The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Brioche, Simple and Delicious

CascadeDiver's picture
CascadeDiver

Brioche, Simple and Delicious

I wanted to share with you a brioche recipe I had adopted and tweaked to my liking.

This bread is a Thanksgiving favorite for my friends and family.

Please Enjoy :)

100% - All Purpose Flour

40% - Whole Milk

1% - Salt

1% - Dry Active Yeast

25% - Eggs

10% - Honey

25% - Butter (Room temp)

 

For the purpose of a single braid or loaf here are amounts for a single 600g batch

297g - All Purpose Flour

119g - Whole Milk

3g - Salt

3g - Dry Active Yeast

74g - Eggs

30g - Honey

74g - Butter (Room temp)

 

Incorporate all ingredients except butter and bring the dough together.

Add the room temperature butter to incorporate a little at a time.

Develop the gluten to pass the windowpane test.

Double the dough in size (in the refrigerator for best results, room temp or warmer to speed things up depending on your timetable)

Divide and shape

Prove over night in the refrigerator covered (in the refrigerator for best results, room temp or warmer to speed things up depending on your timetable)

Egg wash with whole egg (Egg white - Lightest shine, Whole egg - Medium shine, Egg yolk - Darkest shine)

Bake at 350°F for ~35min (give or take 5min).

Internal temp of 190°F

Golden Brown is to my liking

Danni3ll3's picture
Danni3ll3

I love brioche! Especially the one from The Vendee région in France. Yours look amazing! Hope they tasted as good as they looked. 

CascadeDiver's picture
CascadeDiver

Thank you :)

Absolutely delicious indeed. 

I don't know much about the brioche from different areas. Is this one in the style of the Vendee région? 

Danni3ll3's picture
Danni3ll3

But all brioches are delicious. How can you go wrong with a tender crumb full of butter! 

CascadeDiver's picture
CascadeDiver

Indubitably

Robyn's picture
Robyn

I would substitute the honey for Golden Syrup for a slightly richer flavour, (and because I am not a fan of the flavour of cooked honey, which most people don't taste).

I love brioche, but my other 'arf is completely 'meh' about it... Obviously he has defective genes.

And thank you for the refrigerator and/or fast version suggestions - it can make such a difference to the end product. Not to mention the single loaf recipe - I'm going to give this one a try.

CascadeDiver's picture
CascadeDiver

I've often substituted agave syrup for honey (which ever happens to be in the front of my delightfully disheveled cupboard). I do have some golden syrup I could try next time.

Robyn's picture
Robyn

So I made the brioche and followed the recipe only substituting the Golden Syrup for honey and sticking precisely to the original recipe.

After mixing until it reached the right consistency, (window pane?) I put it into the refrigerator to proof.

It really didn't do anything after 8 hours, so I was worried, but I rolled it out and formed it into a loaf and put it back into the fridge to proof overnight. Again, it did not rise, so I took it out and to proof on the (cool) kitchen bench. It rose beautifully, so I put it in the fridge overnight.

Took it out this morning to warm up a bit before baking it, then baked it for 35 minutes with egg-wash on top.

I baked it in my traditional loaf bread tin. I have a fan-forced oven and baked at 175C.

I was a bit worried when it started cooking that it would keep rising and rising! The smell was divine.

We let it get to warm before we cut it and had a piece each... Then we had another piece each, because it was the best brioche I've ever made/tasted! It is so light and the flavour is really lovely. It just became an instant family favourite, so thank you for posting this recipe!

There are a few things I would try next time (in a couple of days, as family has now requested loaves...).

I will drop the oven temp to 170C and bake for 30 minutes. The fan-forced oven on 175C was just a bit too hot.

We like the traditional loaf shape, so will continue with baking in the tin.

I will leave off the egg-wash and see how it goes, using it again if future loaves looks too pale.

I plaited the loaf when I put it into the tin. When it rose, there really wasn't a nice defined pattern on the top (as per the loaves above) probably because the loaf was forced to rise up and squish the plaits away. Next time I will try 3 balls of dough in each tin. The loaf I made looks a bit ugly, but it is the best bread ever.

 

CascadeDiver's picture
CascadeDiver

Maybe cold can be too cold and cool is just... Cool.

I'm very happy it worked out for you :)