Frensh brioche

BRIOCHE 🍞

Brioche is a pastry of French origin that is similar to a highly enriched bread, and whose high egg and butter content give it a rich and tender crumb. Chef Joel Robuchondescribes it as "light and slightly puffy, more or less fine, according to the proportion of butter and eggs. It has a dark, golden, and flaky crust, frequently accentuated by an egg wash applied after proofing.

Brioche is considered a Viennoiserie, in that it is made in the same basic way as bread, but has the richer aspect of a pastry because of the extra addition of eggs, butter, liquid (milk, water, cream, and, sometimes, brandy) and occasionally a bit of sugar. Brioche, along with pain au lait and pain aux raisins which are commonly eaten at breakfast or as a snack form a leavened subgroup of Viennoiserie. Brioche is often cooked with fruit or chocolate chips and served on its own, or as the basis of a dessert with many local variations in added ingredients, fillings or toppings.

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Brioche is eaten with dessert or tea, but also has numerous uses in cuisine. Common brioche dough is suitable for coulibiac and fillet of beef en croute. Brioche mousseline surrounds foie gras, sausage, cervelatlyonnais; ... individual brioches serve as containers for various chopped and sauced stuffings, savoury or sweet, as warm appetizers or intermediate courses.

The history of brioche, the sweet, buttery French bread, is long and filled with remarkable encounters. While modern restaurants proclaim the merits of brioche buns for use as hamburger platforms, the brioche has been enjoyed for hundreds of years as a Viennoiserie, a cross between pastry and bread made with a yeast dough enriched with butter, eggs, and milk. Centuries of Parisians, from queens to philosophers, have enjoyed brioche as a status symbol as well as a delicacy. Indeed, brioche may have helped cause the downfall of a monarchy plagued by symbols of its inflated status. What better way to satiate a craving for a buttery confection than by learning about the havoc it wreaked?

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The first brioche was likely created by the Norman Vikings, who brought their own breed of cows to Northern France. The Normandy Cows, still renowned for their butter, produced a large amount of cream. Farmers would churn a form of butter somewhere between modern day butter and cheese; it was fermented because there was no refrigeration. In fact, “brioche” shares roots in Old French with “brie”, because the butter in brioche would have been not dissimilar from a cheese. Brioche was most likely eaten by peasants; butter was considered a byproduct of the dairy farm, and was consumed almost exclusively by the people who produced it.

This changed in the 16th century. The seat of the Archdiocese in Normandy, Rounen Cathedral, needed a new tower in 1509. The archbishop came up with a brilliant plan: the prohibition on consumption of the local Normandy butter during Lent  would be lifted for a fee of six deniers. Eating butter became a symbol of wealth and power, and butter was consumed in large amounts by the rich during Lent (the tower later became known as the Tour de Buerre). Brioche, made with the indulgent butter as well as eggs (which have been symbols of the resurrection since before the First Council of Nicaea), became a popular bread eaten at Eastertide, and soon throughout the year.


 
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 Brioche, with its religious overtones, was the precursor to the Pain Benit (blessed bread), which was the term for an enriched bread blessed in a Catholic Church. Recipes for the sweet bread were often titled “Pain Benit and Brioche”, such as a recipe by Francois Pierre La Varenne in his landmark Le Cuisiner Francois of 1651. The 18th century historian Pierre Jean-Baptiste Legrand d’Aussy later wrote that Brioche was being used as Pain Benit. The practice of Pain Benit spread to the Francophone Canadian province of Quebec, introducing brioche to the international bakers’ consciousness.

Our recipe for today is: frensh brioche

The ingreadients: 

5 tablespoons lukewarm milk (100 to 115 degrees), plus 1 tablespoon milk

1/2 ounce fresh yeast

1 pound 2 ounces all-purpose flour, plus more for forming dough

1 tablespoon coarse salt

6 large eggs

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, slightly softened, plus more for molds
1/4 cup superfine sugar
1 large egg yolk
1 tablespoon milk
Nonstick cooking spray

 
Directions: 

Place lukewarm milk and yeast in a small bowl; stir to dissolve.

Place flour, salt, and eggs in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment; add yeast mixture and mix on low speed to combine and knead, about 5 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl with a spatula; knead on medium speed until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes.

In a large bowl, mix together butter and sugar. Add a few small pieces of butter mixture to dough; with the mixer on low, add remaining butter mixture, a little bit at a time. When all the butter mixture has been added, increase speed and continue mixing until smooth, shiny, comes away from the sides of the bowl, and is elastic, 6 to 10 minutes.

Butter a large bowl, transfer dough to prepared bowl, and cover with plastic wrap; let stand in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 2 hours.

Lift dough from bowl and drop back into bowl to deflate; repeat process once or twice. Cover bowl and transfer to refrigerator to chill for at least 8 hours and up to overnight.

Butter two loaf pans whose bases measure 8 1/2-by-4 1/2 inches on top and 7 1/2-by-3 1/2 inches at base. Divide dough into 2 equal pieces. Divide each piece into 8 equal pieces; form each piece into a ball. Place 8 balls of dough in each loaf pan, side by side.

In a small bowl, whisk together egg yolk and remaining 1 tablespoon milk. Brush dough with egg yolk mixture, reserving remaining. Spray two pieces of plastic wrap with nonstick cooking spray; cover dough in both pans, cooking spray-side down, and let stand in a warm place until doubled in volume, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.



Preheat a convection oven to 400 degrees (425 degrees on a conventional oven).

Brush each loaf very lightly with reserved egg yolk mixture. Transfer pans to oven and bake until brioche just begins to turn golden, about 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees (on a convection oven; 375 degrees on a conventional oven) and continue baking until deep golden-brown and internal temperature reaches 205 degrees on an instant-read thermometer, 20 to 25 minutes more.

Remove from oven and let brioche cool in pans for 5 minutes. Unmold onto a wire rack and let cool completely.

                         Bon appetit !!