Freshly baked brioche is one of life’s real pleasures

Brioche is having a moment. Watch out for brioche burger buns this summer, they’re everywhere. It has always made a wicked bread and butter pudding, too. Freshly baked brioche, sliced and spread with butter and tangy blackcurrant jam or fragrant honey, is one of life’s real pleasures.

Just how brioche can manage to be so light and yet so buttery must be one of the wonders of the world. The eggs and butter in this enriched dough give the crumb a beautiful golden colour that’s hard to resist.

This dough is quite sloshy and wet, so I would always recommend using a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook to make it. It is the easiest way, and gives the best results. If you are making it the traditional way, by hand, the most difficult thing is remembering to take the butter out of the fridge early enough. It should be at room temperature, soft enough that you could push your finger through it with no effort.

However, I prefer to make it in the morning and find that leaving the dough to rise overnight never suits me. For this reason (and because I use a stand mixer), I often use melted butter. When lukewarm, it speeds up the first rise so I can finish baking by the end of the afternoon.

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However you make it, once the soft butter is mixed evenly through the dough, it gives a wonderfully tender crumb when it is baked. The high butter content means the dough is very soft after kneading. So, if you want to shape the dough into a plait or make buns, then it is important that the brioche dough rests overnight in the fridge. Its overnight chill allows the butter to harden up and makes the dough much easier to handle and shape.

It also means making brioche for breakfast is a surprisingly straightforward affair. In the unlikely event that the brioche doesn’t get snaffled within moments, it freezes well and toasts wonderfully.

BRIOCHE BREAD

Makes 2 small loaves
Ingredients
75ml milk, room temperature (not chilled)
40g caster sugar
7g dried yeast (fast acting yeast, sold as a sachet is perfect)
350g strong white flour
1tsp salt
3 eggs (plus extra for basting)
120g butter, melted
To serve, butter and jam

Method
1 Place the milk in a jug, and stir in the sugar. Add the yeast and leave to sponge for five minutes.

2 Set up a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Add the flour and salt into the mixing bowl.

3 Add the eggs, and yeasted milk mixture and start to mix the dough on a slow speed, gradually increasing to a medium speed. Continue mixing for 10 minutes, until the dough is springy and smooth.

4 To avoid any splashing, gradually add the melted butter (butter not hotter than lukewarm is okay). Mix for about 5-10 minutes until the dough is smooth with a silky sheen.

5 Form the dough into a ball with your hands, place in the cleaned out bowl and cover lightly with cling film (to stop a skin forming). Set aside in a draught-free place for a few hours until the dough doubles in size (alternatively, leave it in the fridge to rise overnight).

6 Once doubled in size, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface, and knock back the dough. Knead gently. Either make a single smooth ball shape for a large brioche mould or divide into two ball shapes for two smaller 500ml tin moulds. Grease the brioche moulds very well with sunflower oil or butter. Use a pastry brush to baste each loaf with extra egg wash.

7 Set aside in a warm place for about 1 hour to allow the dough to increase in size.

8 Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180 degrees Celsius, or equivalent, for 25-30 minutes, until well risen and golden.

Variation
If you don't have a brioche tin mould, you can use a loaf tin, shape dough into bread rolls or make a plaited loaf.