I am in my third month of sitting at home without a job and starting to understand why my dog chews the bathroom carpet. We have talked about it and come to the conclusion that we should go on more walks. One of these days I swear that he will answer me and then, well, then I don’t even know.
Let’s make some poppy seed dark chocolate buns instead!
I try to occupy myself with recipe development and home projects but it is hard to stay energized while not really doing anything. As a very active person, I am having a hard time not going out and communicating and just being out. If it were summer, I would’ve already set some kind of record for a bicycle ride after pizza or the longest sunbathing in one day. But with all the snow and the darkness and mushy salty streets, it is even better to stay in.
Wow, I did not mean to sound so depressing. It is actually quite romantic being inside with warm poppy seed dark chocolate buns, a cup of coffee, and a movie. Don’t get me wrong. These are similar to ones that every kid had in their childhood while growing up here. They were also sold in the school cafeteria. I decided to go for a dark chocolate glaze topped with white chocolate because milk chocolate is usually too sweet for me. So these turned out to be on the medium side. Also, I used chocolate that is made especially for baking needs. It has stabilizing additives that will make sure that you don’t end up with a sticky mess. I accidentally left the buns out on the table during the night and they didn’t melt one bit. And it is relatively warm in my apartment. Also, baker’s chocolate is usually cheaper.
I drizzled these puffy brioche dough poppy seed dark chocolate buns with some white chocolate just for the fun of it. We do eat with our eyes. And the little sweetness in the white chocolate went together with the dark one really well. Remember when I made these matcha white chocolate poppy seed buns? These too were a variation of the Babka. Miniature version. I was thinking of making a proper Babka and cover it in chocolate but decided on individually sized buns instead.
Poppy seed dark chocolate buns
Ingredients
Brioche dough
- 10 g dry active yeast
- 70 g sugar
- 200 g warm milk
- 2 egg yolks
- 8 g salt
- 70 g salt
- 450 g all purpose flour plus more for dusting
Poppy seed filling
- 100 g melted butter
- 100 g powdered sugar
- 100 g poppy seeds may be less or more
Chocolate glaze
- 200 g dark chocolate
- 100 g white chocolate
- 150 g milk
Instructions
- In a bowl mix the milk with the sugar and yeast and let it start bubbling slightly
- Add the rest of the ingredients and knead for 2 minutes until somewhat smooth
- Place in a buttered or oiled bowl, cover and let rise for 2 hours in a warm place
- Make the filling by mixing the butter with the powdered sugar
- Preheat your oven to 180°C
- When the dough has doubled, punch it down and place on a floured surface
- Divide into 12 equal pieces, roll each into a ball
- Roll each piece into a rectangle, smear with the filling and sprinkle with poppy seeds
- Next, roll into a log, cut in half, braid and knot, just like making a Babka
- Place each bun on a parchment covered sheet pan and let rise for 20 minutes before baking
- Bake in the oven for 15 minutes, then take out
- Cover the pan and the buns with foil and bake for 20 minutes
- Remove from the oven and let cool
- Meanwhile make the glaze
- Add 50 g of the milk to the white chocolate and 100 g to the dark chocolate
- Melt each in a water bath, double boiler
- Once the buns have cooled, dip into the dark chocolate and place on a wire rack to set
- After 10 minutes take a spoon or a spatula and drip the white chocolate over the buns
- As you can see this is a very artistic process, abstract even