Brioche bread

25 January 2023

medium

1 loaf

It’s time for another recipe inspired by my grandpa, pépé Charles. I previously share a soup recipe he used to make for us when we were kids but today I’ll be sharing one of his bread recipes. Pépé Charles was a baker and used to have his own small shop at the front of the house (if anyone comes across any photos from it, please send it to me, I have always wanted to see what it looked like! It was in a town called Wichelen in Belgium and was located in the Dreefstraat). When I was young he had of course retired a long time ago and when he passed away I wasn’t into cooking as much, so I never got to make bread with him. All I have to rely on is his old notebook that I inherited. It’s not the easiest to work with as some of the text is faded and it’s handwritten. There also some words in there I had never heard of as they aren’t used anymore. But I am really enjoying going through it and typing it all out.

I have made a few of his recipes so far but none more than this brioche bread. As the description in his notes was missing a lot of information, I relied on my bake with Jack book to help me piece the puzzle together. I have kept all the original quantities and ingredients but I did increase the amount of sugar in the bread as it wasn’t very sweet. If you want to try the original quantities: it’s half the amount of sugar listed below.

With this brioche bread I then created two other recipes which I’ll share in the next two weeks!

Reviews

Ingredients:

Adjust Servings
400g strong white bread flour
250ml full-fat milk
1 large egg(s)
1 egg yolk(s)
20g caster sugar
5g salt
25g fresh yeast or half this amount dry yeast
50g butter at room temperature

Directions

1.
Heat up the milk
Don't let it boil, just just want it to be warm. Add the yeast and the whole egg.
Mix until the yeast is incorporated, then set it aside for 3 minutes.
Mark as complete
2.
Add the sugar to the mixture and mix well
Mix the salt with the flour and add it to the remaining ingredients.
Mix everything at medium speed for 7-10 minutes using a dough hook.
Mark as complete
3.
Divide the butter into small pieces
Add the butter piece by piece and only add the next one when the previous one has been incorporated. Use a dough hook or do it by hand.
Once all the butter has been added, continue to knead the dough for 5 more minutes, either by hand or using a dough hook until you get a smooth, soft ball.
Mark as complete
4.
Grease a bowl and add the dough ball
Let it rise for at least an hour at room temperature covered with a bowl. For an even softer brioche you can also dust the top with flour, cover the bowl (with beeswax wraps or cling film) and put it in the fridge overnight. Make sure to use a bowl that's big enough as it will rise a lot.
The next day: remove it from the fridge and let it sit at room temperature for 30 minutes before using it.
Mark as complete
5.
Divide the dough into equal size balls
Grease your baking tin (whichever shape you want, round, rectangle, ..) and place the dough balls in it. Add a tiny bit of milk to the egg yolk, whisk it and brush it on top.
Let it rest for 1-1.5 hours
Mark as complete
6.
Preheat the oven to 180°C
Boil the kettle and pour the water into a deep roasting tray and place it on the bottom of the oven. Half a kettle will do.
Put the bread in the middle shelf of the oven and bake for at least 25 minutes, until it's golden brown.
Mark as complete
7.
Let it cool completely on a wire rack.
Mark as complete
Notes
Optional: you can add some seeds to the top of the dough while it's resting
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