Thursday, April 9, 2015

Brioche

Somehow it never occurred to me to attempt baking brioche bread, even though I do LOVE a good brioche...who doesn't? Eggy, rich and fluffy goodness, serious good eats in the bread "community" haha! So I tell myself, why not come up with a good recipe that I can always go back to when I yearn for a good Brioche. And so this happened:
Brioche is such a versatile bread, it can be eaten as is of course. And it's good even the next day, lightly toasted with that Enchire butter that we all love. Or top it with ham and poached egg, and you have a lovely cafe style meal right at home, no need to waste money! Ahhh...the beauty of home baking and cooking, endless. ;)

Note that I use pre-fermented dough in this recipe to enhance the bread texture. This pre-dough can be made days ahead and kept frozen until you need it. Just remove it 30 minutes prior to using it to let stand till room temperature.

Recipe for Brioche Bread (makes a 9x5" loaf as seen above, 3 mini buns and a braided bun) 
Pre-fermented dough recipe
250g bread flour
160ml water
3g instant dry yeast
1g salt
  • Knead everything together till it forms a soft pliable dough. No need to be smooth. Divide dough into 50g or100g portions depending on your needs and let chill in fridge up to 12 hours. Alternatively store in freezer up to 3 months.
Main Dough recipe

100g preferment dough
4 eggs  (~200g in weight without shells)
400g bread flour
4g instant active dry yeast
1/2 tsp salt
100ml fresh milk
50g caster sugar
30g unsalted butter, room temperature 
  • Knead all ingredients of the main dough together, except the butter. Add pre-fermented dough piece by piece. Knead after each addition until soft and smooth. Add butter. DO NOT be tempted to add more flour, if you do, the bread will not be as soft and fluffy.
  • Knead until stretchable and pass the window panel consistency. Okay what is window panel consistency? It's how elastic the dough is and how much gluten it has developed after all that kneading. Look at the below picture to see how thin and elastic the dough has become. It is thin enough that you can almost see through it and yet doesn't tear open.
  •  
  •  Put the dough into a big bowl. Cover with cling wrap and let it prove for 30-45minutes till double.
  • To make the loaf: After 45minutes, punch out the air. Weigh out 3 portions of 200g of the dough. Roll round and set aside for 10 minutes, covered.
  •  
  • You should have around 300g of dough left. You can use your creativity and shape any kind of bread you fancy. Or if you just want simple buns, just divide them into 6 equal portions. Flatten each portion with your hands to drive the air out. Roll it into round shape, cover and let rest for 20 minutes before shaping. 
  •  For the loaf, take one of the dough portion, flatten it till it becomes a big ovalish disc.
  •  
  • Then roll it up starting from the long side in till it becomes like a long pole. Pinch and seal the edges.

  • Repeat for the rest of the dough portions. You will then have 3 poles like dough, about a feet long. Then pinch the tip of each portion together, then start braiding it, like how you would tie your daughter's hair, haha.

  • Braid it as tight and neatly as possible, it should look like this once you are done.
  • Next you gently tugged in both ends so the dough is twice the thickness.
  • Gently place the dough into the greased loaf pan. Let it prove for about 45 minutes or until the dough has risen to 80 to 90% of the depth of the loaf tin. You can either cover the lid or bake it open top. I omitted the egg wash usually, but feel free to brush some egg wash if you like.
  •  
  •  You can again braid the remaining dough by dividing it to 100g each or just make buns like  suggested earlier. Have fun shaping them!
  • Once the dough has proved, bake in 175C for 30 to 35minutes for the loaf, 12-15 mins for buns, till golden brown.


You can never have too much of a good brioche. You can freeze portion of the bread if you think you can't consume all in the next 3 days. Just toast or steam the bread when you are ready to eat them, they will taste just as awesome.

Ah...the joys of slicing into the bread and seeing how nicely baked it is, love. Thin crust, yet very nicely browned on the outside, with the loaf properly risen inside...the way I like it!

