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Sticky Date Brioche

  • Serves: 16
  • Prep time: 1 hour 20 minutes, plus 2.5 hours’ rising
  • Cooking time: 30–40 minutes
  • Origin: Broadsheet

Ingredients

  • 125ml whisky
  • 12 medjool dates, seeds removed and finely chopped
  • 3 tsp instant yeast
  • 600g plain flour
  • 250ml milk, lukewarm
  • 90g salted butter, softened and cubed
  • 110g soft brown sugar
  • 1 tsp fine salt
  • 4 egg yolks
  • 30g salted butter, melted
  • 1 egg, whisked, for glazing

Butterscotch sauce

90g salted butter 330g soft brown sugar 250ml pouring cream

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. In a small saucepan over low heat, warm milk (2 cups), butter (2 tbsp), vanilla (1 tsp), sugar (1/3 cup), and salt (pinch). Cook until butter melts. Cool.
  3. Butter a 4-to-6-cup baking dish and fill it with cubed bread (5-6 cups).
  4. Add eggs to cooled milk mixture and whisk. Pour mixture over bread.

  5. Bake for 30 to 45 minutes, or until custard is set but still a little wobbly and edges of bread have browned. Serve warm or at room temperature.

  6. Heat the whisky (125ml) and the dates (12) in a small saucepan with the lid on over medium heat until steaming, then set aside to cool.

  7. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook combine the yeast (3 tsp) and flour (600g). With the mixer on low, slowly pour in the lukewarm milk (250ml) until it’s all combined. Next, add the softened butter (90g) a little at a time until incorporated into the dough. Add the sugar (110g), salt (1 tsp) and whisky and date mixture, then the egg yolks (4), one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Continue to mix on low until the texture is smooth and stretchy, around 8 minutes.
  8. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and leave to rise for 2 hours in a warm place; it should double in size.
  9. Grease a 24cm x 38cm oval cake tin, 4cm deep, with butter and dust with some flour, tapping out any excess.
  10. Knead the dough again for a few minutes then divide it into 16 portions. Roll each portion into a ball and place in the cake tin. Brush each ball generously with melted butter (30g).
  11. Cover with plastic wrap and let the dough rise again for 30 minutes.
  12. Preheat the oven to 180°C fan-forced.
  13. After the dough has risen again, press your fingertips into it to create cavities and allow the melted butter to sink in.
  14. Brush the balls of dough with the whisked egg (1) and bake for 30–40 minutes, or until the brioche is golden brown.
  15. When the brioche is almost cooked, make the butterscotch sauce. Place the butter (30g) and sugar (330g) in a medium saucepan over high heat and stir until melted and paste-like. Gradually add the cream (250ml), stirring to combine.
  16. Bring to the boil and cook for 6–8 minutes, or until thickened slightly.
  17. While the brioche is still hot, cut it into 16 pieces in the tin.
  18. Slowly pour half the hot butterscotch sauce over the brioche, letting it soak into the cuts.
  19. Place the remaining sauce in a jug to serve alongside the brioche. Ice-cream encouraged.