The Fresh Loaf

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Brie & Blueberry Laminated Brioche

Franko's picture
Franko

Brie & Blueberry Laminated Brioche

 

A few weeks ago I was reading Hamelman's recipe for brioche when I noticed in his side notes that a feuillete or laminated dough can be made from a brioche dough. While I realized that of course it can be done , it's just something that had never occured to me before. Brioche is such a rich dough to begin with, the idea of laminating even more butter into it just seemed a little over the top. Sometimes though over the top can be very good and this looked to me like it might just be one of those times. Although I had Hamelman's base formula for brioche as well as others I've used before, I didn't have any for making the feuillete. Specifically what I was looking for was the ratio of roll-in butter I would need to do the folds. Web searches turned up very little, however one site did have some actual photos of a class at King Arthur being conducted by Mr. Hamelman making up a pastry using brioche feuillete, so that was helpful in giving me some idea how to use it. Link to site: http://mzkitchen.com/?p=2120

 

I put a query into Andy/ananda asking if he had any ideas on it , and while he'd read about it in Bo Freiberg's book on pastry, he'd never made it himself. I decided to just wing it, see how it worked, and adjust the ratio if necessary. The first attempt I made was based on a 91% butter to flour ratio, down from the original 110% butter-108% flour ratio I'd first shown Andy when I started putting a beta recipe together. Andy thought I was a “brave fellow” for wanting to try it , which I thought was a very polite way of him saying that I might just be a little too over the top with those numbers. Having made brioche dough on numerous occasions over the years this one mixed up well with no surprises for me and I gave it a 1hr bulk ferment and put it in the refrigerator overnight. Next afternoon while I laminated the bulk of the dough for feuillete, I took a portion of it and made up a few brioche tete to bake off and see how they turned out.   They turned out fairly well I thought, not having made them for a few years and I was very happy with the flavour. Unfortunately I'd run out of time that day to do anything more with the feuillete and decided to leave it for the next day. When I got home from work the next afternoon I set about rolling out the dough to a 14x9 inch rectangle and dividing that into 3” wide strips of dough that I piped a 3/4” strip of filling (recipe to follow) along the length of each, then alongside the length of that strip I placed blueberries side by side. These were then rolled string fashion, or like you would a cinnamon bun roll, to 15 1/2” and then made into a 3 strand braid and placed in a loaf tin to rise.  It took about an 1 ¼ hrs to rise and 25-30 minutes in a 380F oven to bake. When it came out I immediately applied a thin apricot glaze to seal it and help prevent staling, then sprinkled it with toasted almond slices for garnish. When it had cooled sufficiently I drizzled the loaf with some white vanilla fondant I'd made a few days before.  The braid didn't rise quite as high as I would have liked since by this time the dough had lost some power from the additional day it'd had before I could use it, but it turned out well enough that I knew I had to try it again . As far as the flavour went?... pretty incredible. I'll get into that more a little later in this post but for now....Wow! Some photos of the the finished loaf.

 

The second dough was started the night before I finished eating the first loaf, (about 48 hrs..or less ) my wife being slightly appalled at how quickly I'd devoured this large, ultra rich pastry. A few muttered comments were made regarding possible repercussions were this to become a regular habit. Something about being married to a fat guy.. but I can't say for certain. Seriously though, this sort of thing is something I rarely eat, being in my 'once in a blue moon' category of food. With the second mix I wanted to make the dough a little stiffer so that I could hopefully get a high and more defined look to the braid. Other than decreasing the hydration slightly and dropping the roll-in butter ratio to 72% overall, I made the dough as I did before, following the same length of bulk fermentation, same amount of degassing and overnight retardation in the fridge. This time though I had the next day off from work and was able to do the lamination and product make up in one day, which I think resulted in a better looking product. The dough doesn't suffer from the lower ratio of roll-in butter, in fact I think you could reduce it another 5%-10% and not notice any appreciable difference in the finished product. OK , now about the filling and flavour. This seems like a natural sort of pastry that you could use a cream cheese filling of some sort in,.. and it is, but I've just never acquired a taste for the stuff. I wouldn't try to dissuade anyone from using it as a base for a filling if they like the flavour, but I think there are more elegant options available for a pastry like this. The choice I made was to use Brie, combined with honey, toasted almond meal, puff pastry crumbs, and beaten egg white to bind it into a consistency that can be easily piped. Brie works well with the fruit and nuts , not overpowering them, and also melting into the soft cells of the bread itself.

