I’ll be honest, I’ve never been to Sicily. In fact, I’ve only ever been to The Real Italy once in my life. It was during college, which was almost half my lifetime ago… and now that I say that, I am suddenly feeling quite old and need a sec to process.

While I’m processing, here’s a pic from the archives of twenty-year-old me, and my sister Franny, in Florence after a dinner where I ordered a Peroni and then observed a small child run out of the restaurant kitchen to the bodega across the street. He returned to me with a Heineken. I enjoyed my Heineken with veal in a pink peppercorn sauce that I still remember (despite what you might think, given the Heineken-induced face I’m making in the pic. Ah those were the days).

Also, let’s all just take in Ross’s Ted Lasso style mustache all the way back in 2004. He’s always been ahead of his time.

And, oh, to be twenty years old, wearing giant hoop earrings without a care in the world about tiny childrens’ hands ripping them out. What a time to be alive.

Ok, I’m back.

Despite being a regrettably long time since visiting The Real Italy, I do like to read about it, in particular the food. And in my reading, I stumbled upon a little something called brioche con gelato. Sicilians eat it for breakfast.

At this point, I have to make a quick digression to mention that I have a masters degree in ice cream. It may sound like I’m being facetious, but I’m not. I actually do. I got my MS in Food Chemistry (with a specialization in dairy science) from the only place in the US to do that sort of thing: The University of Wisconsin – Madison. As part of my research, I would go into the Babcock Hall dairy plant first thing in the morning and sample ice cream fresh off the line. It was a tough job, but somebody had to do it. I love ice cream in all its forms, but never was it so satisfying as when it was freshly churned and eaten at 8am. So, I’ve been looking for my excuse to eat it this way ever since.

And what do you know, the Sicilians have my back. They really have given us so much: cannoli, arancini, family business…

Sicilian Breakfast is the ultimate ice cream sandwich. Creamy, cool gelato is served within fresh, warm brioche. Brioche col tuppo is the Sicilian style. “Tuppo” referring to a little top knot on the brioche.

The brioche can be filled with any flavor of gelato. In fact, brioche col tuppo is also often served with sidecars of granita and whipped cream (which may just have to be a post for another day). Seeing as this is breakfast, and what I need is Ice Cream Breakfast, I went with coffee ice cream. I churned my own using a recipe from my ice cream Bible, The Perfect Scoop, by David Leibovitz. I highly recommend his recipe (and his blog, and all of his books!). But, also, as Queen Ina says, store bought is fine. One could even go super-easy-mode and use toasted bakery brioche. Although, there is something to be said for the dreamy combo of fresh baked brioche, warm out of the oven, filled with luscious, frosty gelato.

The “tuppo” on the brioche is not only cute, it also serves as a nice little sandwich handle. Because no one needs their Ice Cream Breakfast to slip through their fingers. The Sicilians really did think of everything, didn’t they?

So here is my recipe for brioche col tuppo (and brioche con gelato), and your excuse to eat ice cream the best way, for breakfast.

Brioche col Tuppo

Yield: 12 buns

Time: About 1 hour active time mixing and shaping dough. Plus a 2-3 hour first rise and a second rise overnight.

Ingredients:

1/4c (2oz, 30mL) warm water

2 tsp active dry yeast

3 T (1.5oz, 45g) sugar

2 T (1oz, 30g) honey

zest of 1/2 orange

3/4c (6oz, 90mL) warm milk

3 eggs, (2 for dough, 1 for egg wash), beaten to break up yolks

3.5c (15.4oz, 435g) all purpose flour

1t salt

8T (4oz, 113g, 1 stick) unsalted butter, softened, cut into 1/2in cubes

1. Mix warm water, yeast and 1T of the sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment. Let rest for 5-10min while the yeast blooms.
2. Add the remaining sugar, honey, orange zest, milk, and 2 of the eggs to the bowl. Mix to combine.
3. Whisk the flour and salt together in a separate bowl.
4. Add flour mixture to the milk and egg mixture in the stand mixer. Knead with the dough hook on low speed for 2-3min, until dough comes together around the hook.
5. Switch mixer to medium speed and drop butter cubes into the bowl one at a time, waiting until one cube is fully incorporated before adding the next.
6. Mix for 10-11min. Dough will be sticky, but smooth and elastic.
7. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and gently form it into a ball.
8. Place dough ball in a large, lightly oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap or a clean towel. Allow dough to rise sitting out on the counter until doubled in size. This will take about 2-3 hours depending on the temperature of your kitchen.
9. In the mean time, make room in the fridge for two sheet trays.
10. Turn risen dough out onto a floured work surface. Use a bench cutter to divide it into 12 equal sized pieces.
11. Pinch off a small amount of dough from each section – this is the “tuppo”
12. Roll the larger piece from each pair into a ball. Do this by placing the dough in one hand and cupping the other hand around it, using the top hand to roll it with a circular motion.
13. Roll the smaller piece into a ball between your hands.
14. Place the larger ball on a parchment-lined baking tray. Use your thumb to depress a dent in the center of the ball. Place the smaller ball into the depression.
15. Repeat steps 12-14 to form buns with the rest of the dough.
16. Space each bun about 2 inches apart on two baking sheets. Cover each sheet tray with a clean dish towel.
17. Let buns rest in the fridge overnight.
18. In the morning, pull the covered sheet trays out of the fridge and set on the counter.
19. Allow buns to rise (still covered) on the counter for about an hour.
20. While buns are rising, preheat oven to 375F.
21. Mix one egg and one tablespoon of water with a fork in a small bowl. Brush buns with the egg wash right before baking.
22. Bake buns in the pre-heated oven for 15-16min, rotating once after 10min.

Brioche con Gelato

Yield: 12 buns

Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:

1 recipe brioche col tuppo (12 buns)

1 quart coffee gelato (homemade or store bought)

1. Slice one brioche equatorially.
2. Sandwich one large scoop of gelato between the hemispheres of the brioche.
3. Repeat as necessary with remaining brioche and gelato.

I’m turning 40 next year 🙀, so maybe I’ll have to make the every-twenty-year journey to Italy for The Real Sicilian Breakfast.

All Italy pics in this story are from the archives of my mom, Pam Gray. Pictured above with her namesake grocery store, somewhere in The Real Italy.