Joanne Chang’s Cinnamon Cream Brioche Buns Recipe
Written by MasterClass
Last updated: May 4, 2023 • 8 min read
Once you’ve mastered pastry chef Joanne Chang’s basic brioche recipe, put it to use to make these tasty cinnamon cream brioche buns. Coated in cinnamon sugar and featuring a generous dollop of silky pastry cream and tangy crème fraîche, they are the perfect alternative to classic cinnamon rolls.
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About Joanne Chang
Joanne Chang is a Boston-based pastry chef and the co-owner of Flour Bakery. The award-winning pastry chef has a degree with honors in applied mathematics and economics from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Passionate about baking since her college days, Joanne left her consulting job to work in restaurants, eventually opening Flour Bakery in 2000. Since then, she expanded the bakery to eight more locations, opened a Taiwanese-inspired restaurant, won a reality TV cooking competition and a James Beard Award, and wrote five cookbooks.
Despite her long list of accolades, Joanne still delights in the alchemy of baking: simple ingredients that, when combined with the right techniques, transform into something magical. Learn to bake like a pro with Joanne Chang.
About Joanne Chang’s Cinnamon Cream Brioche Buns
Joanne Chang’s cinnamon cream brioche buns have all the flavors of your favorite cream cheese frosting–topped cinnamon roll recipe, in the form of a brioche roll. Instead of the characteristic swirl of cinnamon sugar you’d find in a brioche cinnamon roll, these cinnamon buns feature a dusting of cinnamon sugar that coats the entire bun.
In place of the typical powdered sugar–based frosting, Joanne’s buns feature a pool of pastry cream and tangy crème fraîche.
4 Tips for Making Joanne Chang’s Cinnamon Cream Brioche Buns
Brioche isn’t your average bread—it’s enriched with an abundance of eggs and butter, giving the crumb a light, fluffy texture. The resulting bread is rich, a little sweet, and practically melts in your mouth. When making any brioche dough recipe, always add salt on top of the flour and sugar, and never directly touch the yeast (salt will kill the yeast). Here’s what else you need to know:
- 1. Know your yeasts. Active dry yeast is a granulated, dehydrated powder commonly sold in individual packets or glass jars. Unopened, it can be shelf-stable for more than a year; once opened, store active dry yeast in the refrigerator for three to four months. Fresh yeast, also known as cake yeast, comes in soft, compressed “cakes,” usually found in the dairy section of most grocery stores. Due to its moisture content (around seventy percent), fresh yeast has a shelf life of about two weeks when refrigerated and must be crumbled and proofed (tested to see if it’s active) in tepid water before using.
- 2. Choose the yeast of your choice. Yeast is an important component of cinnamon cream brioche buns; choosing between active dry yeast vs. fresh yeast comes down to personal preference. Some bakers prefer fresh yeast over dry for a subtle difference in flavor, but others find it indistinguishable. Fresh yeast activates more quickly than dry yeast; if you use fresh yeast, your brioche may proof faster than listed in Joanne’s recipe instructions. Learn more about proofing bread.
- 3. Chill the butter if necessary. “Room temperature” can mean different things depending on the weather. If your butter is too soft when you add it to your brioche dough, the dough will be very runny (resembling pancake batter), and it will take longer for the butter to absorb. If the dough does not come together, chill the entire mixing bowl in the refrigerator for ten to fifteen minutes. If your butter is too cold when added, it will take longer for the dough to come together because it will take longer for the mixer to break down the butter. Too-cold butter is not ideal, but it’s better to err on the side of colder than warmer butter.
- 4. Work ahead. You can make the brioche dough, the pastry cream, and the cinnamon sugar for this recipe ahead of time. The brioche dough will keep up to five days in the freezer or one day in the fridge; the pastry cream will last three days in the refrigerator; and the cinnamon sugar will keep indefinitely in an airtight container at room temperature. If you make the dough and toppings ahead of time, all that’s left is to assemble and bake the buns when you’re ready.
Joanne Chang’s Cinnamon Cream Brioche Buns Recipe
makes
6 bunsprep time
55 mintotal time
1 hr 35 mincook time
40 minIngredients
For the basic brioche dough:
For the pastry cream:
For the cinnamon sugar:
For the cinnamon cream brioche:
Notes: This recipe makes twice as much brioche dough as you will need; use the rest of the dough to make Joanne’s sticky buns, brioche au chocolat, breakfast pizzas, or pain aux raisins. Additionally, the total time does not include up to 8 hours and 15 minutes of inactive time.
Make the basic brioche dough:
- 1
In a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, combine the water, yeast, all-purpose flour, bread flour, sugar, and salt, and mix the ingredients together on low speed.
- 2
Add the eggs one at a time, and then increase the speed slightly.