  • room temp or soft Brie-114 gr

  • lightly toasted almond meal-25 gr

  • liquid honey-20 gr

  • puff pastry crumbs-15 gr

  • beaten egg white-5 gr

note: cake crumbs can be substituted for puff pastry crumbs

egg whites should be beaten lightly till they run fluidly without lumps

 

The fruit I had at the time, and still have the most of, is blueberries. We have a couple of very prolific blueberry bushes in our backyard that challenge us every year in trying to figure out how to use them all up before the next years crop comes in. I think we're about six months behind at present, so it's just an ongoing problem for us every year , but we try to make the best of it. The beauty of a dough like this is it's versatility. It will accept a wide variety of fillings ranging from sweet to savoury, (with some adjustments to the sugar ratio for savoury fillings being necessary) so it really depends on what flavour you want to have, or what you have on hand at the moment to use as a filling. Off the top of my head I can't think of anything within reason that this dough won't lend itself to and enhance. The flavour is of course predominated by butter, but also with that great taste of a long fermented yeast dough that permeates every bit of the silky soft crumb. Very similar to a croissant or danish dough, just better...by a long shot!


Ingredients

%

Kg

Kg

 

 

 

 

Ingredients

%

weight-Kg

 

Bread flour

77

385

 

High gluten flour

23

115

 

Water-cold

9.6

48

 

Eggs-cold

49

245

 

Salt

2.5

12.5

 

Sugar

12

60

 

Yeast

5

25

 

Butter-cold

50

250

 

Total Weight

 

1140.5

 

 

 

 

 

Butter block for Feuillete

 

 

 

Butter

30

150

 

Flour

10

50

 

Total Weight

1340.5

 

 

Procedure: Place all ingredients except butter in the mixing bowl and mix on 1st speed until all the ingredients are incorporated. Mix on 2nd speed for 8-9 minutes until the dough is strong and resistant

to the touch. Take the cold butter and beat it flat with a rolling pin until it's pliable and add in chunks

continuosly until all of it has been absorbed. This will take some time depending on your mixer. I

found that I had to work the dough by hand on the counter for about 5 minutes using the slap and

fold technique until the dough was developed enough that it would 'sheet'. To test for sheeting you

should be able to gradually stretch a small piece of dough out very thinly until it's almost transparent.

Let stand, covered at room temp for 1 hr then fold the dough, recover, and refrigerate overnight, degassing 2-3 times over the next several hours. The next day the dough is ready to use as a traditional brioche dough or for doing the roll-in and folds for feuillete.

 

To make brioche feuillete: Add cold pliable butter and flour to mixer fitted with the paddle and mix on 1st speed for 3-4 minutes , then on 2nd speed until all the flour is incorporated. Shape into a square or rectangle (depending on what lamination method will be used) and chill to the same temp as the brioche dough in the refrigerator. Roll the butter in using preferred lamination method and give a

total of 3x3 folds plus 1x4 fold, resting the dough for 30 minutes in refrigerator between each fold.

The dough is ready to use at this point.

Note: For a more thorough description of the lamination method see ananda's blog

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/16082/laminated-yeasted-dough-construction

 

 

Pate Brioche Feuillete is not exactly health food but it is good for the soul , being one of those special occasion additions to a baker's repertoire that can be useful to have come Thanksgiving, Christmas or New Year.

 

All the best,

Franko

 

Comments

wassisname's picture
wassisname

This is what I want for Christmas.  Good for the soul, indeed.  Beautiful bread.  And, nice gourds, too!

Marcus

Franko's picture
Franko

Thanks Marcus!,

I wondered if anyone would notice the gourds. Every year around Thanksgiving (which we celebrate in October in Canada) my wife does some sort of creative thing with gourds. I liked the ones she did this year so much I wanted to include them in one of photos. Glad you liked them and the bread. Many thanks!

