Brioche

I am now living with my brother's family in Seattle and they own several fantastic cook books, including "The Bread Baker's Apprentice"by Peter Reinhart. I picked the book up yesterday and could not put it down until I had finished the introduction and reached the first few recipes. I then made up my mind to start working through the recipes in alphabetical order, skipping those I have already made, and going back to the ones I did not have ingredients for.

Brioche is the 4th recipe in this book, and there are 3 versions of it. Rich man's brioche, middle man's brioche, and poor man's brioche. Rich man's brioche contains the greatest proportion of butter to flour (88%), middle man's has less (50%), and poor man's has the least (20-25%). Brioche is traditionally a rich dough, but I didn't want to kill my family by making it so incredibly rich, so I decided to make middle man's brioche.

Note: This recipe took me 2 days to make; it requires 30-45 min fermentation period, 4 hours (min) refrigeration of the dough, ~2 hr rise, and 15-45 mins baking. If you want to complete it in a day, start in the morning.

Ingredients for the sponge:
1/2 c unbleached bread flour
2 t instant yeast
1/2 c whole milk, lukewarm (90-100 degrees F)

Ingredients for the dough:
5 large eggs, slightly beaten
3 cups unbleached bread flour
2 T sugar
1 1/4 t salt
1 c unsalted butter, at room temp

1 egg, whisked until frothy, for egg wash

In a large mixing bowl stir together the ingredients for the sponge until everything is hydrated. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit 30-45 mins, until it is airy and well risen. I forgot to let the butter sit at room temperature, so my sponge sat for 2 hours and it was fine.

While you are waiting for the sponge, prepare the other ingredients. Whisk the eggs together in a bowl. In another bowl, sift together the flour, salt, and sugar. When the sponge is ready, using either an electric mixer or by hand, mix the eggs into the sponge. Add the dry ingredients to the mix, incorporating them slowly until everything is evenly mixed and a sticky dough has formed. Let this sit 5 minutes for the gluten to develop.

Next, begin incorporating the butter, 1/4 at a time. Make sure the butter is mixed in well before adding more. After everything is combined (this will take a while if you are doing it by hand), transfer the dough to a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Make sure you spray the parchment paper with oil before you place the dough down. I forgot to do this and it stuck to the paper. Press the dough into a rectangle about 6'' x 8''. Spray the top of the dough with oil and cover it in plastic wrap. Refrigerate 4 hours minimum, or overnight.

When you are ready to shape the dough, first decide what shape you are going to make. You can make petites brioches à tête (pictured below), larger versions if you have the correct molds, or loaves. The petite version can be made in a specific mold or just a regular muffin tin, which I used.

This recipe makes 12-16 petites brioches à tête, 2-4 larger brioches à tête, or 2 1 lb loaves. I made 9 petites brioches à tête and 1 loaf.

Spray the pans with oil and remove the dough from the fridge to immediately divide up the dough to begin shaping. If the dough warms up at all place it back in the fridge and wait for it to cool down again. To make the brioche à tête, dust your hands and work surface with flour. There are two methods to shape them. I recommend you try both (as I did) and decide which you like best. 
Method 1: Take the dough and roll it into a strand that tapers at one end. Poke a hole in the thick end and loop the smaller end through. Round the small end off so it looks like a ball.
Method 2: Roll the dough into a ball and press down with you hand while rolling so a small portion breaks off. Roll this into a small ball. Place the large ball into the pan, indent the top, and place the smaller ball on top.

For the loaf lay your dough down on a floured surface and press it into a rectangle, about 7 inches long. Beginning with one of the larger sides, pull the dough over to create suface tension. Do the same with the other edge and tuck the edges together so they stay. Flip the dough over and you will have an even loaf. Place it in the greased pan. Spray with oil and cover with plastic wrap. 

Let the petites brioches à tête rise 1.5-2 hours, until they nearly fill the pans. The loaves and larger brioches à tête will take longer.

After rising, brush with egg and let the dough sit another 15-30 minutes. Preheat the oven during this time. 400 F for the petites brioches à tête and 350 F for the larger brioches à tête and loaves.

Timing actually works out perfectly for making both loaves and petites brioches à tête. The petites brioches à tête were ready first, so I baked them while the loaf was still rising. Then I lowered the oven temperature and baked the loaf.

Bake the petites brioches à tête 25-20 minutes, until they are golden brown. Bake the loaves and larger brioches à tête 35-50 minutes. (my loaf took about 45 minutes) Remember the oven temperature is 50 degrees lover for the larger ones.

Immediately remove from the pan when they come out of the oven and let them cool 20 minutes (small) or 1 hr (loaf/large) before serving. Enjoy with jam or your choice of topping. Definitely worth the work and/or wait!

Petites brioches à tête out of the oven. The loaf is still baking.