Goats Cheese & Blackberry Brioche Buns

STEP 1: MAKE THE BRIOCHE DOUGH (DAY ONE)

Put the bread flour, caster sugar and instant yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer, with the fine sea salt on the opposite side of the bowl from the yeast. Add the lukewarm milk, the eggs and the lemon zest. Mix on low with the dough hook for 2 minutes to bring the dough together, then on medium for 6 to 8 minutes until it is smooth, elastic and clearing the sides of the bowl. It should pass a windowpane test before any butter goes in: a small piece stretched thin should hold a translucent membrane without tearing. Butter added to under-developed dough will never come together properly.

STEP 2: ADD THE BUTTER

With the mixer on medium-low, add the softened butter a few cubes at a time, waiting until each addition has disappeared before adding more. This takes 8 to 10 minutes and the dough will look broken and greasy partway through. Keep going. When all the butter is in, mix on medium for a further 4 to 5 minutes until the dough is glossy, slack and pulls away from the bowl in a single mass. Cover and refrigerate overnight, or for at least 8 hours. The cold prove firms the butter for shaping and builds flavour a same-day dough cannot.

STEP 3: MAKE THE BLACKBERRY COMPOTE

Combine the blackberries, granulated sugar, lemon juice and salt in a small heavy saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, crushing about half the fruit against the side of the pan and leaving the rest whole. Simmer for 8 to 10 minutes. Slake the cornstarch in the cold water, stir it in and cook for one minute more, until the compote is thick enough to hold a channel when you draw a spoon through it. It must be thicker than a jam you would spread on toast, or it will open the seam of the bun. Cool completely; it thickens further as it cools. Can be made up to five days ahead.

STEP 4: MAKE THE WHIPPED GOAT CHEESE FILLING

Beat the goat cheese and cream cheese together until completely smooth with no lumps; lumps show as pockets in the baked bun. Beat in the icing sugar, egg yolk, vanilla extract and lemon zest. The filling should be thick and pipeable, like a stiff cheesecake batter. Refrigerate until needed. The yolk is doing real work here: it sets the filling in the oven so the cheese holds its shape instead of running out of the bun.

STEP 5: SHAPE THE BUNS (DAY TWO)

Turn the cold dough onto a lightly floured surface and divide it into 12 equal pieces of about 90 g each. Working with the dough cold, flatten each piece into a disc roughly 10 cm (4 inches) across, slightly thinner at the edges. Place a heaped teaspoon of the cheese filling in the centre, then a heaped teaspoon of compote on top of it. Cheese first, fruit second: the cheese layer insulates the dough from the wetter fruit. Draw the edges up and pinch firmly to seal, then turn seam-side down and roll lightly under a cupped hand into a neat round. Space well apart on parchment-lined baking sheets, six per sheet.

STEP 6: PROVE

Cover loosely and prove at warm room temperature for 1 to 1.5 hours, until the buns are visibly puffed and slow to spring back when pressed with a fingertip. Cold dough proves slowly, so give it the time; under-proved brioche bakes tight and bready rather than feathery. Meanwhile heat the oven to 190C (375F).

STEP 7: FINISH AND BAKE

Beat the egg with the milk and brush each bun gently and thoroughly with the wash, avoiding pooling at the base. Press a shallow well into the top of each bun with a floured thumb and spoon in a little of the remaining compote, so the filling is visible from the outside. Bake for 16 to 18 minutes, until deep golden and glossy, rotating the sheets at the halfway point. The internal temperature should read 88 to 91C (190 to 195F). Pale brioche is under-baked brioche.

STEP 8: GLAZE AND SERVE

Brush the hot buns with the warmed honey while they are still on the sheet; it will set to a soft shine as they cool. Top each with a fresh blackberry and, if using, a scatter of thyme leaves. Cool for at least 20 minutes before eating: the cheese filling needs to set, and a bun eaten straight from the oven tastes of hot dairy rather than of goat cheese. Best on the day they are baked.