Preserved Lemon Butter

250g softened butter

4 lemon (zested)

100g preserved lemon + a bit of the oil

200g brown sugar

Pinch of salt

Combine all ingredients & mix

English Cream

150 g of whole milk

100g of fresh liquid cream

70 g of egg yolks (about 4)

40 g of sugar

grated peel of a lemon

1 pinch of salt

Cardamom (cca 7g) smashed in mortar

First of all, heat the milk, cream, and cardamom over a low heat.

Then separately, beat the egg yolks with the sugar and the previously grated lemon peel with a fork. Please beat lightly, without incorporating air, so avoid whisks.

When milk and cream have come to the boil, remove from the heat and slowly add to the egg yolks, filtering them while pouring them in slowly.

Finally, place the egg and milk mixture on the heat and mix very slowly with the 

spatula, until you obtain a smooth cream.

Continue cooking until it reaches 82° if you have a kitchen thermometer

Then filter the cream obtained again into a clean and very cold bowl, place foil on surface (contact) to avoid a crust

Lemon Brioche

240g milk

50g + 490 g flour

4 large eggs + extra for brushing

Vanilla extract 

2 tbsp olive oil

100g sugar 

10g salt

6g yeast (dry)

113g butter (cold)

1 zest of lemon

1/2 vanilla bean

Process:

Make the tangzhong: Combine the milk and the 50g  flour in a medium saucepan and whisk until smooth. Place the saucepan over medium heat and cook, whisking constantly, until the mixture begins to thicken, about 2 minutes. Continue to whisk vigorously, making sure to scrape along the bottom curve of the saucepan, until the mixture is very thick and looks like smooth mashed potatoes, about 20 seconds longer. Leave to cool completely.

Combine tangzhong with eggs, lemon zest, tonka & mix well. Then add the rest of the dry ingredients. Mix at low speed until combined.

Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a bowl scraper or flexible spatula, then mix on medium-low, scraping down the sides once or twice more, until the dough is smooth, firm and very elastic, 12 to 15 minutes. It will have gathered around the hook but still cling to the slides and bottom of the bowl, and have a mostly tacky, not sticky, texture.

Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add half of the chilled butter pieces and mix on low speed until the butter pieces have incorporated into the dough, about 5 minutes. Stop the mixer, scrape down the sides again, and add the remaining butter. Mix on low until all the butter is completely incorporated, add a splash of egg yolk for elasticity with the butter. The dough should no longer stick to the sides of the bowl and will have a very smooth, supple appearance. Increase the speed to medium-low and continue to mix until the dough is extremely elastic, another 10 to 15 minutes.

Test the dough: To see if the dough has built sufficient strength and elasticity — which it will need to expand to its maximum volume in the oven. windowpane test: Pinch off a golf ball-size piece of dough, and use your thumbs to flatten it and work the dough outward into a thin layer. Slowly stretch the dough, until it forms a thin membrane through which light can pass. If it tears before that point, or as it falls from the hook, continue to mix on medium-low and repeat the test every 5 minutes. When the dough is done, divide it into 2 equally sized balls. 

Let the dough rise: Scrape the dough onto a work surface. (If the dough is a bit sticky, dust it very lightly with flour.) Roll out the dough into a rectangle, not too thin. Spread a generous amount of preserved lemon butter, except on the top side (around 3 cm) which we will brush egg yolk in order to seal the roll. Finish with a light sprinkle of brown sugar and if neccessary more preserved lemon

Roll the dough trying to keep the same size / thickness throughout the dough. The dough ‘‘snake’’ should be 3 fingers thick. Weigh out the dough snake we need the rolls to be between min 45 and max 50 g. When you have the weight divide that number with 45 so that you know how many rolls you will get from the dough snake.

Cut the rolls and place in a gastro with a good amount of space (enough so no touching occurs. let rise 1-4h (check dough if cold on the  bottom, touch gastro). Brush with an egg / milk wash and sprinkle with pistachio chunks.

Bake 10 - 15 min until golden brown, 175 - 180°C. After 8 min keep a close eye on them.