This recipe is essentially a buttery, dessert, brioche-like dough that I shaped into flower/swirls with chocolate chips incorporated for additional flavor. Due to the high butter content, the dough itself it great for rolling and shaping, especially after it is chilled in the refrigerator--and it doesn't make much of a mess. I have found it to produce reliable results--the shapes still look great after baking, and the flavor is magnificent. You can make any shape you want. It took me a few tries to get a decent flower/swirl shape.

Yield: 6 medium flower breads (or 12 smaller) breads

Ingredients:
3 - 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 Tbsp sugar
1 1/4 Tsp salt
1 tbsp instant yeast
3 large eggs*
1/4 cup milk
10 Tbsp butter
Mini chocolate chips for sprinkling
*You can save the white of a 4th egg to brush on the buns if you plan to top them with sugar

Directions:
1) In a mixer or bread machine (programmed for dough), mix together 3 cups of flour and the rest of the ingredients to form a smooth dough. It will be sticky at first and may require the extra 1/2 cup flour to make the dough come together if the conditions in your kitchen differ (temperature, humidity, etc). Remove from mixer and knead with your hands until silky smooth.

2) Form the dough into a ball. Place it in a greased bowl and let rise for ~1hr. Refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour (until chilled), or as long as overnight. This will slow the fermentation process and will make the dough easier to braid/shape.

3) Decide which shape you want. For this particular recipe, I took the dough out of the refrigerator and divided it into 12 pieces--you can do 6 pieces...whatever size and amount you want. But to make this particular shape you will have to divide each piece into at least 4 smaller pieces...so I think 12 is the limit!

A nice way to achieve the flower/swirl shape (there are multiple ways) is shown in the video below. I did not cut my shapes into exact circles, let alone this many circles. Basically you can modify the technique as you would like:

4) Place dough shapes into greased pan(s) of your choice, cover lightly, and let rise in a warm place for 1.5-2hrs until doubled (it will look very puffy).

5) Preheat the oven to 375F. Right before the swirls are cooked, you can brush them with the egg white of a 4th egg, sprinkle mini chocolate chips into the petals of the roses, and even add sugar on top.

6) Place the chocolate-chipped swirls (on cookie sheet) in oven and bake for about 30-35min. NOTE: every oven cooks differently, so watch your swirls after 10 minutes. The buttery dough should be a golden/deep brown when done, and should sound hollow when tapped on the underside.

7) Remove buns from oven and, after a few minutes, transfer to rack for cooling.

NOTE: Due to lack of preservatives in the dough, the breads taste the best within the first few hours of baking. I would recommend freezing them if you plan to eat them more than one day after baking, as they will rapidly become stale.

     This dough is perfect. It's very flaky and light, yet full of flavor thanks to the key ingredients of butter and egg. You almost can't go wrong with this one. Great flavor, great for shaping, and not messy. I think it's a win.

Yield: 6 medium brioche buns (or 12 smaller buns)

Ingredients:
3 - 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 Tbsp sugar
1 1/4 Tsp salt
1 tbsp instant yeast
3 large eggs*
1/4 cup milk
10 Tbsp butter
*You can save the white of a 4th egg to brush on the buns if you plan to top them with sugar

Directions:
1) In a mixer or bread machine (programmed for dough), mix together 3 cups of flour and the rest of the ingredients to form a smooth dough. It will be sticky at first and may require the extra 1/2 cup flour to make the dough come together if the conditions in your kitchen differ (temperature, humidity, etc). Remove from mixer and knead with your hands until silky smooth.

2) Form the dough into a ball. Place it in a greased bowl and let rise for ~1hr. Refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour (until chilled), or as long as overnight. This will slow the fermentation process and will make the dough easier to braid/shape.

3) Decide which shape you want. For this particular recipe, I took the dough out of the refrigerator and divided it into 6 pieces (you can do 12 smaller brioches).

