The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Brioche bread help

Saraheliizabethh's picture
Saraheliizabethh

Brioche bread help

hello! So I just started experimenting with baking bread and decided to start with brioche. I made braided brioche using the recipe below and it ended up being pretty dry and not very rich or buttery tasting. I was thinking I could improve it by adding more butter? I’m also wondering what difference it would make if i used cake or regular all purpose flour vs bread flour? Thanks in advance. 

75ml full-fat milk

Finely grated zest 3 small oranges

400g strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting

1 x 7g sachet fast-action dried yeast

30g caster sugar

5g salt

5 medium eggs, at room temperature, beaten

170g unsalted butter, softened, diced

 

clazar123's picture
clazar123

Welcome to The Fresh Loaf! Lots of good brioche to be had here. Holidays are coming up so there will also be lots of panettone, pandoro,etc!

 THIS  is a great (but a little more involved) recipe. I'm not sure I've seen posts from nico lately but take a look at his posts-he was a very good baker.

My "go to" recipe for brioche started with Floyd's (our wonderful moderator) recipe. I have developed it for multiple variations over the years.   HERE is the link for the post.

Bread flour makes a loaf chewier and is not my first choice, even if a recipe calls for it. I use regular, AP flour but I am in the USA and it is my understanding from European Fresh Loafers that the AP flour in other parts of the world are very different in protein (gluten) amounts. Bread flour may be necessary. Post the brand of flours and see what people say.

The key to making a soft, shreddable texture is to make sure to develop a strong windowpane. There are some excellent posts here on TFL about that. Use the search box "windowpane".

As for dryness, I would reduce the eggs and add more water or milk. Egg white protein can make the crumb drier/crisper. Good if you want every slice toasted.

 

Saraheliizabethh's picture
Saraheliizabethh

Thank you!