Luxurious BriocheI don’t know what else to call it!! I really don’t!! When I first saw this brioche in Dorie Greenspan’s book ‘Baking- From my home to yours’, I knew instantly (actually, after I had drooled all over that page) that I won’t be able to sleep unless I make this bread. Even though this bread required multiple rises, there was no way in the world that I would go on with my life without tasting a slice of this glorious bread. And I have to tell you, it was my best ‘To-bake-or-Not-to-bake’ decision ever!!!! One bite into this bread and I was an official Dorie Greenspan FAN. I, then emailed the ‘HMH Trade Publishing’ house and asked for their permission to use this recipe on my blog and they were gracious enough to let me. 

I love cookbooks. I can spend hours and hours browsing through them. They inspire me to get my ‘lazy’ self up and recreate that recipe! A good cookbook is like a lifelong ‘old’ friend whose pages might get worn out with the passage of time but it would still be preferred and picked over the more newer, shinier and glossier ones. In the day and age of internet and e-reading, cookbooks have managed to hold their own. Call me old-fashioned but I still find cooking from a cookbook more fascinating than from a mobile phone.

I had never tasted a fresh brioche straight-out-of-oven before and I am so glad that the first time that it happened was out of my own kitchen. This is also the quickest we have ever finished a loaf of bread too. Nothing says ‘yum’ more than seeing an empty loaf pan, right? It was like a ‘healthy’ croissant and ‘sinful’ bread rolled into one. What could be a better combination than that? If you like baking breads, this recipe is highly recommended.

Luxurious Brioche

Prep Time: 13 hours

Cook Time: 35 minutes

Yield: 1 loaf

Ingredients

    For the Brioche
  • 1 3/4 plus 1/8 cup all purpose flour (268 gms)
  • 1/6 cup warm water (36 gm)
  • 1/6 cup warm whole milk (36 gm)
  • 1 packet yeast (2 1/4 tsp)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1.5 large eggs, at room temperature (about 93 gms)
  • 1/8 cup sugar (25 gm)
  • 6 ounces or 1 1/2 stick or 3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature but slightly firm
    • For the glaze
  • 1/2 large egg
  • 1/2 tbsp. water

Instructions

  1. Add yeast, milk and water in the bowl of your standing mixture and stir with spoon until yeast dissolves.
  2. Add flour and salt to it.
  3. Attach the dough hook to the mixer.
  4. At a low speed, mix everything until it mixes well. (a minute or two)
  5. Scrape the sides and add the eggs and sugar to the flour mixture. Beat the mixture at medium speed for about 3 minutes, until the dough forms a ball.
  6. At low speed, add butter in 2 tables spoon chunks and incorporate it well in the batter before adding the next 2 tablespoons. At the end of this, the dough will look like a batter.
  7. Increase the speed to medium high and beat the batter until it pulls away from the side of the bowl or starts to move along with the dough hook. This process takes anywhere from 10-15 minutes.
  8. Transfer the dough into a clean bowl, cover it with a plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm place until it doubles in volume (40-60 minutes). I had put it in my oven with the oven light on. Make sure the mixture doesn't over flow.
  9. Deflate the dough gently, cover it with plastic wrap again and keep it in the refrigerator. slap the dough down every 30 min (for 2 hours),until it stops rising. Then leave the dough covered in the fridge to chill overnight or at least 8 hours.
  10. Butter a 9 inch loaf properly. Cut the dough into 4 equal pieces and roll each piece into a cylinder, equal to the length of the width of the pan. Arrange the cylindrical pieces, crosswise into the pan. Put the pan on a baking sheet and cover the pan with a greased parchment paper. Let the brioche rise again till it almost fills the pan. (1-2 hours). Greased side of the parchment paper should face inwards so that the risen bread doesn't stick to the paper.
  11. Preheat the oven to 400F
  12. Beat the egg and the water and using a pastry brush, coat the top of the bread with it.
  13. Bake the bread for 30-35 minutes until golden brown.
  14. Cool the pan for 15-20 minutes. Invert the bread on a cooling rack and let it cool down for an hour before you cut yourself a slice.

Notes

All the rising times are approximations. Actual time will vary on the weather.

The purpose of beating the batter for 10-15 minutes is to develop gluten. It might not clear the bowl completely but you will notice a definite change in the texture of the dough when the gluten starts to develop. The dough starts to look a bit stretchy. This step is very important to get a soft bread.

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