I must confess that there’s been a bit of a slackening in looking after the blog these past few weeks. I’m sorry about that, but I’m quite tired and my back is hurting a lot at the moment. Suffice to say that sitting at the computer for any length of time doesn’t thrill me much. But it will pass.
I’m back with a new brioche recipe, the famous braided brioche. If you know me a little, you must know that I’m absolutely not a pro when it comes to bread-making — I very rarely do it.
This time, I went looking for the recipe on the blog Il était une fois la pâtisserie and it was a success. I got an incredibly soft brioche with a stringy crumb. No need to get the knife out to cut it — you just tear off pieces of the plait, a real delight!
So if you’re looking for a good recipe for breakfast or afternoon snack, and you manage to find flour and yeast (it’s really not easy at the moment), I strongly recommend this recipe.
Ingredients & method
2 components · Full recipe
Braided Brioche
Ingredients
- 500 g (17.6 oz) flour (strong flour / T45 preferably, or plain T45 flour)
- 80 g (2.8 oz) caster sugar
- 8 g (0.3 oz) salt
- 25 g (0.9 oz) fresh yeast
- 2 eggs
- 180 g (6.3 oz) milk, at room temperature
- 100 g (3.5 oz) cold butter
Method
1
Place the following ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer in the exact order: the flour, sugar on one side, then the salt on the other.
2
Make a well in the centre of the flour and crumble the yeast into it. Make sure the yeast does not touch the salt or the sugar, as this would prevent the dough from rising.
3
Add the eggs on top of the yeast, then pour the milk over everything. Knead with the dough hook on medium speed for 5 to 10 minutes. The dough should pull away from the sides of the bowl.
4
Add the butter in pieces without stopping the kneading.
5
Continue kneading for about ten minutes until the dough pulls away from the sides again. You may need a little longer. If necessary, add a very small amount of flour.
6
Cover the dough with cling film and leave to prove for around two hours until doubled in size. (You can also do this step the evening before, as I did, by leaving the dough in the fridge overnight.) At this stage, you can make one large brioche (like mine) or two smaller ones by dividing the dough in half. Knock back the dough with your fist, then roll it out to form a large rectangle. Cut it into 3 equal strips.
7
Roll each strip into a long sausage shape, pinching the dough to seal (see photo), then turn them over so the seam is hidden. Press the three ends together and braid the strips. Don’t braid too tightly as the brioche will expand during proving. Leave to prove for one hour (I place the brioche in my oven set to 30°C / 86°F).
Egg Wash
Ingredients
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tablespoon liquid cream
- pearl sugar
Method
1
Preheat the oven to 170°C / 340°F.
2
Mix the egg yolk with the cream and brush the egg wash generously over the brioche. Scatter with pearl sugar and bake for approximately 25–30 minutes.
Gallery
