Brioche Col Tuppo (Sicilian Brioche)

Combine milk, water and honey in the bowl of a stand mixer. Whisk in yeast, and let sit for 20 minutes.

Add orange zest, vanilla, white sugar, eggs, melted butter, salt, and 4 1/2 cups flour. Use the dough hook to knead on low speed until mixture comes together, scraping sides of bowl as necessary.

Increase speed one setting, and continue to knead until a soft, smooth, very elastic dough forms, 8 to 10 minutes. If dough seems very wet, and won’t pull away from the sides of bowl after about 5 minutes, add a little more flour in as needed. But, be careful not to add too much, or the brioche will be dry.

Transfer dough to a work surface and shape into a ball. Transfer into a lightly buttered bowl, cover, and let rise until doubled in size, about 2 hours.

Transfer dough back to the work surface, press out air, and shape into a uniform log shape. Cut into 8 equal portions. For best results, use a digital scale to weigh dough, and then divide by 8, to get perfectly sized portions.

After dividing, take each portion and cut off 15 to 20% of the dough, to use to make the smaller “tuppo” bun on top. For uniform portions, weigh each portion in grams, and then multiply by 0.17. That will be the amount that you should cut off the portion. My portions came out to 140 grams each, and 17% of that was 24 grams, which is the size I used for the “tuppo."

Line a baking sheet with a silpat sheet. Roll each of the 8 larger portions into a smooth ball. Place balls seam side down on the prepared baking sheet. Roll the smaller portions into smooth balls, and set on the baking sheet.

Very lightly flour your index fingers, and use them to make a deep well in the center of each of the larger bun, into which you will place the tuppo. Before placing it, squeeze one end of the tuppo into a pointed shape to make it fit better. For best results, assemble one bun at a time. Lightly press to settle the tuppo into the bottom bun, so that it is attached, with half the tuppo above the surface of the bun, and half tucked inside.

Once all buns are formed, place baking sheet into a turned-off oven to proof until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Brush buns  gently but thoroughly with egg wash.

Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove to cool for about 5 minutes before transferring buns to a cooling rack to cool completely.