After my classic Twelth’s Night Bread, here’s a cocoa and praline version. Made with a Thermomix!

Ingredients

• 115 g of milk
• 20 g of fresh yeast
• 80 g of sugar
• 400 g of flour
• 1 tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa
• 30 g of orange blossom water
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 70 g of butter
• Optional: 2 tablespoons of chocolate chips
• 1 tablespoon of pink pralines
• 1 egg yolk
• A few tablespoons of granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon of orange blossom water

Steps

1. In the Thermomix bowl, pour the milk, yeast, and sugar. Set for 2 minutes 30 seconds at 37 degrees on speed 2.
2. Then pour in the flour, cocoa, eggs, orange blossom water, and a spoonful of salt. Set for 3 minutes on the kneading function.
3. Add the butter. Knead again on the kneading mode for 5 minutes.
4. Pour this dough into a bowl. Cover with a towel and let it rise for one hour near a heat source. The dough should at least double in volume.
5. Perform a fold directly in the bowl (see here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmUOqhm19CU).
6. Cover with cling film and place in the fridge overnight.
7. The next day, take the dough out of the fridge. Degass it with the palm of your hand to expel the air.
8. Roll it out into a long rectangle about 3 to 5 cm wide.
9. Place the bean wherever you want on the dough. Press it down lightly. There’s nothing stopping you from putting several… that’s the advantage of making your own cake!
10. This is the time when you can add chocolate chips.
11. Roll the brioche on itself to form a large sausage. Seal the sausage by pinching the dough with two fingers.
12. Stretch the sausage by rolling it on the work surface from the center to the ends. Try to maintain the same diameter throughout the length of the sausage.
13. Form a crown, ensuring a central round of at least 10 cm in diameter.
14. Dilute an egg yolk with a little bit of water. Using a brush, glue the ends of the crown together with the egg yolk.
15. Brush the entire brioche with the egg yolk.
16. Place pralines on the cake.
17. Let it rise for 30 minutes, while the oven preheats to 200 degrees.
18. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes.
19. As soon as it comes out of the oven, brush the brioche with a mixture of one tablespoon of sugar and one tablespoon of orange blossom water using a brush.
20. Sprinkle with granulated sugar.