Brioche
This is my first brioche attempt, using Hamelman's recipe with commercial yeast. I'm quite proud of it, but I'm not sure what it's really supposed to be like. I'm not sure how cakey vs. bready it's supposed to be. It certainly looks and tastes great, but I'm wondering if it's cakier than I'd like.
The problems I encountered were first that the pre-butter-addition mixing did not go as planned. The dough was very dry, and was straining the machine. So it's unclear to me if I achieved proper gluten development pre-butter. Second, I'm not sure if it was adequately mixed post-butter to achieve the "sheeting" effect. It's a very gooey dough, and it did get a bit of a windowpane, but I became afraid that I was going to overwork it if I didn't stop mixing at some point. In all it was in there for 25 minutes or so, including several short couple pauses to inspect.
I would appreciate any thoughts people have on these questions.
Comments
And brioche does have a closed crumb like your picture shows but it also has a texture that shreds very easily in long strands. The brioche I am familiar with is a bit more on the dry side rather than a really moist crumb. Hope this helps!
Thanks, Danni. I do think it lacks gluten development, and it breaks off without strands. I was confused that the mix pre-butter was so dry. I also realized that I was using AP instead of bread flour. I don't know how much of a difference that makes, since KA is 12.7 bread vs. 11.7 AP.
It looks wonderful. I’m not an expert like many of the others. It looks a little dense to me, which may be under proofing. But the texture and color look like the lovely brioche I find in bakeries. Will you add butter to your slice? Its always my dilemma with brioche.
The crumb looks within the range of brioche I've seen elsewhere, and is light as a feather. It had plenty of proofing time, including the hour or too called for, followed by an overnight cold proof, knocked down once (as opposed to the suggested 2-3 times, and it doubled in the final rise. The flavor is superb and now on day 3 it's as tasty as the day it was baked. But it breaks and does not tear, which I wonder about.
I had a slice yesterday and put apricot jam on it without butter. It didn't seem to be missing anything. Today I'm going to eat it with pâté and marmalade.