As fas as I know this brioche mostly made for Christmas’s celebration, still four months away, not the right time but probably not bad idea at all when we have time to perfect our skill of doing this special French viennoiserie! It requires at least 1 or 2 days for preparation.
Based on the original recipe I made some changes, like instead of 30 gr. of baking powder, I use fermented dough and the dry yeast, that comes from my experience with Le Cordon Bleu, our French chefs always said the fermented dough is one of the best ways to enhance the bread taste. Besides I reduce the quantity of butter ( 160 gr. the original vs – 250 gr. in the original, so up to you).
Brioche de la Lune reminds me of the Brioche des Rois du Sud, because of its orange flavor, orange liqueur. It’s not sweet but thanks to golden raisin and a thin glass sugar covered on the top, it’s sweetened nicely this flavorful French viennoiserie.
Here you go – the ingredients for Brioche de la Lune!
Step 1 Ingredients & preparations
- All purpose or bread flour 500 gr.
- Salt 10 gr.
- Sugar 50-60 gr.
- Eggs 300 gr.
- Butter 160 gr.
- Fermented dough 110 gr.
- Dry yeast 7 gr. (dehydrated in two tbsp of warm water before adding)
- Almonds (chopped and roast) 50 – 75 gr.
- Golden raisins 75 gr.
- Candied orange 75 gr.
- Orange flavored liqueur (Grand Marnier or Cointreau®) 50-60 gr.
(*) You can add other dried fruits or some lemon zest.
The day before, leave the fruit in small cubes soaked in the liqueur, together with lemon juice and zest. We also need to prepare the fermented dough one day in advance or at least 12 hours before and keep it in the fridge.
Step 2 Kneading
Kneading all together, except the butter, dried fruits soaked in liqueur and chopped almonds. At 1st speed around 6-8 minutes then add the cold butter progressively, continue kneading at the 2nd speed for about 10-15′ until the dough stops sticking to the bowl. Add the fruits, almonds at low speed. The dough is shining, super smooth and elastic, the ideal temperature of the dough is about between 24°C up to 27°C as max.
Step 3 First resting
After kneading let the dough to rest for 30′ to 01 hour at room temperature, then make a fold, put it in the container, cover it and keep in the fridge until next day.
Step 4 Shaping and final resting
Divide the dough in to small portion of 350 gr. per each, make a baguette than bend it into a curve like a crescent moon. Do the egg wash and leave it to rest for at least 2 hours up to 3 hours at room temperature, then just before baking , do another egg wash to get a real good golden color. Bake at 160-170°C for 25-30 minutes.
As I mentioned in the beginning, this brioche is mostly made for Christmas, so it’s still named “Brioche de Noël”, and I quite like the crescent shape, it’s unique as so far I often see brioche in shape either of small ball with a little head on top or some tresses.
It should be very good if we could make it at any occasions, as it’s not bad at all to have some slices of this French flavorful brioche with either coffee or tea for breakfast. Wonderful!
Le petit renard 