In our home, Sunday morning usually starts in a lazy fashion complete with a lie-in, a cup of tea and a recap of whatever sport was on the TV when the eye-lids drooped to the point where you missed the pivotal goal or sending off. When all that is over it is followed by Sunday morning Breakfast or Brunch depending on just how lazy we have been.
This morning I went into baking mode meaning breakfast to be nothing short of scrumptious. Home made Brioche rolls with Red Cherry Jam (the fried Duck Eggs on Toast are optional)... not too shabby!
This Brioche recipe comes from Paul Hollywood's 100 Great Breads (well worth a read). It needs to be started the night before but only takes a few minutes to prepare. The Cherry Jam is a quick jam but seriously delicious. This means it will have a short shelf (or fridge) life. It's based on 'bucket science' but worked perfectly and will last a week in the fridge should the family not eat it all up in one sitting. Be open minded about what to do with any you don't think you will eat, it's very versatile... I added it to a Port Wine sauce and served it as a Cherry and Port Sauce with some Venison.
For the Brioche
375g Strong White Flour
40g Caster Sugar
1 pack dried Yeast (or 15g Fresh Yeast)
1 tsp Salt
75ml Milk
3 medium Eggs plus 1 for eggwash
185g Butter softened
8 Brioche moulds or muffin cases
Start the night before by combining the flour, sugar, yeast, salt, milk and eggs in a food processor and processing it for 5 minutes to a smooth dough. Add the butter and mix for a further 5 minutes. Empty the dough into a bowl, cover with cling film and refrigerate overnight.
The next day, cut the dough into 8 equal pieces, roll into balls and place each piece into the moulds or muffin cases. Leave to rise for 1 hour in a warm place.
Brush the tops of the brioche with the eggwash and cook in the oven for 15 minutes at 200 degrees.
For the Red Cherry Jam
16oz Red Cherries (this will make around 1 jar of jam)
1 Cup Caster Sugar
1 Lemon (juice and zest)
Stone the cherries and place them (whole or chopped) in a saucepan with the lemon zest and juice. Bring to the boil and cook so the cherries start to break up and create a juice along with the fruit. At this point you need to estimate how much in volume you have of the cherry mixture and add three quarters of that amount in sugar (so for 1 cup of cherries including juice you need to add 3/4 cup of sugar). Continue to cook for around 20 minutes until thickened, you can do a jam setting test if you are not sure its done.
Pour into a sterilized jam jar and leave to cool (if you can resist it). If you can't wait watch out you don't burn your tongue!
To do a jam test...
Put a plate or saucer in the freezer until really cold. Place a little of the jam on the cold saucer and leave for a couple of seconds. Run your finger through the jam and if it floods back together you need to cook it for a bit longer. The jam is thick enough and will set when the two sides do not join back together.