Raspberry Brioche Buns - Fresh Bean Bakery

Ingredients

Brioche Dough

80 g whole milk (2 ⅔ oz.)
1 tbsp. granulated sugar
1 tsp. active dry yeast
1 egg room temperature
180 g bread flour* (1 ½ c.)
½ tsp. salt
56 g unsalted butter room temperature (4 tbsp.)

Raspberry Curd

100 g granulated sugar (½ c.)
1 small lemon
140 g frozen raspberries (1 c.)
3 egg yolks
⅛ tsp. salt
56 g unsalted butter cubed (4 tbsp.)

Egg Wash

1 egg white
1 tbsp. whole milk
56 g pistachios crushed (½ c.)

Instructions

Brioche Dough

In a microwave safe measuring cup, heat the milk to 100°F / 38°C. Whisk in the yeast and the sugar. Set aside until the mixture begins to foam. (~5 minutes)
While waiting, add the flour, salt, egg, and butter to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment. When the yeast mixture begins to foam, add it in to the rest of the ingredients.
Knead the dough on low speed for 1 minute to allow the ingredients to come together. Increase the speed to medium-high and knead for an additional 10-20 minutes, or until the dough passes the windowpane test.**
Once the dough is done kneading, butter the inside of the bowl, form the dough into a ball and place it back in the bowl. Then cover the mixing bowl with plastic wrap. At this point, you could set the dough in the fridge to rise overnight, or continue with completing the recipe in one day. If doing in one day, set the dough in a warm area and wait for it to double in size (~1 hour.)***
In the meantime, make the raspberry curd.

Raspberry Curd

Add the sugar into a small saucepan. Zest the lemon into the sugar, then use your fingers to rub the zest into the sugar.
Add in the frozen raspberries, egg yolks, and salt. Juice the lemon and add 2 tbsp. of lemon juice into the saucepan.
Set the saucepan over medium heat and mix it constantly until it thickens and reaches a temperature of at least 170°F / 76°C. (This took me about 3-5 minutes)
Remove the curd from the heat and pass it through a fine mesh sieve to remove the zest and raspberry seeds.
Immediately whisk in the cubed butter until it melts and the mixture is completely smooth.
Transfer the raspberry curd to the fridge to chill until you're ready to assemble the buns.
Once the dough has finished rising, lightly punch it down to remove any excess air in it.
Transfer the dough to a clean, lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into 6 equal pieces, and roll each piece into a ball.
Use a rolling pin to roll each piece out into a ~4" circle. If the dough keeps springing back, let it rest for 5 minutes, then try rolling again.
Transfer the buns to a parchment lined baking sheet, spacing them apart to allow room for spreading. Leave the buns in a warm environment until they puff up a little, ~30 minutes. In the meantime, make the cheesecake filling.
Make the egg wash by beating together the egg white and milk in a small bowl.
Once the pastries have doubled in size, preheat the oven to 350°F / 175°C.
Lightly flour the bottom of a cup or bowl that is about 3" in diameter. Press the cup down onto each of the pastries to form a divot for the filling.
Brush the "edges" of each of the pastries with the egg wash, avoiding the center. Sprinkle the crushed pistachios over the egg wash. Try your best to avoid getting pistachios in the center divot, but, it's not a huge deal if there's a few in there!
If the divots have significantly shrunk, press the cup down into each of the pastries one more time.
Place ~1.5 tbsp. of raspberry curd filling in each pastry divot.
Bake for 18-22 minutes, or until the edges of the pastries turn golden brown. To get more defined browning on the edges, place the buns on the top rack for the last 5 minutes of baking.
Allow the buns to come to room temperature, then serve and enjoy!

Notes

Affiliate links: Kitchen Scale (my favorite) | Kitchen scale (great starter option) | Oven Thermometer | Cordless Hand Mixer | Stand Mixer/

*I recommend bread flour because it has more structure and produces a better dough. You can use all purpose flour, just make sure it has a higher protein percentage such as King Arthur Flour, which has 11.7% protein.

**Take a small piece of dough and stretch it gently as far as you can. If it tears super easily, keep kneading. If it's able to spread to the point where it's super thin and you can see light through it, it has passed the windowpane test and is good to go!

***At this point you could leave the dough in the fridge overnight, and proceed with the rest of the recipe the next day.

Nutrition