I love making brimstone bread. Between the dark crunchy topping and the soft inner core, it’s perfect for everything from sandwiches, to burgers, to just slathering with butter and eating warm from the oven.
When I make this in Hell, I like to roll my dough in the deep pits of sulfur and soul dust and cook them in the hot brimstone vents. Unfortunately, as you are mortal and have neither access to soul dust or brimstone vents, I’ve had to make a few adjustments to the recipe for you.
While these rolls aren’t actually “Hell Authentic,” they’re close enough to get the job done.
Now because the Devil is in the details AND because sloth is one of the seven deadly sins…I’m including two ways to make this bread…
For the Devil’s Way, there is the full homemade bread recipe which takes several hours.
For the Sloth version, grab a box of bread mix and skip down to almost the end…
For the Devil’s version you will need:
- 5 Cups flour
- 2 1/4 Cups warm (not boiling) water
- 1 Tablespoon active dry yeast
- 2 Tablespoons oil
- 1 Tablespoon salt
- 2 Tablespoons sugar
- Red food coloring
IN A BOWL, MIX YOUR YEAST, sugar, and water together thoroughly. Allow them to rest for 5-10 minutes. As it activates, the mixture will begin to bubble and foam. Now is the time to say any incantations you might be partial to over your mix. I prefer the always classic “Double double, toil and trouble” but feel free to use whatever works for you.
GRADUALLY ADD IN YOUR SALT, flour, food coloring and oil to the foaming mix (add enough red so your dough is a deep solid color. Too little and it will turn out pink after it bakes.)
As you mix, the dough will come together into one large lump which should be elastic but not too sticky.
TURN DOUGH OUT onto a lightly floured surface, and knead briefly for about 2-3 minutes or until the dough is smooth and soft.
PAT THE DOUGH INTO A BALL and place into a bowl. Cover with a towel and allow to rest undisturbed for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, turn dough out and knead for another 2-3 minutes. Repeat these two steps a total of 5 times.
On the fifth time, divide your dough into 12 small balls. Place the balls onto a cookie sheet and cover with plastic wrap and allow to sit undisturbed in a warm dark corner for 4 hours to allow the yeast to rise. The dough should double in size
To make the sloth version you will need:
- 1 box of bread mix
- Red food coloring
Make the mix up according to the directions on the box, again making sure you add in enough red food coloring to have a deep dark red color.
Divide your dough into 12 small balls. Place the balls onto a cookie sheet and cover with a damp towel and allow to rise one last time for the time as stated on your box mix.
REGARDLESS OF WHICH VERSION YOU CHOSE, YOU SHOULD NOW HAVE 12 BALLS OF BLOOD RED BREAD DOUGH. NOW ONTO THE BRIMSTONE TOPPING!
Brimstone topping:
- 2 Tablespoons active dry yeast
- 1 cup warm water (between 105/115F)
- 2 Tablespoons sugar
- 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 Cups rice flour
- Black food coloring
- Red food coloring
PREHEAT YOUR OVEN TO 450˚F/230˚C
In your mixer, combine the yeast, sugar, oil, salt and rice flour. Mix your black food coloring in with your water and add that to the mix. You want your topping to be as black as you can make it, so feel free to be liberal with the food coloring. You can also augment the blackness with activated charcoal if you have that, but I wouldn’t add more than three capsules as that can change the flavor of the bread later on.
The topping should be thick and sticky, but still fluid enough to slowly ooze and drip off the end of your whisk.
Cover and allow to sit for 15 minutes.
Take a big old wad of your black topping and smear it all over the top and sides of your red dough balls. Don’t worry about it being too thick, you’re better off erring on the side of too much than not enough. If the topping is too thin, it won’t crackle the way you want it to.
You could do this with a knife or a spoon, but trust me when I say it’s so much easier to just use your (clean, washed and dried) hands.
Let stand, uncovered, for another 15 minutes. This allows the topping to really adhere to your dough balls.
Cook your bread for 15 to 20 minutes or according to the directions on your box mix, making sure that the pan is on the center rack of your oven.
As it cooks, your topping will crisp up and shrink back, creating the deep cracks and fissures that make brimstone bread so distinctive.
Once they’re done cooking, allow to cool until they are comfortable to handle. Once you can touch them without burning yourself, crack one open, slab on a fat slice of butter, and enjoy your brimstone bread!
Because of their shape and size, brimstone bread also makes perfect buns for a damned good burger.
Mmmm…delicious.
Bone appetite!
Wow! Truly hellish. They look incredible.
