Perfect Picnic Food: Saucisson à cuire en Brioche

Saucisson en brioche: Lyonnaise saucisson à cuire wrapped in home-made brioche ordinaire.

“Saucisson en brioche”, A Lyonnais Specialty

A big sausage is wrapped in brioche to bake to a perfect browned confection.  Juices and aroma from a saucisson à cuire that has been simmered and broiled, then rolled in the dough penetrate the weft of the brioche as it puffs around the sausage.

This creates a fluffy, meat-flavored bread that remains light in texture but with a beautiful balance in flavors, with an orb of steaming and salty sausage in the center as a bonus.

We eat it by the slice.  There is a perfection in this simple pleasure, a specialty in Lyon.

Sausages to cook, also known as saucisson à cuire, are artisan products

For centuries, Lyon’s sausage-making tradition has enjoyed a reputation as being among the best in France.

Today, artisan charcutiers continue to sell excellent sausages that we enjoy both preserved and dried, in addition to the large sausages sold direct to the consumer for cooking at home.
 

What is a “saucisson lyonnais ?

A saucisson is a big thick monster of a sausage, with an average weight of 800 grams, enough, when enveloped in brioche, to feed quite a number of people.

This preparation is a good choice when you want to present self-contained delicacies to hoards, even more delicious when served fresh baked and still warm from the oven.

Particularities of the Brioche dough for Saucisson en brioche

The dough for this preparation is a brioche ordinaire, less sweet and egg-rich than the breakfast brioche we find direct at the boulangerie formed into boules or braids.

The dough should be worked together the evening before you plan to envelope your sausage, and refrigerated overnight to give the butter a chance to firm up, and the relatively small amount of yeast a chance to slowly develop in amplitude and flavor.

RECIPE:  Saucisson Lyonnais en brioche

Lyonnais style sausage wrapped in Brioche

Serves 12 (or more)

INGREDIENTS:

For the brioche:

• 500 grams (4 cups) flour, divided (150g / 350g or 1 cup / 3 cups)
• 10 grams (2 teaspoons) salt
• 60 ml (¼ cup) warm milk
• 12 grams (1 tablespoon) sugar
• 10 grams bakers’ cake yeast or 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
• 5-6 whole eggs
• 250 grams (1 cup) softened butter at room temperature

For the Saucisson en Brioche:

• 1 Lyonnais style saucisson à cuire, 30 cm in length and weighing approximately 1.2 kilos
• 1 egg for coating the sausage before wrapping and wash on the brioche before baking
• flour for coating the sausage and rolling out the dough

METHOD:

• Make the brioche dough:  divide the flour into two parts, 150 grams for making a slurry with the warm milk and yeast, and the rest for working in the eggs before combining it all together.

• On a clean work surface, make a well in 150 grams of the flour.  Whisk together the warm milk, sugar and the yeast, and allow to slightly foam and develop before pouring it into the well you have formed in the flour.
• Using your fingers, work it into a wet slurry-like dough. Once that has been worked together, allow it to sit on the countertop for a few minutes.

• While the yeast mixture is sitting, combine the salt and the rest of the flour, and make a well again on the work surface.
• Break the eggs into a well in the center of the flour/salt.  Starting from the outside, work the eggs into the flour.
• Once these two doughs have been formed, work them together on the work surface, turning and kneading the dough to get them to come together and knead this dough until it is smooth.

• Using the heel of your hand, work the butter into the dough until it is fully absorbed by the dough, knead until smooth, and pat the dough our into a rectangle. This will be a rather wet dough.
• Sprinkle flour into tray roughly the size of a piece of A4 or letter sized paper that will fit into the refrigerator, place the rectangle of dough into the coldest part of the refrigerator, and leave to rest, covered lightly with cling film overnight.
• The time that the dough spends in the refrigerator will allow the butter to firm the dough enough to work with on the following day, and for the yeast to develop.

• Cook the sausage:  Place the sausage in cold water and bring the water to a simmer.  Poach, turning regularly, in this barely simmering water for 20 minutes.
• Remove the sausage from the water, remove the skin from the sausage, and place it in an oven-proof pan.  Broil the sausage 10 cm under the broiler or grill, to allow it to render its fat, for about 15 minutes total, turning the sausage regularly to allow it to brown on all sides.

• Remove the sausage from the pan, pat it down with paper towels to remove excess fat, and prepare the dough for rolling.
• Roll out the dough to slightly longer than the sausage in length, and as long or slightly longer than the diameter of the sausage.
• Place the rolled dough on floured parchment paper to facilitate the rolling process.  Generously wash the sausage with beaten egg, then roll it in flour to get the sausage generously coated with egg, then flour.

• Brush excess flour off the surface of the brioche dough, then brush the entire surface of the dough with cold water.  This will allow the dough to fuse with the flour coated sausage.
• Place the flour coated sausage on one end of the dough, and roll it into the brioche dough.
• Place on a parchment lined baking sheet with the seam side down, and allow the brioche dough to rise at room temperature, covered with a slightly damp towel, for 45 minutes to an hour.  Generously paint the entire surface of the brioche with beaten egg.

• Bake in a hot oven (200-210C, 400-425F) for 25 to 30 minutes, until it is a golden loaf. Allow to cool for approximately 20 minutes before slicing, and serving it warm in slices, along with a simple glass of Beaujolais, like a Fleurie or a St. Amour.