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Brioche



Baking with Julia: Sift, Knead,
Flute, Flour and Savor the Joys of
Baking with America's Best...

Contributing Baker Nancy Silverton
by Dorie Greenspan, based on the PBS Series
hosted by Julia Child, 1996, William Morrow and Co.

Makes about 2 1/4 pounds dough

“Brioche is an elegant yeasted dough, a cross between bread and pastry. It is rich with butter and eggs, just a little sweet, pullable – a gentle tug, and the bread stretches in long, lacy strands – and fine-textured, the result of being beaten for close to half an hour.
There is nothing difficult about making this perfect brioche, but you do need time and a heavy-duty mixer. Preparing this brioche will familiarize you with the tex-ture and mixing pattern of other yeast doughs that include butter: Babas, and
their sister, Savarin, Cranberry-Walnut Pumpkin Loaves, White Loaves, and
Fruit Focaccia [recipes included in cookbook] - all of which come together like standard bread doughs, fall apart with the addition of butter (a sight that strikes fear into the heart of first-timers), and come together once again.
Of course, you can use brioche to make the traditional topknotted têtes in fluted molds or soft, golden loaves, which slice beautifully for breakfast toast or sand- wiches and, when just past peak, make sublime French toast or Twice-Baked Brioche [recipe included in cookbook]. But it is also the base of such glorious creations as plump Pecan Sticky Buns, custardy crème fraîche-topped Brioche
Tart and Savory Brioche Pockets, filled with mashed potatoes, goat cheese
and asparagus tips [recipes included in cookbook].
In this version, the brioche is made with a sponge, which gives the yeast a lei-
surely proofing period and deep flavor. You’ll notice that the sponge instruc-
tions call for adding the dry yeast without a presoak to dissolve it. This is an
unusual technique, one more commonly associated with the use of fresh
yeast. If you have doubts, have a bite."

The Sponge

1/3 cup warm whole milk (100 to 110 degrees F)
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 large egg
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

Put the milk, yeast, egg and 1 cup of the flour in the bowl of a heavy-duty mixer. Mix the ingredients together with a rubber spatula, missing just until everything is blended. Sprinkle over the remaining cup of flour to cover
the sponge.

Rest
Set the sponge aside to rest uncovered for 30 to 40 minutes. After this
resting time, the flour coating will crack, your indication that everything
is moving along properly.

The Dough
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups (approximately) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/2 sticks (6 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature

Add the sugar, salt, eggs, and 1 cup of the flour to the sponge. Set the bowl into the mixer, attach the dough hook, and mix on low speed for a minute or two, just until the ingredients look as if they’re about to come together. Still mixing, sprinkle in 1/2 cup more flour. When the flour is incorporated, in- crease the mixer speed to medium and beat for about 15 minutes, stopping
to scrape down the hook and bowl as needed. During this mixing period,
the dough should come together, wrap itself around the hook, and slap the sides of the bowl. If, after 7 to 10 minutes, you don’t have a cohesive, slapping dough, add up to 3 tablespoons more flour. Continue to beat,
giving the dough a full 15 minutes in the mixer – don’t skimp on the
time; this is what will give the brioche its distinctive texture.

Warning
Be warned – your mixer will become extremely hot. Most heavy-duty mixers designed for making bread can handle this long beating, although if you plan to make successive batches of dough, you’ll have to let your machine cool down completely between batches. If you have questions about your mixer’s capacity in this regard, call the manufacturer before you start.

Incorporating the butter
In order to incorporate the butter into the dough, you must work the butter until it is the same consistency as the dough. You can bash the butter into submission with a rolling pin or give it kinder and gentler handling by using
a dough scraper to smear it bit by bit across a smooth work surface. When it’s ready, the butter will be smooth, soft, and still cool – not warm, oily or greasy.
With the mixer on medium-low, add the butter a few tablespoons at a time. This is the point at which you’ll think you’ve made a huge mistake, because the dough that you worked so hard to make smooth will fall apart – carry on. When all of the butter has been added, raise the mixer speed to medium-high for a minute, then reduce the mixer speed to medium and beat the dough for about 5 minutes, or until you once again hear the dough slapping against the sides of the bowl. Clean the sides of the bowl frequently as you work; if it looks as though the dough is not coming together after 2 to 3 minutes, add
up to 1 tablespoon more flour. When you’re finished, the dough should still
feel somewhat cool. It will be soft and sticky and may cling slightly to the
sides and bottom of the bowl.

First Rise
Transfer the dough to a very large buttered bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and let it rise at room temperature until doubled in bulk, 2 to 2 1/2 hours.

Second Rise and Chilling
Deflate the dough by placing your fingers under it, lifting a section of the dough, and then letting it fall back into the bowl. Work your way around
the circumference of the dough, lifting and releasing. Cover the bowl tightly
with plastic wrap and refrigerate the dough overnight, or for at least 4 to 6
hours, during which time it will continue to rise and may double in size
again.
After this long chill, the dough is ready to use in any brioche
recipe.

Storing
If you are not going to use the dough after the second rise, deflate it,
wrap it airtight, and store it in the freezer. The dough can remain frozen
for up to 1 month. Thaw the dough, still wrapped, in the refrigerator
overnight and use it directly from the refrigerator.

