how2heroes » Basic Brioche

Dessert & Baked Goods » Basic Brioche

You'd think making a classic French brioche bread would be very difficult. Not so. Just carve out the time for overnight rising and that's really your biggest hurdle. For the rest, simply follow baker Jake Leishman's technique for rolling the dough. This bread is delicious as is, or make French toast, bread pudding, stuffing or try Bostock (Almond-Crusted Brioche), for brunch dish you'll love.

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Ingredients

¼ cup warm milk
¼ cup granulated sugar
2 tsp instant yeast
3 cups all-purpose flour, divided as ½ cup & 2½ cups
1½ tsp salt
5 eggs, room temperature
½ lb butter, room temperature, cut into tbsp-size pieces
nonstick cooking spray

Egg Wash

1 whole egg
1 egg yolk
pinch of salt

Special Equipment

stand mixer with dough hook
rolling pin
loaf pan
instant-read thermometer

How-to

In the bowl of a stand mixer, blend together milk, sugar, yeast and ½ cup of the flour
Add remaining flour and salt to the bowl but do not mix. Once flour mixture forms cracks, 5-10 minutes, begin mixing with a dough hook and slowly add eggs one at a time
When the mixture has the consistency of a dough, begin adding butter several pieces at a time. Once all butter is added, turn mixer to medium and mix for 10 minutes or until the dough begins to make a slapping sound against the sides of the bowl
Place finished dough into a large bowl or covered container that has been sprayed with nonstick spray. Make sure your bowl is at least 3 times the size of the dough to accommodate the dough's increase in volume. Let rise in the refrigerator overnight
To shape the dough, flour your work surface, place dough on surface and dust dough liberally with flour. Roll dough out to approximately 8 " x 10" or 11" x 14", then roll like a jelly roll (watch the video to see Jake's technique) and pinch the seam closed
Spray loaf pan liberally with nonstick spray and place dough in seam side down. Gently press dough to fill the pan and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise until dough doubles in size (about 90 minutes)
When dough has risen, preheat your oven to 350º. Remove plastic and gently brush the top with the egg wash
Bake at 350º for 45 minutes or until the final temperature of the bread is 205º. Jake highly recommends using an instant-read thermometer since baking times can vary greatly depending on the cycles of your oven, size of pan, etc.
Cool on a wire rack

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Comments (1)

Posted Saturday, January 22, 2011, at 1:21 am by Candice:

I love your recipe. I made it and served it at a small cafe I own in a little town. Do you have a bulk recipe? I would love to make it daily. Thanks for showing your recipe. If you'd like to email me the bulk recipe legend1ca@hotmail.com I can't wait to fix the bostock for my family.

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Basic Brioche