At Last...My Brioche Has Come Along!

A month later than hoped, I have finally made some brioche and it was well worth the wait.

During my first trip to England, I bought a sweet bread called brioche at ASDA. I loved it and had eaten the whole bag (8 small brioches) by the next morning. I bought some more to eat while there, and then bought some to bring home. Ever since then, I have bought bags of this heavenly treat on my visits and have longed for them here in the States. I cannot seem to find them where I live!

This summer I was delighted to find that the Joy of Cooking book I bought had a brioche recipe, so I made it as soon as possible. I was very disappointed. This recipe said it was a French recipe, but it was way too buttery and ended up tasting like a croissant, and even had the texture of a croissant. We ate them, but I didn't plan to use that recipe again.

Six months later and after buying five bags of brioche in England (which were made in France), I was determined to try again! I looked at the ingredient list and searched for recipes online with those ingredients, but had difficulty finding them. I finally asked around and was given an authentic French recipe to try.

Not to knock Joy of Cooking, because there are some recipes in there I have enjoyed, but this recipe I was given was so different from the one I had before I don't know why they said theirs was the French recipe, maybe there are regional differences. The recipe I was given is from a person in France and from a French cookbook, so it should definitely be French!

These brioche were delicious! I overcooked them a little, but they weren't too badly overdone. I made some plain butter ones, and some chocolate chip ones. My boyfriend, who says he doesn't like sweet things, but actually eats loads of it, said he liked both, but preferred the chocolate chip ones. This recipe was well worth looking in three different stores for superfine sugar!

Brioche (no amounts are given because I feel badly about posting other people's recipes without their permission)

Yeast Batter:
dried yeast
milk, hand-hot
superfine sugar
bread flour

other ingredients:
bread flour
salt
superfine sugar
butter
eggs


Yeast Batter method:

1. Stir yeast in to milk, let stand for 5 minutes.
2. Mix the flour and sugar and let stand in a warm place until frothy, about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile...

1. In a separate bowl, mix together rest of flour, salt and sugar.
   
2. Slice cold butter into thin pieces and rub into flour mixture.

To finish...

1. Beat eggs into the frothy mixture.
2. Stir in the flour mixture until it is a soft dough. Place on lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and no longer sticky.
3. Cover the dough and let it rise for about 1½ hours or until doubled in size.
4. Punch down the dough.
5. Grease tins and divide the dough into twelve equal pieces. (or place in a loaf pan) Pinch off a small piece of each of the twelve sections. Form the larger pieces into balls and place in tins. Make a small indentation and form the smaller pieces into balls and place on top. Glaze with a beaten egg.
6. Cover and leave the brioche to proof for about 30-40 minutes or until light and puffy.
7. Bake at 450°F until golden brown (15-20 minutes). Cool on a wire rack. (Bake for 45-50 minutes if using a loaf pan)