A nice way to achieve the traditional brioche shape (there are multiple ways) is shown in the video below:

4) Place dough into greased pan(s) of your choice (classic ruffled brioche tins, or just muffin tins), cover lightly, and let rise in a warm place for 1.5-2hrs until doubled (it will look very puffy).

5) Preheat the oven to 375F. Right before the swirls are cooked, you can brush them with the egg white of a 4th egg and sprinkle sugar or cinnamon sugar on top.

6) Place buns (on cookie sheet) in oven and bake for about 30-35min. NOTE: every oven cooks differently, so watch your buns after 10 minutes. The buttery dough should be a golden/deep brown when done, and should sound hollow when tapped on the underside.

7) Remove buns from oven and, after a few minutes, transfer to rack for cooling.

NOTE: Due to lack of preservatives in the dough, the breads taste the best within the first few hours of baking. I would recommend freezing them if you plan to eat them more than one day after baking, as they will rapidly become stale.

     The first version of this bread that I made for my family was gently criticized for not having enough cinnamon. So, I took it upon myself to add more cinnamon everywhere. I put fresh ground cinnamon into the dry ingredients of the dough. I rolled cinnamon sugar into the ropes of dough before braiding, and then I topped the buns with cinnamon sugar just before baking. The result was significantly better. Here is what I did...

Yield: 12 buns

Ingredients:
3 - 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 Tbsp sugar
4-5 Tsp ground cinnamon (or to your preference)
1 1/4 Tsp salt
1 tbsp instant yeast
3 large eggs*
1/4 cup milk
10 Tbsp butter, softened
*You can save the white of a 4th egg to brush on the buns if you plan to top them with sugar or cinnamon sugar
Extra cinnamon sugar for garnishing (added before shaping the breads)

Directions:
1) In a mixer or bread machine (programmed for dough), mix together 3 cups of flour and the rest of the ingredients to form a smooth dough. Add the salt last when the dough begins to form ropes/clumps. The dough will be sticky at first and may require the extra 1/2 cup flour to make the dough come together if the conditions in your kitchen differ (temperature, humidity, etc). Remove from mixer and knead with your hands until silky smooth.

2) Form the dough into a ball. Place it in a greased bowl and let rise for ~1hr. Refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour (until chilled), or as long as overnight. This will slow the fermentation process and will make the dough easier to braid/shape.

3) Decide which shape you want. For this particular recipe, I took the dough out of the refrigerator and divided it into 12 pieces. I lightly patted the pieces into small rectangles and sprinkled them with a layer of cinnamon sugar. Then I rolled the rectangle into a long snake/rope shape (about 10-12" long). With some of these 'ropes,' I also made a separate batch and used half of the dough to make a larger, round "turban" shape.

Good examples of both techniques are shown in the videos below:

4) Place dough into greased pan(s) of your choice, cover lightly, and let rise in a warm place for 1.5-2hrs until doubled (it will look very puffy).

5) Preheat the oven to 375F. Right before the swirls are cooked, you can brush them with the egg white of a 4th egg and sprinkle sugar or cinnamon sugar on top.

6) Place swirls (on cookie sheet) in oven and bake for about 30-35min. NOTE: every oven cooks differently, so watch your swirls after 10 minutes. The buttery dough should be a golden/deep brown when done, and should sound hollow when tapped on the underside.

7) Remove buns from oven and, after a few minutes, transfer to rack for cooling.

NOTE: Due to lack of preservatives in the dough, the breads taste the best within the first few hours of baking. I would recommend freezing them if you plan to eat them more than one day after baking, as they will rapidly become stale.

     This is an American twist on a classic french bread. I came up with the idea when I was gathering my brioche ingredients and found a pack of Reese's mini peanut butter cups nearby. It is best to shape this bread when the dough is cold/chilled, as the chocolate will melt in warm dough and become kind of messy. This is a rich bread, but it's hard not to like unless you don't like peanut butter!

