I used to be shy of working w/ yeast.
I had bad experiences w/ fresh yeast which wouldn’t like to work appropriately. I was always not amused about rising time for yeast dough of hours & hours – as it seemed. Then I started working w/ dry yeast & voilà: my yeast dough goes much better now. Concerning the rising time I found that there are a lot of different approaches – some cutting rising time down to acceptable periods.
So I decided to work w/ yeast – one of my ideas for my food blog in 2021.
What to do?
I’m very, very fond of brioche – the small ones as well as a brioche bread or braid. When looking into brioche making I found a lot of frustrating recipes. Some advice like using a classic stand mixer is inevitable – unfortunately I don’t have one on my kitchen counter. Or like having to knead the dough w/ your hands twice or even more for at least 15 min each time … Then there are rising times … (Obviously some bakers think that it’s possible to do all this i. e. some hours’ work just after the morning shower for breakfast!)
So I started a brioche adventure. Of course I adjusted the amounts of the ingredients … mainly because my loaf tin is smaller than the one used in the original recipe.
W/o anticipating anything I may say that the result (above) was as expected & the preparation of the brioche dough was also successful (below).
Coming back now to the brioche!
We’ll need only:
- flour
- dry yeast
- sugar
- eggs
- butter
- milk.
All the dry ingredients will be mixed in a bowl large enough for the planned rising of the dough. Afterwards the rest of the ingredients end up in the flour mess.
Attention:
Eggs & butter shall be at room temperature; the milk shall be lukewarm.
Grab your handheld electric mixer & mix until there is a fine dough. Carefully form it into a ball.
Cover the bowl & put it into the oven. Start the oven for about 2-3 min at 75° C w/ fan. Then stop the oven & let the dough rise for about an hour.
I always thought about where to place my yeast dough for rising. Finally I read about the oven solution which works fine for me. Don’t be afraid that it’ll be too hot – just limit the heating to 2-3 min.
About an hour later there is a fluffy dough – at least the double of the starting ball.
Now add some flour on top of a wooden board & transfer the dough onto the board. The dough is soft, but manageable. Form a roll & cut it into 4 pieces.
Knead each piece, flatten it w/ your hands & fold it back into a ball.
I had a loaf tin (25 cm) prepared w/ baking parchment. So I put all the pieces into the loaf tin.
For rising session #2 I put the loaf tin in the oven … 2-3 min at 75° C fan … afterwards let it rise for about 30 min.
It worked really fine. The dough doubled – at least I think so.
After having retrieved the loaf tin I started preheating the oven: 160° C fan.
I cracked an egg & brushed the dough w/ whisked egg. Finally I added some coarse sugar on top.
The loaf tin marched into the preheated oven for about 25 min … voilà!
I was really excited w/ my result: a perfect brioche bread!
The brioche was soft & fluffy & springy. It had a very nice color: slightly brown. It was not too sweet: perfect for butter and/or jam.
A last remark:
I used eggs. The whole of the egg. Later I read that you should only use the egg yolk … I think next time I try & compare.
Enjoy!
- 400 g all-purpose flour
- 7 g dry yeast (1 packet)
- 50 g fine sugar
- 150 ml milk (lukewarm)
- 60 g butter (room temperature)
- 2 eggs (room temperature)
- a pinch of salt
- some flour (for kneading)
- 1 egg
- 3-4 tbsp coarse sugar
- handheld electric mixer
- loaf tin (25 cm)
- baking parchment
- In a large bowl mix flour, dry yeast, sugar & salt.
- Add milk, eggs & butter.
- Mix w/ the dough hooks of the handheld electric mixer until it's well done.
- Form a ball of the dough, cover the bowl w/ a tea towel (or whatever) & put it in the oven; heat the oven for about 2-3 min at about 75° C w/ fan.
- Let the dough rise for about 1 h.
- Distribute some flour on a board … Transfer the dough from the bowl onto the board. Knead the dough, form a loaf & cut it into 4 parts. Knead each part, flat it w/ your hands & fold it several times (6-8 times).
- Line a tin loaf w/ baking parchment & arrange the dough.
- Put the loaf tin in the oven; heat the oven for about 2-3 min at about 75° C w/ fan.
- Let the dough rise for about 30 min.
- Preheat the oven to 160° C w/ fan.
- For the topping: whisk the egg & brush it all over the dough; add the coarse sugar.
- Put the loaf tin in the preheated oven & let it bake for about 25 min. Make the famous test w/ a thin wooden pin … If necessary add another 5min.
- Let the brioche bread cool down & start enjoying.
