Today,
bacause I’ve been way to busy cooking for my cook book
because when it seems that life is a bit unfair, something good and extraordinary always happens to bring a smile back on my face
because I’ve got THE BEST friends I could wish for
and because the SPRING has finally arrived in Shanghai
I have decided to bring back on the front page this AWESOME pan brioche recipe! Absolutely the best I’ve had in my life!
Give it a try!
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I’ve been looking for a good pan brioche recipe for years. I’ve tried many but none of them really got me the result I was expected until last Saturday when I decided to try Julia Child recipe for Brioche dough.
This is absolutely THE BEST PAN BRIOCHE I’ve EVER had in my life, and I’m serious! It came out soft, sweet, fluffy and it preserved for days without going stale.
I’m posting here the step by step recipe so that you can give it a try if you feel like.
I shaped mine in a loaf, but you really can shape it in a gillion of different ways. I’ll be making this a lot in the future so I’ll show you other ideas for using this incredible brioche dough!
Ingredients (for 1 big loaf):
For the spunge
- 1/3 cup warm whole milk (110F/38 C)
- 2-1/4 tsp active dry yeast
- 1 egg
- 2 cups flour
For the dough
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 3 eggs (Julia recipe called for 4, but that sounded a bit too much for me)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1-1/2 cup flour
- 2/3 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature (160 g)
Start by making the sponge!
Heat up 1/3 cup of milk until it reaches 38 C or 110 F (I put mine for 30 sec in the microwave) and sprinkle 2-1/4 tsp of active dry yeast right on top. Wait about 10 min for the magic to happen!
Next, in a bowl of your electric mixer combine 1 cup flour, 1 egg and the milk/yeast mixture.
With a rubber spatula mix the ingredients together until combined
Now cover the top of the mixture with the other cup of flour and let rest uncovered for about 40 min
40 min later this is how it will look…
Add sugar
salt
add 1 cup of flour
slightly beat up 3 eggs
and pour them into the bowl with the sponge
with your electric mixer, hook attachment, mix for a minute on low
Now add the remaining 1/2 cup of flour and keep mixing. When incorporated increase speed and beat for about 15 min
During mixing, the dough should wrap around the hook and slap sides of bowl. If this does not happen after 10 minutes, add up to 3 tablespoons flour. Continue to beat a full 15 minutes.
Meanwhile grab about 2/3 cups of room temperature butter
and with a fork cream it
Now with you mixer on low, add the butter a couple of tbsp at a time scraping the bowl with a spatula from time to time
Once you have added all the butter, keep mixing the dough on medium speed for about 10 min. If the dough is not coming together after 3 minutes, add in 1 tbsp of flour (I did that).
At this point the dough should feel somewhat smooth, soft, and sticky
Transfer it to a well oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and a towel and let it rise in a warm place until it doubles in size (I left mine resting for 2 hours)
2 hours later
Deflate dough by lifting a section, and letting it fall back into bowl. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and chill 4 to 6 hours in the fridge
After this time the dough is ready to be used in any brioche recipes! Look how much it rised in the fridge
I’ve just roll it out on a floured surface
then roll it back in, just like this
and place it in a heavly buttered loaf pan
Now cover with plastic wrap and let rest for about 1 hour!
At this point you’re ready for baking!
Beat up one egg with a couple of tbsp of milk (NOTE: I haven’t listed these 2 last ingreadients in the ingredient list)
and brush the loaf across all its surface
and put the bread in the over for about 45-55 min at 180 C. Sorry for the picture, but I got pretty dark by the time I finished and I had to use my flash.
This is the following day!
D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S!!!
Love
– LittleDani
