This large loaf of Brioche is light and soft with a rich buttery taste. It is made with a yeast dough that has been enriched with butter and eggs. It’s a kind of bread and cake hybrid. It is a little time consuming to make, but it really is worth it. I used fresh yeast in this recipe but obviously dry yeast could be substituted, I just like to use fresh yeast once in a while 
Brioche is best eaten warm on the day of baking. However, if you are unable to do this, the following day it is delicious toasted and in my opinion dripping with butter! Slightly stale Brioche can also be used in recipes such as this Apple Charlotte.
So you think ‘fake news’ is a new phenomena? Well, think again! Brioche was wrapped up in a fake news story back in the 18th century. The quote ‘Let them eat cake’ is commonly attributed to Queen Marie Antoinette, as her ‘sniffy’ response to hearing that peasants did not have any bread to eat. However, according to the philosopher Rousseau, ‘qu’ils mangent de la brioche” which translates to ‘let them eat cake’ was said by a Princess, most probably Marie Theresa, the wife of Louis XIV. It is possible that she had heard that the peasants were unable to get hold of bread and the ‘cake’ that she suggested they were given was Pain Benit, a bread/brioche that was given to the poor by priests as an act of charity. Years later, amidst mounting social unrest and tensions, the saying ‘Let them eat cake’ was falsely credited to Marie Antoinette as ‘proof’ that she didn’t understand the daily lives of ordinary people. Who knows the real story about these infamous words, but it is interesting to think that even back then ‘false news’ was rife!
I have used weight measurements in this recipe as in my opinion recipes for many baked goods, including breads, turn out better when ingredients are weighed. I hope that you enjoy this brioche. Although time consuming it really is worth it.
Recipe
Brioche
- Prep Time: 10h
- Cook Time: 30m
- Total Time: 10h 30m
- Yield: I large loaf
- Category: Breads
Ingredients
- 500 grams strong white bread flour
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 50 grams superfine/caster sugar
- 25 grams fresh yeast
- 140 millilitres luke warm milk
- 4 large eggs
- 250 grams unsalted butter
Instructions
- Place 1 tablespoon of the sugar into a bowl with the warm milk and crumble in the yeast. Set aside until the mixture become foamy (5 - 10 minutes)
- Place the flour, salt and sugar into the bowl of a free standing mixture and using a spoon mix to combine. Fit the dough hook to your mixer and set it on a slow speed. Add the yeast mixture and then the eggs, one by one. Turn the speed up to medium and leave running for 5 - 7 minutes until the dough has comes together and is looking soft and shiny.
- Add the softened butter bit by bit until it is combined. This will take 6 - 8 minutes. The dough will be very soft and sticky.
- Cover the bowl with cling film and place it in the fridge overnight (or for 5 - 6 hours) so that the butter hardens again.
- Grease a 10 inch round cake tin with a little butter. Set aside
- Remove the dough from the fridge and push it down with your hands to knock out any air. Tip the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and divide it into 9 equal pieces. Roll these pieces into balls and place 8 of them around the outside of the cake tin and the last piece in the middle.
- Cover with a clean tea towel and place somewhere warm for 3 hours until the dough rises.
- Heat the oven to 375°F / 190°C / 170°C fan
- Place the proved brioche in the centre of the oven for 25 - 30 minutes. As there is sugar in this dough the brioche will colour quite quickly but you can test if it is done by inserting a skewer or cake tester into the middle of the brioche. If it comes out clean, it is cooked.
- Remove from the oven and from the tin and place on a wire rack to cool slightly.
- The brioche is wonderful served warm and really needs to be eaten on the day it is baked. However, if you don't finish it the day you baked it , it is also fantastic toasted with lots of butter!