Brioche...

I did it. I made Brioche. The bread which is such a pain in the bum that even goddess Lorraine Pascale writes 'you can freeze the dough at this stage as you may be sick of it'. 

Well, I didn't have to. Inspired by a friend of Mr B who kindly sent him home from wok with a beautiful little brick bun the other week, I did it.

I used Lorraine Pascale's recipe, but in half quantities (below). However, it was good, but not as good as I had hoped, so I'll try another next time. Anyway, it was absolutely delicious warm and dipped in coffee for a Sunday morning breakfast.

Below is the recipe, the only thing I added was a handful of raisins soaked in amaretto for a couple of hours, then floured and added after the last bit of kneading. I used a mixer with a dough hook, I don't think I'd tackle it by hand!

Makes 8

Ingredients:

• 250g plain flour
• 10g fresh yeast
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 160g unsalted butter

Method:

• Put flour, yeast, sugar and salt in a mixer bowl with a dough hook.
• Add the eggs one by one, and knead really well until a smooth (very solid!) dough forms.

• Then, add the butter, bit by bit, and knead it for a good 10-15 minutes on a low speed, until it comes away from the bowl. This took ages and I had to keep scooping the dough off the sides of the bowl.

• The dough in the picture here isn't ready yet. I added the raisins after (see above picture).
• Then, put the dough in a greased muffin tim with little bobbles on top and leave it to rise, covered in oiled cling film, for a good 2-3 hours until doubled (the fat retards the yeast so it takes a while to rise).
• Then, bake at 180 degrees C for about 15-17 minutes. If after 12 they look a bit dark, put some baking parchment or foil on them.

Yum!

JB x