A little bit about brioche

Brioche is one of the original enriched breads. Enriched meaning that it contains lots of butter and eggs. According to Wikipedia, there was mention of brioche in print as early as the 13th century, though it's believed to be the descendant of a type of Roman bread.

The that quote usually attributed to Marie Antoinette about letting the peasants eat cake, many people think it was actually mistranslated and refers to brioche. She was saying to let the peasants eat brioche. According to Peter Reinhart, in his Bread Bakers Apprentice, there was two versions of brioche during that time in France. One of them was for the rich, which was chock full of butter, and one was for the poor, which had minimal amounts of butter. There were apparently strict rules governing who could buy which version. By saying "let them eat brioche" Marie Antoinette was saying let the poor eat the rich person's version of the bread.

Brioche is an amazingly rich, soft, flaky, delicious bread. It's kind of strange in that it contains so much butter, but it still turns out bread-like. In fact, brioche can have anywhere from 50% to 90% butter (that would be half as much butter as flour to almost as much butter as flour by weight). The most traditional and recognizable form of brioche is the brioche à tête (pictured above), but you can shape it any way you want.

Brioche makes a great brunch bread just because it's so buttery and tasty. I recently found a great formula for strawberry almond brioche from Cyril Hitz, a very well known baker. You can check out my version after the jump.



I actually used dried apricots because I had those on hand. Also, I did make a few modifications, but the result are a lot more "home baking" friendly. hopefully this will inspire you to try your hand at brioche. This makes a wonderful breakfast bread.

First, make the poolish the night before, and leave covered in a cool place.
Mix 4.5 ounces bread flour (or King Arthur All Purpose, because it has a strong enough protein content)
4.5 ounces milk and
a tiny pinch of yeast

Also the night before, soak the strawberries.
Chop up 5 ounces of dried strawberries. Mix together 1.5 ounces each of dark rum and simple syrup, and add that to the dried berries. Cover and leave overnight.
(Simple syrup is equal parts water and sugar that is boiled to make a syrup. It's great for sweetening coffee or tea, especially if it's cold.)

The next morning, mix the dough.
The poolish
10 ounces bread flour
1/4 ounce instant (bread machine) yeast
2.5 ounces sugar
1/4 ounce salt
2 eggs and 3 yolks
1/2 tsp vanilla
7 ounces unsalted butter

Mix all of the ingredients except the butter on low speed until the flour is hydrated, then mix on second speed to let the gluten develop a bit. Turn the mixer back to first speed and add the butter slowly. Mix the dough until all the butter is incorporated and the dough is smooth and very soft, then add the soaked strawberries. The dough will be extremely soft and sticky.

Place that on a floured surface and work into a ball shape, then place the ball in a lightly floured bowl. Cover that and allow to proof for about two hours. The size won't increase dramatically, but it will get bigger and appear to become smoother. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, pat down, and divide it in half. Shape each half into a cylinder (as best you can but it doesn't have to be perfect), and place each cylinder into a greased loaf pan. Cover the two pans and let the dough proof til it's about three quarters of the way to the top of the pan (about 1 to 1.5 hours). Bake the brioche at 350°F for 20 minutes, turn them in the oven, and bake for 15 to 20 minutes more. They should be a dark golden brown. Allow them to cool before slicing into them, even though I know how hard that will be. Hopefully you'll enjoy it as much as I do!