Brioche

Brioche is a french buttery bread that has a copious amount of butter and egg. So much so that I didn't even manage to knead half the required amount of butter into it cos it was simply too oily. The dough was also very sticky... I heard that this dough had sent some bakers KitchenAid into early retirement... ugh!

Unless you are looking for a reason to buy a new mixer, better to hand mix & knead... Don't say I never warn you!


I knead for about 40min before it comes smooth and elastic. But all the hardwork is worthwhile cos all the kids in the family love it so much... All the bread disappeared in 5 minutes. My niece said it was better than Breadtalk, which is her favourite. Her yi-yi is over the moon lah!

For me, I find bread very soft and fluffy. It will not stick to your teeth like the commercial bread. Recipe is perfect... I just need to brush up my shaping skills to get the pretty smooth brioche!


Brioche RECIPE

75g (3 ounces) butter, slightly softened
1 tsp Instant dry yeast
3 eggs
250g (8 ounces) bread flour
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt

1. Beat eggs lightly with a fork and set aside.
2. Add all the dry ingredients into a mixing bowl, and mix well.
3. Make a well in the mixing bowl and add eggs + 2tbsp butter. Stir the mixture until you get a soft dough.
4. Turn the dough into a light floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic.
5. Put it back to the bowl (no need to oil) and cover with plastic wrap and let the dough begin to proof for 1 hour or until it double in size.
6. Turn out dough on a lightly floured surface and knead well, gradually knead in the remaining butter. It will be very greasy... but do not add more flour as it will change the texture of the bread.
7. Shape dough by make a smooth big ball and place it in a buttered brioche tin (I used the silicon cupcake mould). Then make a small ball and place it on top of the big ball. Use the handle of a spoon to press thru the small ball to the one beneath.
8. Cover loosely with an oiled cling wrap and leave it to proof for the 2nd time (~20min).
9. You may glaze with an egg white to produce a nice shine. (I ommitted this step cos I was very tired after all the kneading and shaping)
10. Muffin sized brioches, like what you see in the pix above) , will take about 10 minutes in a 200C oven. But I plan to lower the oven temperature to 180~190 so that the small ball does not get burnt before the big ball is browned.