My daughter, Franki, is not normally a baker. She enjoys making a few specialties in the kitchen; chocolate chip cookies, apple almond cake and Grandma's rum balls, but that's about it. She doesn't typically take an interest in cooking because her brother and I do a lot of that kind of thing. However, last week she tried something new...and WOW, was it good!

She had seen a post about making a Nutella Brioche Flower. She mentioned to me that she had seen it and was thinking about making it. So I encouraged her to go for it. She went to the store an collected the items that we didn't have and began her quest. It's interesting to watch someone do something they haven't done before. She was at different times, excited, frustrated, worried and in the end, overjoyed and confident in her abilities because it turned out great! I was able to walk her through things that she hadn't done before, i.e. kneading and rolling out dough, allowing it to rise and cutting and shaping the dough. She was certain she was doing it wrong and I had to offer encouragement and reassurance. I was surprised that I hadn't taught her those things before and I realized that sometimes I get so caught up in what I'm doing/making that I don't always share my experiences and knowledge with my children. I was pleased that she was still looking to me for guidance, even though she's an adult now.

In my efforts to try new things with my family and friends this year, it was through my daughter's adventure that I learned more about myself. How I want to strive to share my knowledge but even more so, my time, with the ones I love. I hope you'll find that special time with someone you love today...maybe making your own Nutella Brioche Flower.

Nutella Brioche Flower

Here is the link to the original recipe but we've included the converted directions (it was metric before) on our site, as well, for you to enjoy. There is a very helpful video on the original site.
http://www.thebreadkitchen.com/recipes/nutella-brioche-flower/

Ingredients
2 c. All-purpose flour
3/4 c. lukewarm milk (temp between 110 -115 degrees F)
3 Tbsp. sugar
1/4 c. melted butter
2 eggs
Zest of a lemon (this gives it a very floral taste, cut down zest to half of a lemon if you choose)
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. dried yeast

Filling
Nutella spread

Topping (we omitted this)
1 Tbsp. milk
1 Tbsp. water
confectioner's sugar

Instructions

1. Mix the yeast and the sugar with the milk. Leave for 10 minutes for the yeast to activate.
2. Break the eggs into a bowl and beat lightly.
3. Mix the flour, salt and lemon zest in a large bowl. Make a well in the centre and add the butter, eggs and yeast/milk. Mix to a soft dough.
4. Knead the dough for 10 minutes then form into a ball and place in a lightly-greased bowl. Cover and leave in a warm place until the dough has about doubled in size.
5. Meanwhile, cut out a circle of baking or greaseproof paper about 12″ in diameter. Place the paper on a baking sheet.
6. Once risen, turn the dough out onto a surface, knead for 3-4 minutes. Divide the dough into 4 pieces and form each piece into a ball.
7. Roll a ball of dough out into a circle measuring about 10″ in diameter. The dough should be about 1/8″ thick. See assembly pictures below.
8. Place the dough onto the baking paper and spread on a layer of Nutella, leaving a small gap at the edge. Don’t make the layer too thick but be sure to evenly cover the dough.
9. Roll out a second ball of dough, place it on the first layer and spread with Nutella. Repeat with the third and fourth balls of dough but do NOT spread Nutella on the final layer.
10. Place a glass in the center of the stacked dough and press down slightly. Just enough to leave and indent in the top layer of the dough. Leaving the center uncut, cut the brioche into 16 segments around the indented dough circle.
11. Take a pair of adjacent segments. Lift and twist them away from each other through 180°. Lift and twist through 180° again, then twist through 90° so that the ends are vertical. Press the edges together firmly. Repeat this process for all pairs of segments. (it's very helpful to watch this part of the video on the link provided.)
12. Place the brioche in a large plastic bag or cover with lightly oiled film. Leave in a warm place for 1-2 hours to proof.
13. (We omitted this part - it was plenty sweet without it) Brush with the glaze then bake at 320°F convection oven, 360°F conventional oven for 20-25 minutes. (We used a convection oven and it baked for 35 minutes).
14. Place the bread on a wire rack to cool. Once cooled, dust lightly with powdered sugar (we omitted this step too).