Working with Brioche and Other Egg-and-Butter-Rich Doughs

  • Mix, mix, and then mix some more. Once all of the ingredients except the butter have been added, the dough must be beaten for a long time – sometimes as long as 25 minutes – to develop its fine texture.

  • Listen for the slapping sound: The dough should wrap itself around the dough hook and visually and audibly slap the sides of the bowl. If the dough doesn’t come together, add a few sprinkles of flour and continue to beat.

  • Keep the butter smooth and cool. The butter and the dough it goes into should have a similar consistency – soft, smooth, and still cool (never oily). To get the butter to the right consistency, beat it with a rolling pin or smear
    it in pieces across a work surface.

  • Add the butter bit by bit. The butter should go into the dough a few tablespoonfuls at a time while you mix at medium-low speed. Don’t
    panic when you beautiful dough breaks up with the first few addi-
    tions of butter – press on. The dough will come together and once
    again make that satisfying slapping sound (music to a baker’s ears).

The preceding recipe yields enough brioche dough for 3 têtes or 3 loaves

“In France, brioche is baked in several forms and used for everything from
keeping the morning café au lait company to serving with foie gras and Sauternes or caviar and Champagne. While function often allows form, the two most popular forms, the Parisienne, or tête, and the Nanterre, or loaf, provide enough flexibility to allow them to function deliciously in just about any situation. The tête is perhaps the most familiar shape; made in a fluted mold, it sports a topknot of golden dough and can be either large, the true Brioche Parisienne, or small. Its cousin, the loaf-shaped Nanterre, is elegantly designed, made by positioning six balls of dough in a loaf pan so that when they rise they touch one another but maintain their inviting knobby shape. (This is the bread that makes the most extraordinary French toast. Don’t wait for a loaf to go stale to whip up this treat – set aside a loaf for this purpose alone.) Each recipe of brioche will make with three large Parisiennes
or three loaves à la Nanterre.
 

Têtes (Parisienne)

1 recipe Brioche dough, chilled
1 large egg beaten with 1 tablespoon cold water, for egg wash
 

Butter 3 large fluted brioche pans, using a pastry brush to make certain
you get into the flutes; set aside.

Shaping the Têtes
Divide the dough into thirds. Keep the remaining dough covered n the refrigerator while you work with one piece at a time. Put one piece of
the dough on a lightly floured work surface and, using your dough scraper, cut off a hunk of dough that is scant one third of the piece. Work the larger piece of sough gently and quickly between your hands and against the work surface to form a smooth ball. Drop the ball into a buttered mold.
Roll the smaller piece of dough into a pear shape. Use your fingers to make
a depression in the center of the dough that’s in the mold and fit the narrow top of the pear-shaped piece of dough into the depression. Pinch and press the dough together as needed to make certain that the seam between the
large and small pieces of dough is sealed. Repeat with the remaining dough.

Rise
Cover the pans with a piece of buttered plastic wrap and allow the dough
to rise at room temperature for about 2 hours, or until doubled in size.

Baking the Têtes
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly brush the brioche with the egg wash, taking care not to let the glaze dribble into the mold (it will impair
the dough’s rise in the oven). Working quickly, use the ends of a pair of sharp scissors to snip 2 or 3 slits in each larger ball of dough. Bake the brioche for about 30 minutes, or until they are deeply golden and an
instant-read thermometer plunged into the center of the bread (plunge
from the bottom) reads 200 degrees F. If the breads appear to be
browning too quickly, cover them loosely with an aluminum foil
tent. Cool to room temperature on a rack.

 

Loaves (Nanterre)

1 recipe Brioche dough, chilled
1 large egg beaten with a tablespoon cold water, for egg wash
 

Butter three 8 1/2- by 4 1/2-inch loaf pans; set aside.

Shaping the Loaves
Divide the dough into thirds. Keep the remaining dough covered in the refrigerator while you work with one piece at a time. Using a dough
scraper, divide the piece of dough into 6 equal pieces and, on a lightly
floured work surface, shape each piece into a ball. Place the balls in a
loaf pan side by side so that you have three short rows, each with
two balls of dough, Repeat with the remaining dough.

Rise
Cover the pans with a piece of buttered plastic wrap and allow the dough
to rise at room temperature for about 2 hours, or until doubled in size.

Baking the Loaves
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Lightly brush the brioche with the egg wash, taking care not to let the glaze dribble into the pan (it will impair the dough’s rise in the oven. Working quickly, use the ends of a pair of sharp scissors to snip a cross in each ball
of dough. Bake the brioche for about 30 minutes, or until they are deeply golden and an instant-read thermometer plunged into the center of the bread (plunge from the bottom) reads 200 degrees F. If the breads appear to be browning too quickly, cover them loosely with an aluminum foil tent. Cool
to  room temperature on a rack.

Storing
The brioche, whether têtes or loaves, are best the day they are made, but they can be kept nicely at room temperature for a day or two; wrap them
in plastic. Wrapped airtight, they can be frozen for a month. Thaw, still wrapped, at room temperature.
 

Featured archive recipes:
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and Raisin Compote

Savarin with Blueberries
 

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