BRIOCHE 2

I'm always looking for the best brioche recipe, so I keep trying and trying...

For me, the perfect brioche has to be soft, moist, with a good taste of butter and eggs, of course, but the more important is that it must have a filante crumb (I don't know how to explain... but let's say when you rip up the brioche crumb, it should be "stringy" which is a texture completely different from the crumb of a bread).

Today, instead of sugar, I'm using a sugar syrup (cooked at 105°C/220°F). It's a test, I let you know why below...

Some bakers use inverted sugar in their viennoiserie recipes. This special sugar (most often available only for professionals) allows the brioches to be softer and moist much more time and it increases of course the preservation. That's why our homemade brioches get dry after a few hours and the bakery's ones stay soft and moist much more time.

How does it work ? Long story short, it's the hydrolysis of the "normal" sugar, splitting it in 2 components, the fructose and the glucose. It gives special properties to this sugar. Bees make inverted sugar (part of the honey is inverted sugar.) Even we, humans, make inverted sugar during the digestion...

Ok, I want this kind of sugar in my brioches !!!! 

I read that boiling sugar in water with an acid can turn a part of the sugar into inverted sugar. That's why I'm going to make a sugar syrup with a bit of white vinegar (lemon juice should work too,  some use cream of tartar or acid citric, probably better...)

For a big brioche,

Ingredients :

- 500 gr flour

- 250 gr butter

- 4 whole eggs (here 225 gr)

- sugar syrup (85 gr sugar, 30 ml water, 1 tsp white vinegar)

- 10 cl water   

- 2 tsp dry yeast

- 10 gr salt (2 tsp spoon) 

The Sugar Syrup :

Place the water, sugar and vinegar in a small sauce pan and put over gentle heat. Cook until it reaches 105°C/220°F. Then place the bottom of the saucepan on cold water in order to stop the cooking. You should get a thick syrup.

Leave to cool down.  

I tried 105°C/220°F because I wanted it still thick and viscous even when cold

The Brioche Dough : 

Several steps here,

Melt the butter and leave to cool for a while (should not burn if you put a finger in it)

Hydrate the yeast in the tepid water (10 cl) for 5 minutes.

Put the flour in a large bowl, add the salt, eggs, yeast, butter and the sugar syrup. Mix with a spatula until quite well combined.

blending all the ingredients

So, you can use right now your food processor. Or you can knead directly in the bowl or even over a worktop. I use my hands and arms because I like to suffer (and also because I don't have any food processor... hehe). At this time, the dough is really, really sticky (really !). Knead until the dough does not stick any more to the sides of the bowl or to the surface of worktop. It may take 15 to 20 minutes (and yes it's tiring and it hurts a bit but we are here on Pastry & Sports, not Pastry & Laziness ! hehe).

Then, put the dough back into the bowl, cover it with a cloth or cling film and leave to rest 30 min at room temperature. 

after 15 minutes kneading (and a tendinitis lol)

Then, give a fold to the dough. (It means that you have to fold the dough in 2 with a spatula or your hands, then apply a quarter turn to the bowl and give another fold, and so on 2 more times). Allow to rest 30 minutes more, then give another fold. Here the folds give strength to the dough, "donner du corps à la pâte" as we say in France, literally : to give body to the dough.

giving the second fold after 1 hour rising, see the difference ?

Now, place the dough in the fridge (cover with cling film or a cloth) for 1 day. It's called slow fermentation (complex flavors will develop, and we like that very much, complex flavors).

The day after, take out the dough from the fridge, cut it in pieces and shape them into balls over a gently floured surface.

24h after

Place those balls in the brioche mold, previously lined with parchment paper or greased.

Allow to rise 1h30 (up to 2 hours) at room temperature (protected from draft).

Brush the top of the dough with egg wash (I didn't do it, my oven doesn't like that) and put in a steamed (optional) and preheated oven (medium-high heat) for 30 min (according to your oven).

It's been eaten too fast to know if the syrup would increased the preservation. Anyway, it was really soft and moist.