Almond Brioche

Wotchers!

As has become a summer tradition here on the blog, I’m all fired up, after our annual holiday in France, for all things Patisserie!

And it’s all things buttery today, with extravagant use of the very best French butter around.

This year, I have been pondering Almond Croissants, which are not only delicious, but an elegant Deja Food creation: day-old croissants are split, soaked in a simple syrup and filled/topped with an almond frangipane before being baked to perfection. I started to wonder why the same isn’t done with that other delicious, buttery bake: brioche. I was convinced I was on the cusp of creating something awesome and unique, until about  0.5 seconds after I started looking on the internet, because it already exists and has done for decades, and is known as Bostocks.

The American food writer David Lebovitz claims to have heard the pastry’s origins lie in Normandy, but has been unable to find any corroborating evidence. Val Neff-Rasmussen writes on the Zingerman’s blog that Bostock first appeared in the 1930s, but offers no source to this snippet of information. Given the north-west of France’s famously delicious butter and its individuality with naming it’s foods (see the Breton Kouign Amann), it’s not inconceivable that it is a name of regional origins, and a possible source is the small village of Bosville near Yvetot in Normandy. However, since the modern croissant (and one must assume the almond croissant) were invented in the early 20th century, I’m thinking it unlikely that French bakers took another three decades to consider applying the same process to brioche and thus probably invented the Bostock at around the same time.

Before we get into it, a small detour, around the ingredients.

Almond flavourings

I love almonds in nearly all their glory. Crunchy whole nuts with their rich brown skin, or in their pale and smooth blanched form. Flaked almonds toasted, as here, to a gloriously nutty golden brown. Matchstick-shaped slivered almonds adding texture to biscuits and cakes. Ground almonds providing richness and moisture to cake and tart mixtures. All forms of the natural nut. However, I draw a pretty hard line in the sand when it comes to almond flavouring, natural or otherwise. I don’t know if it’s a subconscious dislike stemming from the knowledge that cyanide has the aroma of almonds (I blame reading/watching too many Agatha Christie whodunnits), or whether the artificial flavourings are just too harsh for my palate. But it’s a hard ‘No’ for any and all usage. This also extends to commercial marzipan (but, strangely enough, not home-made almond paste) and amaretto liqueurs. It even applies to some cherry-flavoured products.

Which is a bit of a problem when a recipe calls for almond frangipane. Or not, as I shall explain. At the risk of stating the obvious, you don’t have to include an ingredient in a recipe if you don’t like it.

So an almond-heavy recipe such as this need not be off-limits, you can just add omit the almond flavouring, or add in other flavourings that you find more appealing. One option is to toast the ground almonds in a pan to really bring out the earthy nuttiness. Alternatively, citrus is a simple and versatile option – have at it with whatever citrus fruits you have to hand. For this recipe, I shamelessly stole the flavouring combination of another recipe here on the blog, Hannah Glasse’s Orange Blossom Tart. The mix of orange-flower water, rosewater and orange zest/juice is fabulously aromatic and adds a lightness quite opposite to the rich toasted almond option mentioned above.

So this is just a gentle reminder that the recipe below is more of a suggestion, rather than a set of hard, unbending rules, and make your own flavour choices.

Butter

As mentioned at the top, this week’s recipe is a buttery delight of France’s finest. With a bit of a caveat. Unfortunately, since April 2025, there is a ban on importing from the EU to the UK, for personal use, most dairy and meat products. There is, however, a work-around whereby we can still enjoy the rich flavour of French butter. The French dairy Isigny Sainte-Mère produces specific raw milk (“beurre cru”) products and their butter is available in Sainsbury’s (salted) and Ocado (unsalted). It’s not cheap (£3.90 for 250g, August 2026), but the flavour is fantastic and immense and, in my opinion, of you’re going to go to the Faff™ of making laminated brioche, then you might as well splurge on something to make it worth it. President block butter is also widely available, but since it is only slightly cheaper (£3.20-£3.65 for 250g, August 2026), I would recommend the more flavoursome Isigny Sainte-Mère if you can get it.

Brioche

Bostocks are usually made with regular brioche, but can also be made with a less-rich enriched milk bread if you like. Also, buy your brioche if you’re wanting to, the bostocks will still taste great. However, since this post is all about the butter, I chose to make and use brioche feuilletée (yeasted dough layered with butter). I already have a brioche feuilletée recipe here on the blog, which would be delicious, but opted to indulge in a richer version, which uses even more butter. I chose to adapt the recipe of Nina Métayer, the first woman to win the title of World Pastry Chef (2023). It’s incredibly indulgent, and if I say so myself, the perfect recipe for making in this hot weather. It’s not as crazy as you might think, because it involves short spurts of activity interspersed with long periods of chilling – which is exactly the type of ‘activity’ I can get behind in these heatwave times!

Again, if you just want to try Bostocks, then go buy some brioche and fast forward to the recipe below.

Nina Métayer’s Brioche Feuilletée (mostly)

Nina’s recipe incorporates sourdough starter, which is not the sort of thing you have just lying around, so I’ve made a couple of tweaks. Also, the instructions lack a bit of detail here and there which I have added in.

Her original recipe (in French) can be found HERE .

