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Brioche Dough Help!

gabolski's picture
gabolski

Brioche Dough Help!

Hi! I recently got a KitchenAid Classic mixer, and I've been trying it out on making brioche dough. I've done 6 trials so far, and the last two doughs ended up gloopy after I mixed in the butter (1 at 35%, the other at 50%), but had fine gluten development prior to the autolyse. I was able to make one batch (at 30% butter) that turned out perfect, but the rest have been failures. 

 

I am from a tropical country by the way, so could it be that the butter has started to  melt before being fully incorporated?

 

I am hydrating between 60-70%, with 500g of eggs and the rest is milk. Is it a hydration issue with the mixer, if at all? 

Also, I have been using cold butter from the fridge. Would using softened butter instead be of any help? Since theoretically it would take less time to incorporate and therefore have no chance to melt?

Any comments and suggestions highly appreciated! I just can't figure this out. 

 

Thanks!

gabolski's picture
gabolski

Thank you for your tips! I mixed another batch last night, and used an autolyse with just the flour, eggs, and milk, then added the yeast and sugar, allowed it to mix, then the salt and cold butter together. 

After the autolyse, my.dough was pretty well developed, passing the window pane test easily. But after adding the salt and butter, by the time the butter was fully incorporated, the dough was much softer than i was aiming for. It wasnt as gloopy as the previous batch, but it wasnt well developed either. They shaped decently after resting in the fridge, but still somewhat stuck to the countertop. The final product came out OK. Could it be because i added the salt and butter at the same time?

Btw, i have read Hammelman's recipe for brioche, and I can't believe I havent tried his tip about making the cold butter more pliable. Will try that in the next batch!