Yield: 6 medium brioches (or 12 small brioches)

Ingredients:
3 - 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 Tbsp sugar
6-8 mini Reeses peanut butter cups (or 2-3 regular peanut butter cups), chopped
1 1/4 Tsp salt
1 tbsp instant yeast
3 large eggs*
1/4 cup milk
10 Tbsp butter
*You can save the white of a 4th egg to brush on the buns if you plan to top them with sugar

Directions:
1) In a mixer or bread machine (programmed for dough), mix together 3 cups of flour and the rest of the ingredients to form a smooth dough. Add the salt last as the dough begins to form ropes/clumps. It will be sticky at first and may require the extra 1/2 cup flour to make the dough come together if the conditions in your kitchen differ (temperature, humidity, etc). Remove from mixer and knead with your hands until silky smooth.

2) Form the dough into a ball. Place it in a greased bowl and let rise for ~1hr. Refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour (until chilled), or as long as overnight. This will slow the fermentation process and will make the dough easier to braid/shape.

3) Decide which shape you want. For this particular recipe, I took the dough out of the refrigerator and divided it into 12 pieces (you can do six and make them bigger). It was at this point that I tucked the chopped Reese's peanut butter piece into the cold dough.

A good examples of the traditional brioche shaping technique is shown in the videos below:

4) Place the dough (now containing the Reese's) into greased pan(s) of your choice, cover lightly, and let rise in a warm place for 1.5-2hrs until doubled (it will look very puffy).

5) Preheat the oven to 375F. Right before the swirls are cooked, you can brush them with the egg white of a 4th egg and sprinkle sugar or cinnamon sugar on top.

6) Place swirls (on cookie sheet) in oven and bake for about 30-35min. NOTE: every oven cooks differently, so watch your swirls after 10 minutes. The buttery dough should be a golden/deep brown when done, and should sound hollow when tapped on the underside.

7) Remove buns from oven and, after a few minutes, transfer to rack for cooling.

NOTE: Due to lack of preservatives in the dough, the breads taste the best within the first few hours of baking. I would recommend freezing them if you plan to eat them more than one day after baking, as they will rapidly become stale.

     One of my Puerto Rican friends suggested I try to make this bread, so I did some research. Traditionally the bread is made into snail-like swirls, but I had a new square pan I wanted to use..so, naturally, mine were square. The dough has enough butter and eggs in it to resemble brioche, but by nature of its Puerto Rican origins, I can't call this brioche.

Yield: 12 buns

Ingredients:
4 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 1/4 Tsp instant yeast
1 cup milk
1 cup warm water
3/4 cup sugar
6 egg yolks
16 Tbsp butter, melted

Directions:
1) In a mixing bowl, add water and milk. Then add yeast, sugar, and 1 cup of the flour and stir. Set aside this mixture for 45-60 minutes.

2) Add the egg yolks to the mixture, and stir, blending very well. Continue to stir and add the rest of the flour one cup at a time.

3) Add 8 Tbsp melted butter and mix until butter is incorporated and dough is sticky. Cover and set aside until dough has doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

4) Transfer dough to lightly floured work area. Divide dough into 12 pieces.
For swirls: Roll or pat each piece into a rough rectangle. Paint the top surface of rounds with remaining melted butter, and roll into a long rope. Form the rope into a coil, with the inner end tucked in. Place on a lightly greased cookie sheet.
For buns: flatten pieces into rounds. Paint top surface of rounds with remaining melted butter. Roll the rounds into balls and place in a lightly greased muffin/baking/cookie sheet.

5) Cover and let rolls rise until they have doubled in size.

6) Preheat oven to 375F and bake for about 12-15 minutes. Cool on cooling rack and dust with powdered sugar. NOTE: every oven cooks differently, so watch your buns after 10 minutes. The buttery dough should be a golden/deep brown when done, and should sound hollow when tapped on the underside.

NOTE: Due to lack of preservatives in the dough, the breads taste the best within the first few hours of baking. I would recommend freezing them if you plan to eat them more than one day after baking, as they will rapidly become stale.