Brioche loaf
Apparently, brioche bread is completely impossible to find in the greater Augusta area. I needed a brioche loaf for a recipe recreation, so I found a recipe to make one myself. This recipe is fairly easy, but it has a lot of steps and it’s really time consuming. Like the dough has to rise for at least an hour three separate times. It’s great to make for special occasions or for out-of-town guests when you have a lot of other errands and chores to accomplish. The original recipe makes two loaves, and you can try out my (very delicious) baked brioche French toast with one of the loaves.
The end result is divine. The brioche loaf smells delicious. It has a beautiful caramel color and a wonderful crust. It’s eggy and sweet and perfect. If you do it right, it’s worth all of that effort.
Brioche loaf
Ingredients
Scale
- 2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
- 1/6 cup granulated sugar (half of a 1/3 cup)
- 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast (roughly one packet)
- 1 teaspoons salt, plus a pinch for egg wash
- 3 large eggs
- 1/4 cup milk, at room temperature
- 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, slightly softened, cut into 8 pieces
Instructions
- Combine the flour, sugar, yeast, and salt with the paddle attachment in an electric mixer. Add two of the eggs and the milk.
- When the dough begins to stick together (before all ingredients are combined), switch from the paddle attachment to the dough hook. Increase the speed to medium and mix for 2 minutes.
- Scrape the bowl and dough hook then continue to mix about 2 minutes more, until the dough becomes firm and elastic. Continue to scrape the dough off the hook.
- Reduce the mixer speed to medium-low and add half the butter pieces, a few at a time.
- Scrape the bowl and dough hook again then knead the dough by hand a few times to fully incorporate the butter.
- Turn the mixer on medium low speed, and add the remaining butter, a few pieces at a time.
- Once the butter has been added and incorporated, increase the mixer speed to medium and mix for 4 minutes. Scrape bowl and dough hook.
- Mix 4 minutes more. Dough should be smooth, soft, and shiny and should slap the sides of the bowl as it mixes.
- Scrape the dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead by hand a few times then form into a ball by folding the edges from the top, right side, bottom, then left side. Turn the dough over and tuck the bottom into itself as you turn the ball of dough and smooth the top.
- Place dough, fold side down, into a clean large bowl. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let dough rise in a warm area for about an hour, the dough should double in size.
- Turn the dough out of the bowl, smooth side down, onto a lightly floured work surface, and knead, folding the dough and working it into a smooth ball.
- Place the dough, smooth side up, back into the bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Allow to rise another hour, or place in the refrigerator overnight. Dough should double in size.
- Butter a 9.25×5.25×2.75 inch loaf pan. Line with parchment paper.
- Turn the dough out of the bowl, smooth side down, onto a clean work surface. Form the dough into a ball by folding it into the middle from the top, right, bottom, and left.
- Cut the dough into 8 equal pieces. Roll each piece of dough into a tight ball. Arrange balls of dough into 2 rows of four pieces into each of the prepared loaf pans.
- Cover loosely with plastic wrap and allow to rise about 1 hour. Dough should be almost doubled in size and should spring back when lightly poked with a finger.
- Halfway into the rise time, position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 375 degrees F.
- In a small bowl, beat the remaining egg and a pinch of salt. Gently brush the tops of the dough with the egg wash being careful not to let the egg wash drip into the pan.
- Bake for about 25 minutes. Top should be dark golden brown and edges should be golden in color.
- Allow to cool in the pan on a wire rack for 25 minutes. Remove loaves from pan. Slice, serve, and enjoy!
