Brioche
Brioche! This is a golden enriched bread with a high butter and egg content which gives it its characteristic dark flaky crust and soft tender crumb. I love love love this bread. Its always a thing of joy to see these dark loaves adorn the bakery shelves of boulangries in Paris, beckoning on you to buy them. Unlike other french breads, brioche is quite pricey due to how enriched it is. This was why Marie-Antoinette was seen as being harsh when she advised peasants who had no bread: ‘”Qu’ils mangent de la brioche.” Well, we don’t have to break the bank to indulge in this loaf anymore. I have adapted a recipe shared by Chef Bruno to create this easy to make brioche which is as good as any you will buy in Paris.
INGREDIENTS:
This recipe can be doubled.
(1) 250 Grams Bread Flour (A little under 2 cups)
(2) 6 Grams Salt (1/4 Tablespoon)
(3) 25 Grams Sugar (2 Tablespoons)
(4) 7 Grams, Active Dry Yeast (About 2 teaspoons)
(5) 150 Grams Eggs (About 3 Large Eggs)
(6) 150 Grams Unsalted Butter
(7) 1 Egg for Egg Wash
PROCEDURE:
(1) Place the dry ingredients in the bowl of your stand mixer attached with the paddle attachment and mix to combine ingredients.
(2) With the mixer running, add the eggs one at a time. When the dough starts coming together, switch to the dough hook and Knead for about 6 mins or until the dough comes together and looses its graininess.
(3) With the mixer still running, add the butter and keep kneading the dough for about 12 minutes. The butter should be very soft and added in bits so it can easily incorporate into the dough. At the end of 12 minutes, the dough will be very soft, smooth and shinny.
NOTE: This dough can be made by hand. Place the dry ingredients in a bowl, add the eggs and knead until a dough forms. Turn the dough on a lightly floured work surface and keep kneading until it is smooth. Divide the dough into 2. In one half, add the soft butter and knead to incorporate the butter into the dough (This is a very sticky process). After the butter has been incorporated into half of the dough, combine that dough with the other half and knead until you get a smooth and stretchy dough. The dough might look messy at first, but don’t stop kneading. See pictures below for hand method.
(4) Put the dough in a greased bowl, cover with cling film and allow it to double in size. This takes about 2 hours. Keep dough in a warm place to rise. The rise is quite beautiful!
(5) After about 2 hours, deflate dough, roll into a ball, place back in the bowl, cover and keep in the fridge overnight. This will allow the flavors in the bread to develop.
(6) The next day, divide the chilled dough into smaller pieces and shape into balls. You can get creative here and roll some of the dough in sesame seeds, poppy seeds, toasted nuts, et cetera. Place shaped dough in a baking pan seam side down and allow to sit in a warm place for about 3 hours.
TIP: To make the seeds stick to the brioche, roll the shaped brioche on a damp paper towel before rolling it in the seeds of your choice.
(7) After 3 hours, the dough would have risen. Brush it with egg wash (1 egg lightly beaten) and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 25 mins.
(8) Allow the loaf to cool in the pan for about 5 minutes before taking it out.
Now you can eat brioche!
Terry Adido is passionate about showing people how easy it is to recreate restaurant quality meals in the comfort of their kitchens. With a style of cooking he refers to as Afro-European Fusion, his meals are influenced greatly by French and Italian Cuisine with a West African twist. If you love good food, you are in for the ride of your life.
Terry thanks alot, you make cooking and baking look so easy. This i will try. We all must be known for something, good or bad, and here, here is your tuff. Kudos bro
Thank you.
Hi Terry,
I am in the process of making Brioche using your recipe. so i have added the eggs to the flour, how long does it take for the dough to become firm? mine is still kind of grainy, is this normal?
thanks.
It takes about 6 minutes. Just keep on kneading till it all comes together.
nice one
Thank you.
Hi Terry, thanks for receipe. trying it out next week. Just so am clear- is milk or water not required as there is no mention of it in the recipe? Cheers
Hi. No they are not required. The recipe uses a lot of eggs and soft butter. These make the dough very soft.
