Gluten-Free Braided Brioche Ring #Recipe by @LibbyKlein

 Libby Klein This begins what I call BATTLE OF THE BRIOCHE! I was on a search for a really good gluten-free brioche recipe so I could re-create a bread I made in Paris the year I took cooking lessons. It was soft and buttery and full of candied orange peel. We made the candied orange peel fresh - no store-bought like I'll use today. Fresh is far superior but Libby is far too busy and a little bit lazy. Getting gluten-free bread to rise is already a challenge. It's like trying to blow up a tire with your breath. Adding eggs and butter and candied anything is like laying a brick on top of the tire while you blow it up. So, I began my search and found two recipes I wanted to try. One I adapted from a gluten-containing recipe. The other I adapted from gluten-free brioche that didn't contain any extra mix-ins. This recipe is the first in the series. We'll see next week which recipe wins.

Disclaimer - Read all your labels to make sure your ingredients are gluten-free. Gluten can be sneaky.

Gluten-Free Braided Brioche Ring With Candied Orange And Nuts

Serves: 12 

 

INGREDIENTS

 

1 cup whole milk, slightly warm

1 Tablespoon sugar

1 ½ Tablespoons yeast

 

4 cup gluten-free flour blend*

*2 teaspoons xanthan gum (if not already in your flour blend)

¼ cup whey protein powder

1 Tablespoon psyllium husk powder

1 Tablespoon baking powder

OR – you can substitute everything in red with 4 cups All-purpose flour if you are not making the recipe gluten free

 

½ cup sugar

½ teaspoon kosher salt

2 oranges – to be used separately

1 large egg

1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

12 Tablespoons butter that is a little soft but still cold

 

Filling

Peel from one of the two oranges above

¼ cup roasted almonds

¼ cup roasted hazelnuts

2 Tablespoons confectioners sugar

3 Tablespoons soft butter to brush on the flattened dough

1 Tablespoon soft butter to brush on the finished braid

 

Glaze

3 Tablespoons Orange Juice

½ cup confectioners sugar

DIRECTIONS

Warm your milk and add the tablespoon of sugar and yeast. Stir together and set aside to bloom.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, measure the flour blend, xanthan gum if you’re adding it, whey protein powder, psyllium husk powder, and baking powder. Add the sugar, and salt. Whisk to combine. Zest one of your oranges and add it to the flour.

Add the egg, followed by the yeast/milk mixture, and the vanilla extract.

Mix on medium-high. Add the butter one tablespoon at a time until it is completely incorporated into the dough. The dough should be smooth.

Place the ball of dough into a greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and Proof for one hour. I like to put the bowl in a cold oven with a pan of steaming, just boiled water underneath.

 Grease a metal ring mold or an Angel Food cake pan.

Peel your second orange with a vegetable peeler. Add the peel, both the nuts and the confectioner's
sugar to a small food processor or a single-cup blender. Pulse until the contents become crumbs.

Remove the proofed dough from the bowl and flatten it with your hands on a well-floured surface. Roll it out into a rectangle about 18-20 inches long. Brush the top with the three Tablespoons of butter and sprinkle over your nut/peel crumbs, leaving one inch clean on the long side closest to you.

Roll into a long log by rolling the longer side toward you. Once you have a long tube, cut most of the log from one rolled-up end to about two inches from the other end. It should look like really long bunny ears now, with the layers and crumbs exposed.

From the end that is not cut, gently braid the two pieces to form a twist. Very gently, place the braided dough into your greased pan and brush with the remaining tablespoon of butter.

 

Cover with plastic wrap loosely. Proof again for another 1 to 1 ½ hours until doubled in size.

Remove the pan from the oven if you’ve proofed it like I have. Preheat the oven to 325° F. Bake for 30-45 minutes, or until a thermometer reads 200° F in the center of the ring.

Remove from the oven and cool for 10 minutes. Whisk your glaze ingredients together and drizzle over the top of the ring.

Verdict: This did not rise as much as I needed it to and the finished bread was tasty but quite heavy and dense. I turned it into baked french toast a few days later. If you are not gluten-free, try this with regular flour and leave it to rise fully. You won't be disappointed.

Check back next week to see if Battle of the Brioche Week 2 is more successful.

Recipe inspiration from Cooking Fantasies and Let Them Eat Gluten-Free Cake.

 

B&B owner and gluten-free baker Poppy McAllister, along with her saucy Aunt Ginny, is on the case at the annual Cold Spring Village antique show in Libby Klein’s seventh deliciously witty, paleo-themed Poppy McAllister Mystery.
 

When vintage items go up for auction, gluten-free baker and B&B owner Poppy McAllister discovers some people will pay the ultimate price...
 
It’s peak summer season at the Butterfly House Bed and Breakfast in Cape May, with tourists fluttering in and out and wreaking enough havoc to rival a Jersey Shore hurricane. Also back in town is Courtney Whipple and his family of antique dealers for the annual Cold Spring Village antique show. Courtney’s son Auggie has a unique piece he believes will fetch them a fortune if he can get it authenticated in time—a piece rival dealer Grover Prickle insists was stolen from his store.
 
Poppy and her Aunt Ginny attend the auction, hoping to bid on an armoire for the B&B, and discover a veritable armory for sale—everything from ancient blades and nineteenth-century guns to such potential killing devices as knitting needles and a blacksmith hammer. Strangely, they don’t see either Auggie or Grover—or the mysterious item they both claim to own. Then during the auction, a body falls out of the very armoire Poppy was hoping to acquire, stabbed through the heart. Now, surrounded by competitive dealers and makeshift weapons, she must find out who turned the auction house into a slaughterhouse…
 

Libby Klein grew up in Cape May, NJ where she attended high school in the '80s. Her

classes revolved mostly around the Culinary sciences and Drama, with one brilliant semester in Poly-Sci that may have been an accident. She loves to drink coffee, bake gluten-free goodies, collect fluffy cats, and translate sarcasm for people who are too serious. She writes from her Northern Virginia office where she serves a very naughty black smoke Persian named Sir Figaro Newton. You can keep up with her shenanigans by signing up for her Mischief and Mayhem Newsletter on her website. www.LibbyKleinBooks.com/Newsletter/