Another of the breads that I learned to make during the Traditional Bread-Baking course at Le Cordon Bleu was brioche . If you’re wondering what brioche is, it’s a type of bread, not entirely unlike regular white bread – except that it is much tastier due to the added cream, butter, and eggs :) It’s so soft and wonderful… I fell in love with it pretty soon after arriving in Paris. So here’s how to make this wonderful treat!

The following recipe is adapted from bulk recipes provided by Le Cordon Bleu .

INGREDIENTS
Makes ~3 mini loaves

278 g flour (use T55 in France)
42 g sugar
5.6 g yeast
167 g egg (~3 eggs)
5.6 g salt
111 g butter, at room temperature & cut into small pieces, plus more for topping
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
28 mL heavy cream
egg wash (1 full egg + 1 yolk)

DIRECTIONS

In the bowl of an electric mixer, whisk together the flour, sugar, and yeast. Add the eggs, and with the dough hook, mix on low speed for 4 minutes. Add the salt, and mix on medium speed for 4 minutes more.

Add the butter, and mix again on medium speed for a few minutes. Then add the vanilla and cream and continue mixing for several minutes more.

Place the dough into a buttered bowl. (It’ll be quite sticky, so you may have to scrape it out with a spatula). Cover with plastic wrap, and allow it to rise at room temperature for one hour. After an hour, punch the dough down, return to the covered bowl, and place into the refrigerator overnight.

The next day;
Cut the dough into 80 g pieces (you should end up with 8 pieces).

Pre-shape each piece by gently forming a ball with your hands. Place each piece back into the fridge for at least 20 minutes.

On a lightly floured surface (just enough so that the dough doesn’t stick), use a rolling pin to flatten each ball (but don’t flatten it too much! Probably just until it’s a 1/4 inch or so thick). Use a brush to remove any excess flour from the top of the dough.

Then fold in the sides, and roll it up! Continue with all eight pieces.

Butter two mini loaf pans, and another smaller pan. Place three rolls in each loaf pan, and the remaining two rolls in the smaller pan. Brush the tops with the egg wash, and place them somewhere warm to rise for 2.5 to 3 hours.

Once the loaves have risen, preheat the oven to 200 C (~400 F), and gently brush the tops with egg wash again. Fill a small piping bag (or even a ziploc with the corner snipped off) with room temperature, whipped, unsalted butter. Snip each bun with a pair of scissors, and generously pipe butter down the length of each loaf.

Decrease the oven temperature to 180 C just before placing the loaves in. Bake for 28 to 30 minutes, until golden brown.

Enjoy!

So delicious with butter and jam :)