Brioche bread: the recipe for a soft and versatile sourdough product of French origin

He brioche bread it is a soft and versatile preparation of French origin. A sourdough sweet and fragrant, here packaged in the typical trunk shape which, thanks to its neutral and slightly sweet flavor, lends itself well to being combined with sweet and savory ingredients of all kinds.

To prepare it, simply mix flour with milk, eggs, crumbled brewer’s yeast, salt, sugar and butter. The smooth and homogeneous dough thus obtained, after a first leaven, will then be divided into several pieces of the same weight and left to rest again inside a bread pancarefully buttered: the result will be tasty and fragrant dumplings which, clumping together during cooking, will give a well-veined bread with an almost impalpable consistency, to be tasted instead of rusks, breakfast it’s up to snackwith a veil of chocolate cream to spread or fruit jam of your choice.

If you wish, you can also use the brioche bread as a base to make the famous French toast or you can bring it to the table at the start of the meal, instead of white bread, combined with a platter of charcuterie and cheeses. With the same dough you can also “bake” small buttons to garnish for a birthday, brioscine with cream or delicious desserts: such as the sweet danube or the angelica cake.

The origin of the name pain brioche is quite controversial even if the most reliable sources trace it back to the verb of Norman origin Bramble which literally means to knead.

Find out how to prepare brioche bread by following the step-by-step procedure and tips. If you liked this recipe, also try the salty brioche braid or the stringy brioche.

How to prepare brioche bread

Scoop the sifted flour into the bowl of a stand mixer 1.

Add sugar 2.

Mix the crumbled brewer’s yeast 3.

Add the lightly beaten eggs 4.

Start kneading at the lowest speed 5.

Add the milk 6.

Mix the ingredients for about 15 minutes 7.

Continue to work until the dough comes away from the walls of the kneader 8.

Incorporate at this stage half of the soft butter 9.

Then add the rest of the butter and salt ten.

Work again at speed 3, until the dough is smooth and homogeneous, and firmly attached to the hook 11.

At this point, transfer the compound to the work surface and knead again with your hands 12 for a few minutes.

Form a loaf 13.

Place it in a buttered bowl and let the dough rest for 3-4 hours, covered with a transparent film 14in a dry place away from drafts: this will help the rising process.

Once doubled in size 15take the dough again.

Turn it over on the work surface and, using a tarot, divide it into 8 portions 16 about 80 g each.

Form several balls with each piece of dough 17.

Gently pound them on the work surface, until smooth and even 18.

Grease a 28 x 13 cm cake tin and arrange the balls inside, side by side 19.

Keep doing this until you run out of ingredients. 20then let the brioche bread balls rise, covered with a transparent film, until they have doubled in volume: it will take about 1 hour and 1/2.

After the rest time 21remove the film.

Brush the brioche bread with the egg yolk 22lightly beaten with a drop of cream, and put in a static oven at 170°C for about 35 minutes.

Once cooked, remove the brioche bread from the oven and let it cool on a wire rack. Then turn it out onto a cutting board. 23cut it into slices and serve.

Advice

If you wish, you can enrich the bread brioche with a pinch of turmeric, various aromatic herbs and chopped walnut kernels, or you can shape it like a donut or a braid, or arrange it in a paper cup special: in this way you will give life to a spectacular gourmet panettone, to be garnished in layers for a festive buffet.

If you want to make a sweet bread it will suffice to combine a few dried figs soaked in rum, the zest of 1 grated orange, a handful of raisins or chocolate chips, or to mix 320 g of flour 0 with 30 g of unsweetened cocoa powder, then increase the quantity of sugar present in the dough from 20 to 60 gr.

For a school result we prepared the brioche bread in the blender, but if you don’t have the planetarium you can easily work the ingredients by hand: you will only need to use a little more elbow grease, but the end result will be just as satisfying.

storage

The brioche bread can be stored at room temperature, in a food paper bag or in a glass bell jar, to 2-3 days massive.