Franko

 

arlo's picture
arlo

This was a very long read...a long read that had me keep saying, "Oh hell yes...mmmmmmmm" the whole time.

 

That is a great loaf. Nice work. The filling sounds to die for as well.

Franko's picture
Franko

Hi Arlo,

Yes it is a long read, certainly the longest I've ever posted so thanks for hanging in with it. Much as I enjoyed tasting it, I got even more enjoyment out of making it, so I didn't want to skip over too many steps of the process in the post.

The filling works quite well with this because it doesn't overpower any of the other flavours, it just sort of highlights them. I don't think it's a filling you could ever use commercially unless you could find Brie at a rock bottom cost. Nice to do at home for family and friends though.  I appreciate your comments Arlo, Thanks!

Franko

teketeke's picture
teketeke

Hello again, Franko  I wish I could buy your Brioche instead of making it!!  It looks VERY good indeed!  Health?  I don't care when I see such sweet yummy bread :)

Happy baking,

Akiko

Franko's picture
Franko

Hello again to you as well Akiko,

Thanks very much, I'm glad you liked it. As far as it being sweet, it's really just the glaze and fondant that are quite sweet. The filling is just barely sweet, as is the dough. I'm not a fan of really sweet pastry so I tried to keep the icing down to a resonable level.

Best Wishes,

Franko

teketeke's picture
teketeke

Hi, Franko

I can see your brioche has less sugar. I have liked the way more and more since I joined TFL.  I applogize that I explained your brioche " sweet bread".  I should have said " Delicate fruity-flaky brioche " something...:) 

Cheers,

Akiko

Franko's picture
Franko

No apology needed Akiko, I mean it really is sweeter compared to a normal dough if you go by the percentage of sugar in the formula. It just doesn't come through in the taste as being particularly sweet. I think the sugar contributes more to the dough in the way of keeping the crumb very moist.

Try making some straight (not feuillete) brioche from the formula in the post sometime and I think you'll see what I mean. It's a very easy dough to mix, proof, and bake compared to a sourdough, and one that has a broad appeal for a lot of people, young or old.

Cheers to you as well,

Franko 

LindyD's picture
LindyD

Looks pretty lush, Franko.  A test of one's will power (all those delicious calories!)

Franko's picture
Franko

Thanks LindyD!

The test of will power you mention is one that..ahem... I failed miserably with the first loaf. However my future son-in-law is the one being tested now, since I gave him the second one to take home after we had them over for dinner on Thanksgiving. I've got a feeling he's not going to do much better than I did.

Franko

EvaB's picture
EvaB

and of course the bread is beautiful. Killer but beautful!

I think this is something I need to explore a bit, when I have the time, and can think of many fillings to be used in it. Especially savoury, I for some reason am not into sweets, although I have been known to devour candy by the bag, but cakes, and breads etc, just don't have the same apeal as a bag of wine gums. Don't understand it.

Franko's picture
Franko

Thanks EvaB for your comments on the writeup and the loaf!

The writeup is always the hardest part of the TFL process for me when adding content to the blog, so it's encouraging to know you enjoyed it.

I'm thinking the same as you regarding using the dough for something savoury. When I make this dough again, which isn't likely to be any time soon, I will use it for a savoury dish of some kind, maybe with salmon or perhaps crab. There are a lot of ingredients possible to use with this dough, allowing for plenty of creativity.

Have fun with it, and thanks again!

Franko

EvaB's picture
EvaB

writing of how things are done, can be the hard part, you have to balance the desire to be through with the need to be succinct. And you also have to figure out where to place the pictures to give the best explanation of the process. Not an easy thing to do at all.

I really enjoy reading the many enteries into the site, on how people make their differing loaves, and the pictures add greatly to the understanding of the process, and sometimes save the day for me when trying the same recipe, because if it doesn't look like the picture in the post, then I know I've gone wrong someplace.

I love Bacon and Tomato sandwiches, and think the braid would make a lovely one with nicely precooked bacon chunks, and a bunch of fresh tomatoes with herbs braided into the loaf. Great for a brunch or light supper, menu, and with the loaf a fabulous way to entertain guests.