Lyon Pink Praline Brioche
So airy and soft, this speciality brioche bread of Lyon, France, is marbled with crushed Pink Praline candy, an indigenous creation from the 1600’s.
Lyon, the second largest city in France, located in southeastern France, is responsible for the “Pink” of this brioche. This bright pink praline mixture of almonds and sugar has been the city's and region's speciality since the 17th century, when it was invented. Alarming when spotted from a distance, (that bright pink item in the bakery windows) it is a lovely soft brioche bread marbled with the pink pralines for which Lyon is known and is a unique delight not to be missed! You don’t have to fly to Lyon to sample it but you may want to fly the authentic pink pralines to you in order to create this authentic tasting experience!
Lyon Pink Praline Brioche
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon of yeast
3 1/2 tablespoons room-temperature water
1 tablespoon sugar
3/4 cups of soft unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks)
225 grams of pink pralines (about 1 1/2 cups)
About 12 hours before baking the brioche:
-In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the flour, sugar, salt, eggs, yeast, and water. Mix for about 4 minutes until smooth. Change to the kneading hook attachment and continue to mix for another 4 minutes as you slowly incorporate walnut-sized chunks of the butter into the dough. After adding the butter, let dough knead for an additional 4 - 5 minutes. (The dough will be very soft and sticky. Do not add more flour. It is supposed to be this way.)
-Place the smooth and supple dough into a greased bowl, cover with a cloth and place in the fridge. Let rest in the fridge for 10 - 12 hours. Remove when ready to continue with the recipe.
-Crush the pralines using a mortar and pestle or by placing them in a plastic bag and pounding with a rolling pin or the bottom of a saucepan until coarsely crushed. There should be many crumbs but also bigger pieces of the pralines about the size of a green pea. Set aside.
-Place the chilled dough on a floured surface and roll it out into a 1/2 inch thick square (about 8 x inches). Use flour if dough is too sticky, but use it as sparingly as possible. I like to roll my dough out on a lightly floured piece of waxed paper or parchment paper.
-Sprinkle the crushed pralines in the center and fold the four corners of the dough up and over the square to meet in the center, enclosing the praline bits. Give the corners a good pinch to keep them together.
-Now, dust the work surface with flour with each turn. Roll out the praline dough as you would for puff pastry, into a rectangular shape. Fold one short edge up over the dough so that 1/3 of the dough rectangle is still exposed. Then take that edge and fold it over the bottom edge which was folded, up, as you would fold a fold a letter for a standard enveloped. Turn the dough so it is facing you with a short edge and roll it out into a rectangle again. Repeat this process one more time which will spread the praline candies throughout the dough.
-Preheat the oven to 115 degrees fahrenheit.
-Fold the four corners of the praline dough towards the center, pressing firmly. Hold the 4 remaining corners, then flip the bread dough over and shape it into a ball by rotating the dough on the work surface between your hands.
-Place the dough ball on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, smooth side up and let it rise in the warm oven for 45 minutes, until at least doubled in size.
-Remove the risen dough from the oven then increase the oven heat to 325 degrees F. Once the temperature is reached, put the baking sheet with the brioche back in and bake for about 35 minutes, until browned or when an internal temperature of 180 - 190 degrees is reached. Remove from the oven and allow to sit about 15 minutes before serving.
-Enjoy warm or cold within 3 to 4 days (store leftovers in an airtight container). Serves 6 - 8
Combine dough ingredients in stand mixer and combine until smooth. Beat and knead in butter.
Place dough in a greased bowl, Cover and chill in the fridge about 12 hours.
Roll dough out into a square about ½ inch thick.
Mound the pralines into the center of the dough. Bring the 4 corners of the square up and over the pralines so that they are enclosed, then press the corners firmly together.
Roll the dough out into a rectangle to spread out the pralines.
Fold the dough into 3rds as you would for a letter, then roll out again into a rectangle.
Bring the 4 corners together, then flip dough over onto the working surface.
Shape the dough into a ball and place onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Let rise in the low oven for 45 minutes or until doubled.
Test to see if bread has risen enough by poking a hole in it. The hole should slowly fill back in if prooved enough.
Bake brioche until browned but still tender in the middle,
Serve brioche warm or cold.
Pink Pralines from Lyon
PERSNICKETY NOTES:
*When making brioche you may feel that you need to add more flour to the sticky dough. Resist the temptation. A bit of flour to help you handle it is okay to use. But you will find the dough will be less sticky after sitting in the fridge for the 10 hours suggested.
*You can order pink pralines from Amazon, imported from France. I only ordered one package which was just less than 1 cup (145 grams - the recipe calls for 225 grams) and I wished I had ordered more. The ones made in Lyon are actually more pink than my version above. When I make it in the future, I will order more pralines.
https://www.amazon.com/Pink-crushed-pralines-145-g/dp/B01CDEQDP6
*There are recipes online for creating your own pink pralines but the process is tedious and difficult to follow. You may want to try using regular homemade almond pralines, but you won’t have the pink color, even if you add food coloring. I tried and It comes out a brownish red. But if you don’t care about the color, you can use purchased or homemade almond pralines. After all, the color has nothing to do with the flavor, which is paramount!