Thanks a million.
Hi Terry, please my brioche batter is refusing to rise oo. its exactly 2hrs since i kept it in a warm place. shld i just leave it overnight and see what happens?
Just getting to this. How did it turn out?
it came out very soft and nice. but i must say that i almost gave up on the bread, very temperamental bread. I had to leave it in the oven for another 2 to 3 hrs before it rose. and then when i brought it out of the fridge this morning, it seemed kind of frozen, i almost threw it out but decided to go on and see what happens. In the end it turned out very well albeit a bit burnt.
Ok. I am glad it worked out for you.
Good stuff, Terry. I started baking because of you. Even bought a stand-mixer (I clearly don’t know how to do anything half-way :D)
Made brioche today using your recipe today. I kneaded the dough using the dough hook till the dough stopped sticking to the sides of the bowl. The dough didn’t rise a lot in 2 hrs so I left if for another 2hrs. The result was a really buttery, soft and dense sort of bread. Is it meant to be dense?
Hi. It is not meant to be dense. Its meant to be soft, buttery and light. I do not know what went wrong or where.
It felt too much like a pound cake than a bread. Maybe I over-kneaded it?
Over baking leads to dryness. It does not make it dense. Its all about the rise.
Ah ah!!! I see. Thanks for your help and answering my questions.
Hi Terry, I want ask if there is a way to make bread flour, like combining corn flour to all purpose flour to make cake flour? Thanks a lot
Hi. I am not aware of any such ways. I doubt it is possible. Cake flour is “diluted” or watered down flour and thats why it is possible to make it yourself.
Hi Terry,
I joined the SYTYCC group some months back and have been awed by your work and the simplicity with which you share your recipes. I’m a hobby baker and one thing I’ve always been loathe to try my hand at is bread. Well between yesterday and today, I overcame that fear and my first attempt at brioche was a beautiful success.Thank you for selflessly sharing your recipes with us.As you’ve watered, you too shall be watered.Will be trying out more of your bread recipes 😉
God bless.
Thanks a lot Folake. Wish you greater baking experiences in future.
hi. pls i need your help.tried tagging you on sytucc.please.im making cookies,i usually just bake a lil but decided to bake much today.and i gooffed.i probably added too much corn flour.just brought out d first batch and it crumbles at just a touch.is there anything i can do it.
Dont handle until completely cooled.
delicious bread.thinking of adding lemon zest next tym i try it. have you tried it before? no more store bought bread(in hubbys voice). home made all the way. thanks terry
That would be nice.
another round of brioche n i have to say,im loving it more.this is a perfect recipe,if you havent tried this i suggest you do,this one is a keeper.
today i added powdered milk just for experiments and it still turned out great.
Thanks for sharing Comfort.
You put milk and you’ll get ‘pain au lait’ miam
Thanks Malam Aziz 🙂
Thank you Terry.
I used strong bread flour because I couldn’t find just bread flour. It didn’t rise after the 2 hours! I would have given up if not that I don’t like waste. I proceeded to leave it overnight and baked it not too long ago. Not sure how it’ll turn out 🙁
Could it be because I used strong bread flour? What’s the significance of “strong” in the bread flour anyway?
Hi. Strong flour is the same thing as bread flour. I do not think the flour was the problem here. It might be that your yeast is weak/dead or your kitchen was too cold. Do you live in a cold region? Winter? Try testing your yeast by putting it in some warm water to see whether or not it activates. If it doesn’t, it is time to get some new yeast.
Thank you.
There’s winter here in the UK, also, I think my fridge might have been too cold. I will test the yeast as you suggested even though I just bought it solely to bake this brioche.
Great job you are doing Terry.
Using your recipes I have made french vanilla sponge cake, chocolate cake, lemon cake and brioche. They all turned out great. Well, except the brioche which had a tangy taste. Turned out I used yeast for sour dough.
You are welcome Chidimma. Yes brioche does have a bit of tangy/fermented taste.