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Brioche: Basic & Easy Brioche




Source of Recipe


Nick Malgieri


List of Ingredients




1/2 cup milk

2-1/2 teaspoons (1 envelope) active dry yeast

2-1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

3 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs



Recipe



In a small saucepan over low heat, heat the milk until just warm, about 110 degrees F. Remove from heat and pour into a small bowl. Whisk in the yeast and 1 cup of the flour. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside at room temperature while you prepare the other ingredients. Don't worry if it rises a bit.

Cut the butter into 6 or 8 pieces and combine with the sugar and the salt in a mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix ingredients with the mixer running at low speed until the mixture is soft and smooth. Scrape the insides of the bowl often. Add the eggs, one at a time and mix until smooth, about 10 minutes. If it curdles (from using cold eggs), mix for 1 minute more until almost smooth; it may still look somewhat curdled.

Switch to a dough hook. Add the remaining 1-1/4 cups flour, and scrape the milk-yeast-flour mixture, previously prepared, into the flour-butter-egg bowl with a rubber spatula. Starting a low speed and soon advancing medium, mix the ingredients until they form a soft, smooth dough. Process another 30 seconds.

Turn the dough onto a generously floured work surface. Fold it over onto itself several times to make it elastic. Press the dough into a rough rectangle, if using a loaf pan or a disk, if using a Brioche one. Fold each side about an inch towards the center and press firmly to seal. Then starting at one edge, fold the rectangle or disk towards the middle. Fold the other half of the dough towards the middle. If folding a rectangle, fold the remaining edges, one at a time, past the seam and pinch to seal. With the disk, fold the remaining edges, one at a time, towards the center and seal.

Place the dough, seam side down into a well buttered pan (cover bottom and all sides). Press the top of the dough firmly with the palm of your hand. This will flatten the dough and fill the pan evenly. Cover the pan with a piece of plastic wrap, either buttered or sprayed with vegetable oil, facing the dough or with a towel. Allow the dough to rise about an inch above the rim of the pan, about an hour.

Using the corner of a razor blade (be careful) or the point of a sharp knife, cut a slash from about 1-inch before the end of the loaf down the middle of the top, to 1-inch before the end. If baking in a Brioche pan, do the same, but make 2 slashed like an "x".

After about 40 to 45 minutes after placing the dough in the pan, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Remove the plastic wrap from the brioche dough. Bake until golden brown, about 40 minutes. After 10 minutes, rotate the pan to ensure even cooking. When baked, immediately remove to a wire rack and let cool to room temperature.

Use immediately or store. To do so, wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate or freeze. Bring to to room temperature or reheat and then cool to room temperature before serving.

YIELD: Makes 1, 8-1/2 x 4-1/2 x 2-3/4-inch loaf pan (6 cups)


NOTE: You can add 1/2 cup dark or light raisins, currants, toasted and chopped nuts, to the dough. Do so, after you transfer it to the work surface. Then, continue to fold the dough over on itself until they are evenly distributed. Shape the dough as instructed.