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Giving gingerbread a roll….

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Gingerbread Brioche Lemon Buns are gingerbread brioche filled with lemon sugar and topped with a tangy lemon sauce.

I had mentioned that the idea of using the pumpkin brioche to make cinnamon rolls sounded good to me….and it still does.

But I found a recipe for Gingerbread Brioche, and so you know I had to give that a try!

I decided that the gingerbread brioche is what I would make into buns.

I wanted to do something less traditional.

Around last Christmas, my friend M brought gingerbread with a lovely lemon sauce to Book Club as her treat.

And what a treat it was.

I had never had lemon sauce with gingerbread before.

My mom always served it with whipped cream (nothing wrong with that!) and once you get in a rut, you get in a rut.

So I thought, how can I incorporate that into a bun?

I made the brioche as the recipe called for but made a lemon sugar for the filling and a lemon sauce to go over the top of them.

These Gingerbread Lemon Brioche Buns are soft, spicy, tangy and tasty all “rolled” into one.

Be warned: This dough is not like normal brioche.

It is sticky and doesn’t like to play nice, but the end result is worth it.

Things to Remember when Baking with Yeast:

  • Don’t be afraid of it: A lot of people are intimidated by yeast and end up not making yummy recipes because of it.
  • If your yeast baked goods are not rising it is most likely two culprits: You didn’t check the expiration date.
    The expiration date is important and not a guideline. Yeast is a living thing and it does expire. So always check the date.
  • The other big killer of yeast is water way too hot:
    If it’s too hot for you to touch, then it’s too hot for the yeast.
  • Dough not rising and you checked the date and you didn’t use too hot of water/milk? Most likely it’s just cooler in your house then you realize. My yeast bakes always take longer to rise if I don’t use my proofer.

P.S. It’s a great day to buy my cookbook Holy Sweet!

Want more Sweet Roll recipes?

Lemon Poppyseed Sweet Rolls

Bourbon Butterscotch Sweet Rolls

Chocolate Clementine Sweet Rolls

Bourbon Brown Sugar Caramel Peach Sweet Rolls

Gingerbread Lemon Brioche Buns

Gingerbread Lemon Brioche Buns

Ingredients

  • For the sponge:
  • ½ cup whole milk, room temperature
  • 1 TBSP dry active yeast
  • 2 TBSP sugar
  • ½ cup bread flour
  • For the dough:
  • 1/3 cup unsulfured black-strap molasses
  • 3 TBSP packed light brown sugar
  • 2 TBSP ground ginger(may seem like a lot but this makes a lot of dough)
  • 1 TBSP ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
  • ¼ tsp ground allspice
  • ¼ tsp ground cloves
  • 3 ½ ¢â¬â€œ 4 cups bread flour
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 6 large eggs, slightly beaten
  • 9 ounces unsalted butter, softened but still cool
  • For the Filling:
  • Filling:
  • 3 TBSP unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1 cup of sugar rubbed with the zest of one large lemon
  • For the Lemon Sauce:
  • 1 TBSP cornstarch
  • ½ cup sugar
  • dash of salt
  • 1 cup boiling water
  • juice of one large lemon
  • zest of on large lemon

Instructions

  1. For the Sponge:

    2. Combine milk and yeast in the mixing bowl of a standing mixer.

    Whisk and let sit for 5 minutes.

    Add flour and sugar, mix to form a thick batter.

    Cover with plastic wrap and let rest at room temperature for 30-45 minutes, until bubbles form.

    For the Dough:

    Add the molasses, brown sugar, spice, flour, and salt to the sponge.

    Add the eggs.

    Beat with the paddle attachment on low speed for 2 minutes, until the eggs are absorbed. Increase the speed to medium and knead the dough for 5 minutes.(It doesn’t say to do it, but I switch to the dough hook at this point).

    The dough will be sticky.

    Hold the mixer when necessary if it starts to dance on you.

    Turn the machine down to medium low speed and add the butter, 2 TBSP at a time.

    Knead for another 5 minutes, until the dough is shiny.

    Scrape out the dough and clean and lightly oil the bowl. Don’t worry if the dough is difficult to work with(it will be).

    Place the dough in the bowl then turn it over so that the top is oiled.

    Cover with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature for 2 hours, until doubled.

    When dough is has doubled in volume, punch it down by folding it two or three times.

    Cover and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.

    After the second rise, the dough is ready to be shaped.

    Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface.

    Using a rolling pin, roll it into a rectangle approximately 12 by 16 inches.

    Use a pastry brush(or your hands if you like to get messy) to spread 3 TBSP of butter around the rolled out dough, leaving an 1-inch margin at the top edge with no butter.

    Sprinkle filling evenly over the surface, again leaving the 1-inch margin.

    Starting from the long side closest to you, roll up the dough like a jellyroll.

    Transfer the log to a baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap and freeze for 10 minutes. This will make cutting the buns clean and even.

    Remove from freezer, cut buns into 1 ½-inch pieces, you should get around 12.

    Place them back onto a greased baking pan.

    Spread out so they are not touching.

    Wrap with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature for 1 ½ to 2 hours.

    Preheat the oven to 400F.

    Bake buns for 10 minutes and reduce heat to 350F.

    Bake for another 10-15 minutes depending on the size of your buns.

    Allow to cool for 10 minutes.

    For the Lemon Sauce:

    Combine cornstarch, sugar and salt in a sauce pan.

    Add boiling water to it and bring to a boil, stirring constantly; cook until thickened.

    Remove from heat and stir in juice and zest.

    Pour lemon sauce over buns and serve warm.

© Peabody

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Comments

  3. I have made Sherry’s gingerbread brioche in the past and loved it, but this….this is something I had never dreamt of doing with it. Now I am drooling all over the place. BEAUTIFUL!
    I HIGHLY reccomend Desserts by the yard. I picked it up 2 weeks ago and have already baked my way through 7 recipes. She’s so awesome.

    Reply

  4. I love Sherry Yard. Her Secrets of Baking book has been instrumental in understanding the different pillars of baking. And and Desserts by the Yard is a must have book this year.

    Reply

  7. Well, I suppose I will have to this too! But not tonight exactly! It does look lovely.
    My book hasn’t arrived yet. I suppose I will be wanting her other book too. You are a very bad influence for me!

    Reply

  9. you definitely made the right decision to wait on making “Pumpkin-Brioche-Type-Cinnamon-Rolls” – these Gingerbread Brioche Buns with Lemon Sauce look positively marvelous!

    Reply

  14. I have never seen a gingerbread roll like that. Just drool worthy. I am a big fan of Marcel too, so I just added that new Christmas book of his you mentioned to my wish list too.

    Reply

  18. That is a wonderful flavor combo! Yum…I’ve never been big on gingerbread, but I think I’d love it with lemon. Must check out Sherry Yard’s books. I’m anxious to see what you bake from Marcel’s.
    Julie

    Reply

  19. It’s awful torment to look at your blog before breakfast. I want those rolls NOW! Gingerbread brioche with lemon sauce – I’m knee deep in a puddle of drool.

    Reply

  22. The combo sounds interesting since I’ve never had anything but cream with them either. My tastebuds are actually doing that watery reaction thing. Hilarious!

    Reply

  23. Gingerbread and lemon sauce is one of my favorite winter desserts, but have not made it in a while. The brioche rolled with lemon sugar sounds divine. Great photos, too.

    Reply

  24. I’ve been trying for days to make a gingerbread that I love, but I can’t seem to get the taste right. I really like the idea of making them into rolls, so I’ll have to try these this weekend.

    Reply

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