- 3
Beat the mixture until you’ve incorporated all of the flour and the dough is a pale yellow, about 3 minutes.
- 4
Beat on low speed once again until the dough comes together in one ball that’s smooth and springy to the touch, about 3–5 minutes. One way to know your dough is ready is to perform the windowpane test: Gently stretch the dough apart with your hands and look for the web-like gluten strands that have developed. You should be able to almost see through it, like a window.
- 5
Once the dough has come together, turn the mixer to medium speed and add the butter piece by piece. Wait for each piece to incorporate before adding the next.
- 6
Continue mixing on low speed for 6–8 minutes and up to 10 minutes, stopping the mixer occasionally to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl, until all of the butter is thoroughly incorporated.
- 7
Continue mixing on medium speed for 6–12 minutes, pausing the mixer every few minutes to scrape the dough off the bottom of the bowl and the dough hook. Although the dough may look very wet and runny at first, it will eventually come together in a single stretchy mass as the butter gets absorbed and the gluten develops.
- 8
As the dough starts to look more cohesive, increase the mixer speed to medium-high. In the last few minutes of mixing, the dough should begin to gather together and slap around on the inside of the bowl. When the dough is done, it should be smooth and glossy and held together as one piece. You should still be able to gently stretch and see through it (using the windowpane trick mentioned above).
- 9
Divide the dough in half, and tightly cover and freeze the second half. (To defrost, place the dough in the refrigerator 24 hours before you’re ready to use it.) Use the second half within 5 days, or the yeast will no longer be active. If you plan to use the second half of the dough within 1 day, store it, tightly wrapped in plastic, in the refrigerator until you’re ready to use it.
- 10
Cover the bowl with the remaining half of the dough tightly with plastic wrap. Place the bowl in the refrigerator, and let the dough proof for at least 6 hours and up to overnight. The goal is for the dough to double in size.
Make the pastry cream:
- 1
In a medium saucepan set over medium-high heat, heat the milk until it’s scalding. (Tiny bubbles should start to form around the edge of the pan, but the milk shouldn’t boil.)
- 2
While the milk is heating, stir together the sugar, flour, and salt in a small bowl. In a separate mixing bowl, whisk the egg yolks. Then slowly whisk the eggs into the flour mixture until the flour becomes thick and pasty.
- 3
Slowly pour the hot milk into the egg-flour mixture a little bit at a time, whisking constantly.
- 4
Once all of the milk has been incorporated into the egg-flour mixture, return the mixture to the saucepan, and place the pan over medium heat.
- 5
Whisk the mixture vigorously and continuously until it thickens and comes to a boil, about 3 minutes. (You can gradually slow your whisking as the mixture thickens and begins to boil.)
- 6
As soon as the mixture bubbles, resume whisking for just 10 seconds, then remove the pan from the heat. (Over-boiling will lead to a grainy texture.)
- 7
Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a small heatproof bowl.
- 8
Stir in the vanilla extract, and cover the bowl with plastic wrap placed directly on the surface of the cream.
- 9
Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or up to 3 days.
Make the cinnamon sugar:
- 1
In a small mixing bowl, combine the brown sugar, granulated sugar, and cinnamon.
- 2
Set the bowl aside. You can make the cinnamon-sugar mixture in advance and keep it in a tightly sealed container at room temperature indefinitely.
Make the cinnamon cream brioche buns:
- 1
Place the basic brioche dough on a baking sheet, and cover the baking sheet with plastic wrap.
- 2
Proof the dough in a warm spot for 2 hours, or until the dough doubles in size and looks jiggly.
- 3
Shape the proofed brioche dough into a rectangle: about 12 inches long, 2 inches wide, and 1 inch thick.
- 4
Using a bench scraper or a chef’s knife, cut and weigh out 125-gram portions of the brioche dough (you should have 6 portions).
- 5
Stretch each portion of dough into a circle that’s about 5 inches long.
- 6
Stretch out the inner part of the circle so the center is thin while leaving a rim of thicker dough raised around the edge (almost like a pizza crust).
- 7
Place the circle on a parchment paper–lined baking sheet, and then repeat this process with the remaining dough. Space each circle a few inches apart from the others on the baking sheet.
- 8
Heat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- 9
Spread a thin layer of pastry cream in the center of each dough circle, making sure to leave the rim untouched.
- 10
Add a dollop of crème fraîche on top of the pastry cream.
- 11
Sprinkle the entire surface of the brioche with cinnamon sugar.
- 12
Bake until the buns are a medium golden brown along their edges, 30–35 minutes. Allow the buns to cool on the baking sheet, set on a wire rack, for 10–15 minutes before serving.
- 13
Eat cinnamon cream brioche buns the same day they are baked.
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