Brioche is French style of bread that is enriched bread dough. This means that the bread dough contains eggs, butter and sugar, which gives the bread more taste and improves the texture. The addition of the milk, butter, sugar and eggs slows down the proving process a bit. However, a longer prove is better as this adds more flavour to the bread dough. Brioche can be used to make sweet or savoury styles of bakes. This is a very soft dough and it would be very hard to make if it was done by hand. So I recommend using s stand mixer to make this dough, as it will be quicker and easier for you. This is a Paul Hollywood recipe so it has been tried and tested and will work every time.
Ingredients:
Brioche:
375g Strong White Flour
185g Very soft unsalted Butter
40g Caster Sugar
75ml Milk
3 x Eggs
1 tsp Salt
2 x Packets of fast action Yeast
1. Pour the milk into a pan and heat until the milk starts to simmer. Once simmering remove the pan from the heat and allow to cool for 10 minutes. The milk should be warm to the touch. If the milk is too hot, the milk will kill the yeast cells and the bread will not rise. Cut the butter in cubes and set aside for later.
2. In a large mixing bowl add the flour, caster sugar, salt and yeast. Make sure the salt and yeast are opposite each other. The salt will kill the yeast cells, preventing the dough from rising when baked.
3. Attach a dough hook to a stand mixer and start mixing the dry ingredients. Then add the eggs of the fry ingredients. Then slowly pour the milk in while the ingredients are being mixed. Keep on adding the milk till a dough forms. The dough will need to be mixed for 3-5 minutes; you will notice te dough will become smoother. You may not need to use all of the milk.
4. Make sure the butter is very soft, as cold butter will not incorporate fully in to the dough. Slowly add a cube of butter one by one while the dough is being mixed. Make sure each cube is mixed in before adding another cube of butter.
5. Once all of the butter has been added mix the dough for a further 2-4 minutes. The dough should become more smooth and glossy.
6. Then cover the bowl in cling film and then place the dough in the fridge to cool for 6 hours or over night. The more time the dough has to prove, the better the flavour of the brioche. The dough needs to be chilled for as long as possible so that the butter in the dough solidifies. This will make shaping the dough easier.