Ensaymada

• servings: 8
• active time: 45 minutes
• total time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Ingredients

Brioche Dough

2 cups flour

3 eggs

½ cup butter, room temperature

2 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp milk

1 tbsp vanilla extract

1½ tsp instant dry yeast

1 tsp salt

Frosting

½ cup butter, room temperature

½ cup powdered sugar (granulated fine but requires more mixing)

½ - 1 cup salty cheddar cheese, grated (edam, cheddar, gouda, etc)

Directions

For the dough, add the flour, sugar, yeast, and salt to a large bowl and mix the dry ingredients until well combined. Add the eggs, vanilla extract, and milk, and mix again. Next, knead the dough for 5-10 minutes, adding the butter in small increments. Then knead again for 15-20 minutes, or until the dough passes the windowpane test. This can be done with a stand or hand mixer (low speed), or by hand. If you’re doing it by hand, you don’t need to go until the dough passes the windowpane test, just until everything is well combined and the gluten is developed. You’ll sacrifice the texture slightly, but it will take way too long by hand.

Scrape the sides of the bowl and form the dough into a ball. Cover the bowl and place it in the fridge to proof overnight. The slow proof will allow the yeast to develop more flavor in the dough, and chilling will make it easier to work with for shaping.

The day of baking, divide the dough into 10-20 even pieces. Take a piece and roll it out in a thin rectangle and get it as thin as you reasonably can. Fold the edges into the middle hot-dog style, then roll it into a tight tube along the length (or do whatever you want really). Form the rest of your dough pieces and place them into well greased muffin tins or muffin pans. Cover with a towel and allow them to rise for about 30 minutes at room temperature, or until they’ve roughly doubled in size.

Once they’ve risen, bake the brioche dough at 350 F for about 15 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown. Adjust this time as needed depending on how big or small you’ve made your pieces. Allow them to cool before topping with frosting.

Cream the butter and sugar together using a whisk, then slather it evenly on the tops of the bread. Add a generous heap of cheese, using the frosting to hold it in place. Serve at room temperature and enjoy!

Notes

A brioche bread with a buttercream icing, finished with grated salty cheddar cheese. This dish originated in Spain and spread through its former colonies. The recipe listed here is the version most commonly made in the Philippines, with butter as the fat of choice for the bread. This is a fairly lightly flavored dish with simple components, but they each compliment each other very well. It’s hard to stop yourself from eating these, but they are very rich so they’re best shared with others.