Brioche - by Gynelle Alves

Brioche tastes best fresh with their rich buttery-sweet crumb and flaky top. Stale, toast it up to eat with chai, rich meaty stews, as bruschetta or even (like with croissants) reinvented as a bread and butter pudding.
 

 

Ingredients:

3 cups all purpose flour

3/4 cup butter (softened)

3 eggs beaten + 1 for the wash

1/3 cup sugar + 2 tsp for the wash

Yeast 3 tbsp

1/3 warm milk

Salt, about 1 1/2 tsp

Method:

In a large bowl, mix yeast in with the warm milk and sugar and leave for 10 minutes. Add flour and then slowly, the butter, making sure each piece is fully incorporated before adding the next.  Slowly add your beaten egg in mixing well. Knead the dough till very elastic and leaving your hands and sides of the bowl easily. Don’t panic if it’s too sticky! Just keep kneading and it will be fine. Shape into a big ball, cover and leave to rise in a warm, dry place for 1-2 hours.

Oil your baking tin, and lightly dust with flour, shaking out the extra. Gently knock back the dough and divide it into four balls. Put these into your tin just touching, cover and let this rise for another hour. When your hour is nearly up, heat up the oven to 200 degrees C.

Make a wash with a beaten egg and 2 tsp of sugar and gently brush over your brioche, taking care not to deflate the balls. With a pair of scissors make a small cut on top of each ball. Bake your bread for 10 minutes at full 200 before reducing heat to 180 and bake for a further 25 minutes. Remove and cool on a rack. Slice up and serve.