We’re making ice cream sandwiches next – not just any ol’ ice cream sandwiches but fancy ones, with brioche instead of cookies.
Posting date is August 16!
Brioche Ice Cream Sandwiches
Author:
Serves: 12 ice cream sandwiches
Ingredients
- For the Brioche
- 1¾ teaspoons instant yeast
- 2¾ cups (385 g) bread flour
- ¼ cup (60 ml) whole milk, at room temperature
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 4 large eggs, at room temperature
- 10 ounces (2½ sticks/285 g) unsalted butter, softened, cut into 2-tablespoon-size pieces, plus more for the pan
- For the Assembly
- 1 recipe Brown Sugar Praline Ice Cream (see page 59), or 2 to 3 pints (946 ml to 1.4 L) of your favorite ice cream or gelato
Instructions
Make the Brioche
- In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, stir together the yeast with ½ cup (70 grams) of the bread flour. Add the milk, and mix on low speed until combined. Turn off the mixer, cover the mixing bowl with plastic wrap, and set aside for 45 to 60 minutes so the mixture can ferment.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar and salt with the remaining bread flour.
- Replace the paddle attachment with the dough hook. Add the flour mixture and eggs to the bowl. Mix on low the speed for 1 minute, then increase the speed to medium-high. Mix until a dough forms and begins to pull cleanly from the sides and bottom of the bowl, 8 to 10 minutes. At this point, the dough will have a nice sheen and look very elastic.
- With the mixer running on medium-high, slowly add the butter, one chunk at a time, waiting for each addition to incorporate before adding the next piece. After all the butter has been added, keep mixing until the dough is smooth and uniform. This whole process should take anywhere from 7 to 10 minutes. Remove the dough hook, use your hands to scrape any dough on the hook back into the bowl, cover the bowl lightly with plastic, and place it in a draft-free environment until the dough doubles in volume, between 1 hour and 1 hour 30 minutes. While the dough is rising, butter a standard 12-cup muffin tin.
- Use a dough scraper to scrape the light, silky dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead the dough by hand for about a minute, folding it in half and then over itself. Divide the dough into 12 equal portions (use a scale if you have one), about 2½ ounces (70 g) each. Form each piece into a ball by rolling it on the counter between your thumb and fingers; don’t incorporate too much flour, as the dough should retain a little bit of stickiness. Place each ball in a greased muffin cup. The dough might pop over the top of the tin by about ½ inch (12 mm) or so. Cover the muffin pan lightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 8 hours (or overnight).
- Prior to baking, remove the dough from the refrigerator and let it sit at room temperature for at least 90 minutes, but no more than 2 hours. At this point, the dough may have risen a full inch (2.5 cm) over the top of the tin. During the last 30 minutes of the rise, preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C).
- Bake the brioches until the crust is golden and the bread is cooked all the way through, 12 to 18 minutes; the internal temperature should hover near 195°F (90°C) on an instant-read thermometer. If the crusts brown too quickly before the center of the bread is ready, cover the tops of the bread with foil until finished baking.
- Allow the bread to cool for a few minutes and pop the individual brioches out of the pan.
Assemble the Ice Cream Sandwiches
- Slice each brioche in half (slightly warm is divine, though room temperature is fine), separating the “muffin top” from the bottom. Place one generous scoop, about ¾ cup (180 ml), of ice cream on the flat surface of the bottom of the muffin and sandwich it with the top. Serve immediately. We have also been known to toast the brioche before filling it; this is a must-try at least once in your life.
Notes
[i]How to store:[/i] If you want to make the sandwiches ahead to serve later, it is better to freeze the components individually rather than in sandwich form. Wrap the completely cooled brioches in foil and freeze until ready to use. Bring the brioches back to room temperature before filling with ice cream.
I’m trying to figure out the timing for getting the brioche dough in the fridge, but also having good lighting for photos (my kitchen lighting is terrible at night!). Do you think the dough can stay in the fridge for about 16 hours? I’m not sure if there’s an upper limit…
It should be fine for that amount of time.
When I tested these for the book, I made a video on how to form the brioche balls: https://flic.kr/p/fU7X9n
Shoot! I wish I had seen that before– my dough was a mess. It seemed completely fine, up until the first rise. It was a buttery mess when I scraped it out of the bowl to roll the balls! I have zero idea what I did wrong, but I baked off the “balls” anyway. The buns tasted good, but the texture was all wrong. No time to re-bake this week, but they were edible!