Ah! These look great! 😀
Super creative! I love your website. The photos are great and your writing is terrifically fun! I also love making fun food for Halloween ? and would love to make these for my food blog and link to your recipe and website. Would that be alright?
Lori
castellonskitchen.blogspot.com
Lori,
Just sent you a PM. Check your email.
🙂
Lori,
Just sent you a direct email. 🙂
H
Amazing!!! I like this website so much it’s really awesome.I have also gone through your other posts too and they are also very much appreciate able and I’m just waiting for your next update to come as I like all your posts… well I have also made an article hope you go through it. Happy Halloween
We’re having a progressive dinner on October 28th, I think my contribution will have to come from one of these recipes 🙂
Ooh! I can’t wait to see if you do!
Would this work with a regular bread recipe on the inside? Not a fan of boxed dough myself!
Absolutely! I simply used the boxed bread mix as it was faster and I was in a bit of a time crunch. If you go to my Black like my soul bread that would work just as well. Simply skip the step where you add the charcoal powder and add in red food coloring instead. 🙂
Hi! Can Brimstone bread be frozen? Thanks!
Absolutely! Wrap it up tight in either a ziplock bag or plastic wrap and freeze for up to 3 months.
Are you sure the final proofing is 4 hours? My rolls overproofed and got gigantic! They deflated when I put on the topping. They’re baking now and smell delicious but haven’t kept their shape?
I’ve made them a few times and had no problems with the proofing time but a lot of it has to do with the temperature of the room you have them in. My family runs notoriously hot-blooded so the stupid house is always freezing (I’m the odd one out, I love to be warm). So maybe that’s got something to do with it? I’m in a new location now and in control of my own thermostat (yay!) so I’ll try them again and see if the warmer space makes a difference in proof time. Thank you for calling this out!
Any good ideas for how to present the butter?? I love this idea for my work Halloween event.
Hmm…you could whip the butter and incorporate a little food coloring in at the same time to give it a nice color of your choice. Black butter would be pretty evil looking…especially dripping down the red bread interior. Here’s a link to another site that has directions on how to whip butter. http://foodfolksandfun.net/whipped-butter/
Let me know how it turns out!
I have a set of black plastic “coffin” party favors that I use to present the butter at my Halloween dinner, usually sprinkled with black salt.
These rolls are amazing! I can’t believe I’m just discovering your site.
That is a great idea! Where did you get them?
Is rice flour necessary? Would regular plain flour do? I’m having a hard time finding rice flour locally.
It’s the rice flour that gives it the crackle. Making rice flour isn’t that difficult if you want to give it a go on your own. Here’s a quick walk through on how to make it yourself.
https://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-How-to-Make-Rice-Flour/
how much red food colouring do you need? i used almost 2 bottles of the stuff. 70-76ml. and all i could get was sakura pink. not what i was going for.
I have been using the Wilton gel coloring. It is a much more concentrated color. You should be able to pick it up either online or at any crafting store like Michael’s or JoAnns.
This looks amazing! Is there any way to make a cookie version of this?
Absolutely! In fact, it’s in my list of upcoming treats! Should be online in the next 2 weeks or so. 🙂
Okay, have a hard date for you. Cookie version will be coming 12th of December. 🙂
That’s so exciting, can’t wait to see it! Thanks for doing what you do!
How small can I divide the dough? Small enough to make dinner sized rolls? Or is 12 as Small as it goes?
You can make these as big or as small as you want! The crackle topping seems to cook at the same rate as the bread itself regardless of size. 🙂
Do I really need 2 tablespoons of active dry yeast? Seems like a lot
It does seem like a lot, but in order to get that crackle, you really do need to have a lot of “fizz” in your topping.
These are amazing!!I it possible to use AP flour for the brimstone crust, or does it have to be rice flour? The info I found online all talk about using rice flour instead of AP flour, but bit the other way around. Just hoping to skip an extra grocery trip if possible, but also don’t want to mess up the quality of this recipe! 🙂
TBH, I’m not sure. I’ve just always used the rice flour and really liked the contrast in textures. If you do end up trying just AP, let me know how it turns out!
Can this be made as a whole loaf? Any advice on how to do it best?
Absolutely! Just go ahead and prepare your loaf of bread exactly as the recipe calls for it and then just apply the crunch topping and bake as you would bake the loaf normally. Check it periodically and if you notice it starting to burn, just throw a layer of tin foil over it to help keep it from getting too crispy.
Because the crunch topping mix in my recipe is for all those rolls, you could probably get away with cutting the recipe in half so you won’t have a ton left over after you cover your loaf.
Good luck and let me know how it turns out! Send pics when you bake it. 🙂