Brioche is one of my favorite breads—but it often lacks in texture and flavor. A typical brioche loaf, especially a store-bought one, has a cakey texture instead of a bready one. Home-baked brioche is often better, but it dries out quickly. To resolve the textural issues, the bread only uses bread flour and is kneaded in a stand mixer. Though some brioche loaves only use eggs, this brioche swaps some eggs out for milk, improving the texture. Only after the dough has a strong gluten network is butter added. In Japan, Hokkaido milk bread is made with a tangzhong: starch is cooked in milk and added to dough. Since the starch is pre-gelatinized, the tangzhong traps moisture without making the dough sticky and difficult to work with. These steps make for a buttery, wispy loaf with a light chew and subtle tangy flavor, thanks to sourdough starter.
Makes two brioche loaves
Ingredients
Tangzhong
100g whole milk
30g bread flour
Dough
100g mature sourdough starter
6 large eggs
150g milk
40g honey
3g (1 tsp) instant or dry active yeast
600g bread flour
10g (1 tbsp) Diamond Crystal kosher salt
16 tbsp butter
Egg Wash
1 large egg
Flaky sea salt
In a small saucepan, whisk 30g bread flour with 100g milk. Cook on medium heat, stirring constantly with a silicone spatula, until the mixture forms a thick paste, around 3 minutes. Scrape the mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer, and let cool for 10 minutes
Add the remaining 150g milk to the flour mixture, and whisk until incorporated. Add the eggs, sugar, starter, and yeast, and whisk until homogenous. Add the bread flour to the wet ingredients, and using the dough hook attachment of a stand mixer, mix by hand until no dry spots of flour remain. Cover with a dish towel and let rest for 10 minutes.
Sprinkle the salt over the dough. Attach the bowl and dough hook to the stand mixer and knead on medium-high, scraping down the bowl every so often, until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl, around 7-10 minutes.
With the mixture running at medium speed, add a tablespoon of butter at a time to the dough, waiting until each piece of butter is fully incorporated before adding another piece. Once all butter is added, return mixer speed to medium-high and knead until dough passes the windowpane test, another 5-10 minutes.
Transfer the dough to a large bowl, and cover with plastic wrap. For best results, proof the dough in the refrigerator overnight, or for 12 hours. Alternatively, let dough rise at room temperature until about doubled in size, 1.5-2 hours.
Lightly grease two 8x4” loaf pans with butter or baking spray. Lightly dust countertop with flour (bread or AP are both fine). Fold the dough over itself 6 times to deflate. Turn the dough onto the floured counter, and divide the dough into four equal pieces. Roll each quarter of dough into a 9-inch log. Tightly twist two logs together, and place in an 8x4” loaf pan, tucking the ends underneath the loaf if it does not fit. Repeat with the remaining two logs. Loosely cover the tins with plastic wrap or a dish towel, and let rise until the dough is puffed but not quite doubled in size, around 1 hour.
30 minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 350°F. Beat the remaining egg until homogenous. When ready to bake, gently brush the loaves with egg wash, and sprinkle with flaky sea salt. Bake until the bread is golden brown, sounds hollow when tapped, and registers 200°F when probed with an instant read thermometer, 30-40 minutes. Let cool at room temperature for 10 minutes, then remove loaves from their pans and let cool completely on a wire rack before slicing (or tearing) and eating.
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