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A Brioche Recipe from France: Cooking Vacations in France with TIK

A Brioche Recipe from France: Cooking Vacations in France with TIK

Name: Brioche
Prep time: 180 min
Cook time: 25 min
Yield: 10 servings
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: 300g (1 ¼ cup) whole egg; 60g (1/4 cup) caster sugar; 23g (1 ½ tbs) fresh yeast; 12g (a little under 2 ½ teaspoons) fine salt; 400g (3.5 sticks) butter, cubed; 2 egg yolks

September 1, 2014
Peg Kern

Breads & Pastries
Breakfast Dishes
Nut Free
Vegetarian

Overview
Recipe for Brioche

In France, brioche is a versatile bread that can be enjoyed during breakfast, or as a snack or dessert. It’s so versatile that some even call it a pastry due to its high egg and butter content, as well as ingredients like sugar. At the same time, brioche can also be found in savory French dishes as well. No matter how you serve it though, light and puffy brioche is – simply put – delicious.

While brioche’s origins aren’t definitively known – although it does resemble Greek Easter bread ‘tsoureki’ – many believe that it dates back to the early 1400s. Even back then the butter content was important. The richer version of the bread – literally, only the aristocrats could afford it – had a 3:2 flour to butter ratio, while the poor man’s version had a ratio of 4:1.

Today, butter is still incredibly important. The quality of the ingredients – particularly the butter – play an important role in the final taste of the bread/pastry.

180 minutes
10 servings
Bake
25 minutes

Ingredients

300g (1 ¼ cup) whole egg
60g (1/4 cup) caster sugar
23g (1 ½ tbs) fresh yeast
12g (a little under 2 ½ teaspoons) fine salt
400g (3.5 sticks) butter, cubed
2 egg yolks

Instructions

In a mixer, mix flour, eggs, sugar, salt, and yeast.
Knead the ingredients in the mixer using a dough hook. Add butter at three separate times.
Continue kneading until the dough stops sticking to the sides of the bowl and becomes smooth and elastic, yet firm.
Finish by folding in the eggs.
Let it rest for 1 ½ hours and then punch down.
Divide up as you need (into 3-6 pieces) and place in buttered baking dish.
Let dough rise to room temperature until the dough reaches the top of baking dish.
Bake in a preheated oven at 190°C (375°F) 25-30 minutes.