 Am I the only one that is obsessed with this lovely baked top? Haha, guess you need to actually bake a loaf yourself to understand what I'm feelin....baker's obsession!

 Okay, one last shot of this nice tall brioche before I call it quits for this post, haha! If you have an instagram account, do drop by mine @ig_Honeybeesweets to check out more cooking adventures there by yours truly.

 Okay folks, have a great weekend! And happy baking yo!

 

21 comments:

Veronica said...

Hi, thank you so much for sharing this wonderful brioche. I've been wanting to make brioche but still unsure which recipe to follow. Now that I've seen how soft and beautiful yours turned out, I am going to try your recipe. Thank you again.

Honey Bee Sweets said...

You're most welcome Veron! Hope you will like my recipe. Have a great weekend!

Baby Sumo said...

I love a good brioche too.... and yours look perfect!

ReeseKitchen said...

Always love uou breads...This is a must try!!!

dairyandcream said...

Wah! You never see how my mouth dropped wide open after reading ur post! Inspired once again by your beautiful bake (the cross section especially) and hands are itching to do a brioche.

Andre C said...

Wow! The braid is so impressive :D

My Little Space said...

Wow...love your last picture. The texture looks fantastic. Hope you're going to have a fantastic day.
Blessings, Kristy

Anonymous said...

Hi, I have tried bread making several times but none succeeded. LOL. I used all my strength to knead but could never achieve the smooth dough or the window pane stage despite putting in the extra times stated in all recipes that I had tried so far.

Any idea which brand of cheap bread maker will help me do the kneading and I carry on with the rest of the recipes.

Sorry, I might be too annoying by asking this question but please forgive me. LOL

Regards,
YY

Angie's Recipes said...

That's a perfect brioche!

Honey Bee Sweets said...

Thank you! I guess practice makes perfect ;)

Honey Bee Sweets said...

Thank you Reese! Hope to see more bread posts from you! ;)

Honey Bee Sweets said...

What's stopping you? Must quickly do it before your work cycle starts again! Don't proscainate le, just do it!

Honey Bee Sweets said...

Thanks Andre! ;)

Honey Bee Sweets said...

Thanks for dropping by Kristy! Hope your weekend was fantastic too 😊❤️

Honey Bee Sweets said...

First of all, I don't own a bread machine so I can't advice you which brand is better. Secondly, I use my Kitchen Aid mixer to do the kneading. I don't knead by hand anymore, my mixer does a better job. I guess it takes practice and more practice to be able to "master" the skill of bread baking. Don't give up after failed attempts, learn from them and do better next round. I too have countless failed attempts but that never stop me. Good luck and keep on bakingy

Honey Bee Sweets said...

Thanks Angie ❤️❤️❤️

Anonymous said...

Hi dear, I tried baking it today But the result was not as good as yours. Can I know how long it takes to reach to the window panel consistency?

Also, once the dough has reached double the volume, I punched the air out But the dough was extremely sticky and I couldn't help But to add More flour in order to shape into a ball. it was very sticky and stick all over my fingers.

Any advice on the above? greatly appreciated.

Honey Bee Sweets said...

Hi Anonymous,

I would be worried if the dough is not sticky. I suggest you be patient and let the dough knead its way till its true form. It took me a good 25-30 minutes (with breaks of 3 minutes in between) to knead this dough. All good things doesn't come easy. I use to feel the same way too, wondering why is it so sticky? But all well knead dough to reach that window panel, you need to be persistent. IT WILL come together I promise, its all a matter of patience and faith, don't add that extra flour. I swear there is no wrong measurement and I have tried and proven this is workable recipe.

Anonymous said...

Hi, super love your recipes! May I know if the starter dough and fresh milk should be room-temperature as well? Thank you for your time.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for your reply. I will try it this weekend again! Never give up and Hope it is soft this time! (:

Honey Bee Sweets said...

Nope, I took mine right from a fridge. But if you worry, just take it out and let it sit at room temperature.