425g strong white bread flour
7g salt
20g runny honey
150ml milk, warmed
2 large eggs
2 x 7g fast-action yeast sachets
50g light Muscovado/soft brown sugar
125g best French butter, diced into 1cm cubes
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250g best French butter (for rolling)
50g melted butter

1-2 large eggs for glazing

Day 1

• Put the flour, salt, honey, milk, eggs, yeast and sugar in the bowl of a mixer and knead slowly with a dough hook until  they come together into a smooth dough.
• Add the cubed butter and continue mixing until combined.
• Put the dough into a bowl, cover with plastic, and place in the fridge for 12 hours/overnight.
• Take the 250g of butter and roll into a 12cm square. You can do this a couple of different ways. Either
  • place the butter into a small ziplock bag, remove the air and seal. Using a rolling in, roll the block flat, until it fills the bag. It will be approximately 0.5cm-1cm thick.
  • Fold in the four sides of a sheet of baking parchment to form a square of 12cm in the centre of the sheet. Make sure the sides overlap. Place the butter in the middle of the square and fold the sides around, wrapping the butter completely. Turn the packet over, so that the edges are underneath and, using a rolling pin, roll the block flat, until it fills the square. The immovability of the baking parchment does an excellent job at keeping the butter contained within.
• Chill the butter in the fridge overnight.

Day 2 

• Take the butter and the dough out of the fridge.
• Roll the dough out to a rectangle twice the size of the butter – e.g. 24cm x 12cm.
• The butter and dough should be of a similar consistency. You may need to allow the butter to soften a little before proceeding. If the butter is too cold, it won’t roll out smoothly within the dough, and you run the risk of ‘breaking the block’. It’s not the end of the world if this happens, but you should try and avoid it if possible.
• Place the butter on the dough and fold the dough around the block by folding the left and right sides inward. Another option is to roll the dough into a square and place the butter on an angle like this before folding the corners inwards.
• Roll out into a long rectangle and brush the surface with melted butter. Make a book fold – that’s folding the edges into the middle (or preferably a little off-centre), and brush the surface of the dough again with melted butter. Fold the dough a second time, as if closing a book.
• Turn the folded dough 90 degrees and repeat the rolling/buttering/folding/buttering/folding twice more, for a total of three times.
• Roll the dough out into a rectangle one final time, to a thickness of about 2cm. Cover with plastic and chill in the fridge for at least an hour. NB If life gets in the way of your Bostocks here, fret not. One time I was making a batch of this and it ended up ‘resting’ the rolled-out dough in the fridge for about 36 hours. It tasted fantastic.
• Using a sharp knife or metal dough scraper, trim all four edges of the slab of dough to reveal the layers within, then portion out your dough for baking. You can cut it in strips and roll into a spiral for baking in cupcake tins if liked. I opted for zig-zagging strips of the dough (minus the skewers) into a mix of both 12cm square mini tins and 12cm mini loaf tins. You can also use one or two large loaf tins, but a long thin loaf tin will look more impressive (I appreciate that not everyone has as gargantuan/worrying a selection of baking tins as I do). I recommend lining your tins with baking parchment in order to prevent the dough from sticking. The baking time is roughly the same for each (brioche takes a surprisingly long time to bake!).
• Cover your tin(s) lightly with plastic wrap and allow to rise. Two hours at least, but preferably three.
• Heat the oven to 200°C, 180°C Fan.
• Whisk the egg(s) thoroughly and brush over the surface of the brioche(s) to glaze.
• Bake for  35-40 minutes, turning the tins around after 20 minutes to ensure even colouring. When baked, the brioche will be a deep and rich, glossy brown.
• Allow the baked brioche to cool in the tins for 10 minutes before removing from the tins, discarding the parchment and allowing the loaves to cool on a wire rack.
• Enjoy warm, and/or leave until the next day to enjoy as Bostocks.

Bostocks

The following quantities is for turning a whole batch of the above brioche dough into Bostocks. If this is a bit much for you, make half a batch and store the mixed frangipane in the fridge to enjoy daily Bostocks for up to 3 days.
If you’re a fan of almond flavouring, substitute it to taste in place of the flavourings below.

The Bread
Day old brioche or enriched milk bread

Sugar Syrup
300g water
300g caster sugar
2 tbs flavouring (kirsch, sherry, mead, rum or whatever you fancy – non-alcoholic essences included)

Frangipane
150g softened butter
150g caster sugar
150g ground almonds
2 large eggs
2tsp rosewater
2 tbs orange flower water
zest of 1 orange

100g-ish flaked almonds to scatter

Icing sugar for dusting

• Make the syrup by adding the sugar and water to a small pan and heat gently until the sugar is dissolved. Allow the syrup to simmer for 5 minutes. Add the flavouring and stir to mix. Allow to cool.
• Put all the ingredients for the frangipane into a bowl and mix thoroughly.
• Cut your brioche into thick slices. I cut the mini loaves/squares horizontally.
• Lay the slices on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
• Heat the oven to 200°C, 180°C Fan.
• Using a pastry brush, brush the syrup over the surface of each slice. Be generous. Not enough to soak, but more than a glaze. This will add moisture to the stale brioche during baking.
• Top each slice with some of the frangipane mixture. I find the best/most efficient method is to spoon the mixture into a piping bag and just snip the end off. If there’s any left over from the current batch of Bostocks, the bag can then be stored upright in a glass in the fridge and be ready to go when needed.
• Smooth out the frangipane if necessary and scatter over flaked almonds. These go a delicious and visually-appealing golden brown during baking, so I am generous with my scattering.
• Bake for 15-20 minutes, turning the baking sheet around after 10 minutes to help ensure even baking.
• Transfer to a cooling rack and dust with icing sugar.
• Allow to cool and serve warm.