break down and I can buy a KitchenAid without feeling guilty.
The brioche was very most and buttery. The strawberry jam and white chocolate were perfect toppings for it. I would say this is a perfect Sunday morning breakfast type of pizza. You could even bake it just before breakfast and spread everything on while it was still hot. I didn't have time to do that so I composed my pizza in parts. Baked and froze the brioche crust and spread the jam and grated the chocolate when I had an opportunity to shoot some pictures of it.
The brioche recipe is from Sherry Yard's book, the Secrets of Baking which has become a real favorite. It contains lots of what Sherry calls 'master recipes' the basic recipe for a whole group of recipes that are derived from this recipe. Medium fat brioche eg is the master recipe and others that are derived from this recipe are eg challah, panettone and coffee cake. What I especially like about the book is the fact that she explains a lot about the processes that occur in baking. I haven't made a lot from it yet so I can't tell if all the recipes are good but the ones I made were. The only down side for me is that it's not in metric but maybe that's just because I'm a metric girl ;)



Brioche pizza with strawberry jam and white chocolate (from The Secrets of Baking by Sherry Yard)

makes one 'pizza crust'

for the sponge
1 1/4 ts active dry yeast
1/4 cup whole milk, room temperature
2 tbs sugar
1/4 cup bread flour or all-purpose flour

for the dough
1 1/2 cups bread flour or all-purpose flour
1/2 + 1/8 ts salt
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 pound butter, softened but still cool

Topping
6 tbs strawberry jam
1/2 tbs water
a few squares of white chocolate, grated

Sponge
Combine the yeast and milk in the bowl of a standing mixer (ideally a KitchenAid ;) fitted with a paddle attachement and whisk until the yeast is dissolved. Stir in the sugar and flour. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rest for 30 to 45 minutes in a warm environment or until bubbles will form.

Dough
Add the flour and salt to the sponge, then add the eggs. Mix on low speed for 2 minutes or until the eggs are absorbed. Increase the speed to medium and knead the dough for 5 minutes. The dough will start to slap around and pull away from the sides. Then it will form a ball on the paddle. Finally it will relax and reach back out to the sides of the bowl. At this point, it will be shiny and satiny looking.
On medium speed, add the butter, 2 tbs at the time. Knead until the dough is shiny and smooth, about 5 minutes.
Place the dough in an oiled bowl and turn it over so that the top is also coated with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rise at room temperature until doubled in volume, about 2 hours.
Deflate the dough by pressing down on it, folding one half into the other. Fold two or three times. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge overnight or at least 4 hours.
Turn out the dough on a lightlyfloured surface and shape it into a circle. Dust the dough lightly with flour. Roll out the dough till 1 1/2 cm (1/2 in) thickness. Transfer to a baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap. Let it rise at room temperature until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
Preheat the oven to 200 C (400 F). Bake for about 15 minutes or until golden brown and an internal temperature of at least 180 F. Let it cool on the baking sheet.
Mix the jam with the water and microwave for about 30 seconds. Stir until smooth. Spread over the brioche. Sprinkle grated white chocolate over the jam.