Lemon Brioche Rolls

I've seen these recipe a few times on the internet recently and decided to give it a try. I love brioche dough- which is basically a french bread with more eggs and butter in the dough and an egg wash brushed on before baking. I looked at a few different websites here and here to see how the recipe panned out and then baked them up. Here is the recipe, with a few added pointers of my own:



1 cup whole milk
1/4 cup sugar4 eggs (room temp)
3 1/2 - 3 3/4 cups bread flour
1 tablespoon instant yeast (I used Red Star Quick Rise Instant Yeast, 1 packet + a little more)
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups soft butter (unsalted)
1 1/4 cup lemon curd (recipe below)
3 tablespoon powdered sugar
egg wash - 1 egg and 1 tablespoon water



-Pour milk into a saucepan and heat till lukewarm. (about 100 degrees)In a large bowl add sugar and warm milk. add 1 cup of flour, mix till smooth.
-add lightly beaten eggs and mix completely.
-add in instant yeast and another cup of flour. continue to mix.
-add in salt and a half a cup of flour. mix till the dough comes together.
-add a little flour on a flat surface and pour out the dough. (i just kept the dough in my kitchenaid and kneaded it that way for the next step rather than doing it by hand- use can also use a bosch)
-knead dough for 3 minutes adding just a little bit of flour at a time. you want the dough to be on the sticky side. the dough will stick to your hands a little. just add a little flour to your hands and continue to knead. the dough will become a little easier to handle as you knead.place dough back into bowl.
-add a 1/4 of the soft butter to the and mix together by hand (still using my kitchenaid).
-once the butter is completely incorporated add another 1/4 of butter, continue till all 1 1/2 c. of the butter is mixed in. (again, i just did this in my kitchenaid and it worked great.)
-cover bowl with plastic wrap and place into fridge for 4 hours or overnight.
-after resting time sprinkle a little flour on a flat surface and place dough on top. cut dough in half and set one piece aside.roll out dough into a 15 inch diameter circle. using a pizza cutter, cut dough into eight triangular pieces.
-add a heaping tablespoon of lemon curd to the base of the triangle. start from the base of the triangle roll each one up and curve into a crescent shape, pinch the ends closed. (when I had each triangle cut out, I made a 1/2" cut along the base before I put the curd on- similar to this picture but just a cut, not a notch.

-place onto a parchment lined cookie sheet. Repeat with other half of dough. cover with plastic wrap for 45 minutes.

-brush with egg wash. bake in a preheated 350F oven for 15-17 minutes. allow to cool on a wire rack. then sift a little powdered sugar on top.

lemon curd

zest of 4 lemons

1/2 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice

1 1/4 cups suga1

1 stick unsalted butter (room temp)

4 large eggs (room temp) -- a trick for this is if you have eggs right out of the fridge, put them in a bowl of warm water to bring them up to room temp.--

1/8 tsp salt

put the zest and sugar in food processor and pulse until combined and zest is broken down. put lemon sugar and butter into mixer and cream. add the eggs one at a time and mix until combined. add lemon juice and salt and mix a little while longer.pour into a sauce pan and heat on low until mixture reaches 175 degrees. (i just did it till it started bubbling and getting thick) cool curd to room temp before you add to the rolls.

Take me out to the ballgame....

The other night we all went to a baseball game at Coors Field. It was the Rockies vs. the Padres. Someone caught a homerun only a couple of rows in front of us! Hannah especially liked seeing the mascot, Dinger the Dinosaur. She also enjoyed dancing in the stands to all of the little jingles they played on the loudspeaker. I like this picture because I think she actually looks like me. For a long time she looked so much like Ryan.

What's a baseball game without treats?

to the dentist

Hannah went to the dentist for the first time this week. The morning started out all wrong when she refused to wear her jeans because "they make me look like a boy" and instead said "I want to wear stretch pants because they're for girls." I don't know where she got this. But she has probably inherited that from Ryan because he also hates to wear jeans. She threw several fits after breakfast, but when she got loaded up in the car everything was fine. We went to a pediatric office, so they were really geared to kids and Hannah had a great time picking a toothbrush, a flavor of polish (bubble-gum, yuck!), and she was so good to open her mouth. I was laughing so hard when they squirted the water into her mouth and did the suction. She really liked that part. Afterwards she got to pick a toy and some Dora trading cards. Pretty exciting. On the drive home she said to me "Mom, I want to be a dentist when I grow up."

California

We had a jam-packed trip this past weekend to visit our friends in California. We barely escaped a huge Denver snowstorm that threatened to cancel our flight. Instead, our flight home was cancelled due to mechanical problems so we ended up staying an extra couple of days. Our fun included visiting our old ward, Disneyland twice, the beach twice, going to parks, experiencing an earthquake while in a movie theatre watching a movie about the end of the world (crazy), yummy milkshakes, Tami's baby shower, but best of all was visiting with our friends. We miss you already!

things can get pretty silly with 4 girls

beach fun

always on her tip-toes

Disneyland

obligatory visit to In-N-Out.....Rachel and Tami always indulge me

on the tram to Disneyland

Disney's California Adventure- it was so hot that day!

Redondo Beach

We just got home from a terrific vacation to California. It was so much fun that I have decided to do nothing today (except laundry) and instead catch up on some rest. But here is a picture of Hannah at the beach- one of the many fun things we did.

3 days of crazy Easter fun!

Besides planting Easter grass, our first activity was an egg hunt at Cook Park with Hannah's friend Brewer. Here they are waiting on the bench for the fun to begin.

Hannah was the first one racing out the door to fill up her Easter basket. There was no limit so the kids pretty much went crazy. We brought home a ton of eggs and candy. She especially liked finding M & M's, one of her favorites.

Got a blue one!

This is so much fun!

I love Easter!

Her first meeting with the Easter Bunny. She would only sit next to him and give him a high five.

Meeting #2 was at the Children's Museum on Saturday. We had fun doing all of the projects there. It was way too crowded so I couldn't wait to get out of there!

Hannah decorated a basket, died an egg, and made these cute bunny ears.

Decorating eggs at home with Dad

Easter breakfast was french toast shaped like chicks and bunnies.

Ready for church!

When Hannah woke up she went on an egg hunt around the apartment. The Easter Bunny/Ryan had hidden them for her to find. She was so excited, even though each egg only had 2 mini M&M's in it! After she found them, then she went on a treasure hunt with clues to find her basket. Growing up, my parents always hid our baskets and I remember having a lot of fun trying to find them. One memorable year was when it was in the dryer! Instead of candy, Hannah gots some chick stickers and a little wind-up rabbit and an Easter book of "Max & Ruby." We spent the night watching "Bee Movie". It was a great day.

What?

This was one of the prizes in an egg that Hannah found at the Cook Park egg hunt. What? This must be a leftover from a party in 1999. It made me laugh.