Brioche à Tête

Amid all the posts I had put up thus far, I realized there is one category I have yet to touch on. Breads. Yup, I love bread as much as I love my cakes, pastries and all my sweets. Dang, what am I talking about? I just love all food in general, isn't it? It is promptly reflected on my increasing body size! LOL!

Be it bread from the diminishing "old-school" bakeries in neighbourhood estates or the over-priced and overrated "fusion" breads from chain stores and of course, the "artisan" breads from internationally famous bakeries whose names my Mummy could not articulate, it does not matter, my love for them is equal!! And I do not just adore a particular type of bread, I have a whole list of favourites! Focaccia, Rye, Sourdough, just to name a few. And obviously, the focal interest of this post -- Brioche!

In my personal opinion, Brioche is one of the few highly versatile bread which compliments both savoury or sweet applications. Although in Singapore, they are usually made sweeter than the traditional rendition, skewing it towards the sweet bread category, it is not surprising to see various savoury applications in countries within the Europe region. Sadly in Singapore, they are most commonly projected as the main component of an upscale version of the Bread Pudding or often offered as French Toast in an absurdly priced restaurant. 

It is no secret that what makes Brioche so irresistible and sets it apart from its bread counterparts is its high butter and egg content, giving it a rich, buttery, alluring fragrance and a moist, fine-crumb texture, almost akin to that of a cake. Perhaps it would be most compelling to simply dubbed it as a "yeast-risen cake" as mentioned by Paul Allam and David McGuinness, the authors of the recipe book I devoted my first attempt of Brioche to -- Bourke Street Bakery.

Below is the exact recipe and instructions without any modifications. Please read my afterthoughts written below before attempting. =)

Brioche (makes a 22 x 7.5 x 7.5 cm loaf)

(Recipe from Bourke Street Bakery - the ultimate baking companion)

   190g     All-Purpose Flour, chilled
       4g     Fresh Yeast, chilled
     15g     Caster Sugar, chilled
    30ml    Milk, chilled
        3      Eggs, chilled
       5g     Salt
   125g     Butter, unsalted, softened, cut into 1.5cm cubes

Egg Wash = 1 Egg + 100ml of Milk + pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 220ºC
1. Grease and line the loaf tin.

2. Using a dough hook, mix all ingredients EXCEPT butter on Low speed for 3mins, then increase the speed to High and mix for another 3mins.

3. Reduce the speed to Medium and with the motor running, add a few pieces of butter at a time, making sure it is well incorporated before adding more -- when finished the dough should be smooth, soft and very sticky to the point of being difficult to handle.

4. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl, cover with a clean tea towel. Place in the refrigerator to prove for about 1 hour.

5. On a lightly floured work surface, press the dough, gently knock out most of the air and pressing out to form a rectangle, about 2.5cm thick. Fold 1/3 of the dough onto itself and repeat with the remaining 1/3.

6. Turn the dough 90º and repeat the 1/3 folding. Place the dough back into the container with the folds underneath, again cover with tea towel and continue to bulk prove for another 1 hour.

7. On a lightly floured work surface, gently knock out the air again. Press the dough out into a rectangle and fold the 2 sides to your left and right into the centre. The dough should be as wide as the tin's length.

8. Press the dough down to form a rectangle and starting from the side furthest away from you,, roll the dough towards you to form a log.

9. Use the palm of your hand to close the seam running the length of the log. Place the dough into the tin, seam side down. Brush the top of the loaf with egg wash.

10. Reduce the oven temperature to 180ºC and bake the Brioche for about 40 mins, or until golden. When turned out of the tin, the base should sound hollow when tapped.

Thoughts: Although the authors had warn about the stickiness of their recipe, I did not expect it to be as wet and gooey as a thick cake batter. The dough will not pull away from the sides of the bowl. It will not become smooth no matter how long you mix/knead. And forget about membrane stage. It will remains pretty much as a big glob of sticky mess. I regret not researching enough before my attempt else I would have been aware that the Brioche dough is indeed this sticky, this wet and highly difficult to handle. There are other recipes out there with a lower egg/butter to flour ratio; although they will be easier to handle but the result might not be as fragrant as a higher butter ratio recipe.

Needless to say, I succumbed to temptation and added an additional 50g of AP flour, thinking that the difference in temperature, humidity or even the size of the eggs must have done something to the dough. Of course, I was wrong. Heehee.. Although my Brioche still smells heavenly with all the butter inside, the addition of AP flour yielded a drier and denser texture. To salvage my mistake, I turned the dry Brioche into French Toast for breakfast and it was a-m-a-z-i-n-g! Thankfully I don't have to feed Mr. Bin! =P

One thing to point out though, this recipe does not yield a sweet Brioche as the kind we are accustomed to. Please feel free to adjust the sugar as per desired. =) And although the recipe stated rest the dough in fridge for an hour, some articles suggest that it will be best to let it rest overnight so the flavours can develop. That was what I did, so this Brioche took about 15 hours to complete.

And the 2 odd looking pastry/bread thingy above? This is how brioche are shaped traditionally, and it's not placing a separate bit of dough on top of another, au contraire to what some bloggers say. Instead of using a "Brioche à tête" mould, I utilized a fluted egg tart mould which does the job just as well. I will definitely attempt this recipe again, bearing in mind that I should not add additional flour but till then, it will be back to cakes for me!

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