BRIOCHE

A brioche is a yeast-raised product enriched with butter and eggs and

sometimes sweetened with sugar. This enriched formula gives the finished
product a flaky, almost pastry-like texture.
It’s a flavorful and tender artisan good that belongs to the Viennoiserie
category of bakery products—the meeting point of pastry and bread.

HISTORY
 The first recorded use of the word in French dates from 1404. It is attested in
1611 in Cotgrave's A Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues, where it is
described as "a rowle, or bunne, of spiced bread" and its origin given as Norman. A
similar type of bread, called tsoureki (τσουρέκι), is also traditionally baked in Greece for
the Easter weekend.
In France it developed as "a sort of bread improved since antiquity by
generations of bakers, then of pastry-makers ... with some butter, some eggs, sugar
coming later ... it developed from the blessed bread [pain bénit] of the church which
gradually became of better quality, more and more costly, less and less bread; until
becoming savoury brioche". In the 17th century "pâté à tarte briochée", "a pain à
brioche pauvre [poor] ... [using only] 3 eggs and 250 grams of butter for 1 kilogram of
flour" was introduced. The terms "pain bénit" and "brioche" were sometimes used
together or virtually interchangeably; so, for example, in another 17th-century recipe
entitled: "CHAPITRE II. Pain bénit, & brioches." It begins with a lighter, cheaper version
of blessed bread, calling for "a pound of fresh butter and a soft cheese [but no eggs!] for
a pail of flour"; and goes on to describe "the more delicate that we call Cousin", which
uses 3 pounds of butter, 2 cheeses, and a royal pint of eggs for the same amount of
flour, as well as "some good milk" if "the dough is too firm". However, sourdough and
brewer's yeast preparations would both remain common well into the next century, with
"blessed bread ... more and more often replaced by brioche" in the 18th century, where
"Those from Gisors and Gournay, great butter markets, were the most highly regarded."
For the wealthy "from the time of Louis XIV onwards ... Butter, in widespread use
at least in the northern half of France, was the secret of making brioches".[11]"In Gisors,
on market days, they produce up to 250 or 300 kg of brioches. The dough is made the
evening before (1 kg of farine, a quarter of which for the starter, 10 g of yeast, 7 or 8
eggs; one mixes this together with the starter and 800 g of butter, breaking up the
dough, which 'uses up the butter'). The dough is kept in a terrine, and one puts it in a
mold just at the moment of baking. Thus prepared, the brioche remains light, keeps
well, maintains the flavour of butter, without the stench of the starter." Brioche of varying
degrees of richness from the rich man's with a flour to butter ratio of 3:2 to the cheaper
pain brioché with a ratio of 4:1 existed at the same time.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, in his autobiography Confessions (published
posthumously in 1782, but completed in 1769), relates that "a great princess" is said to
have advised, with regard to peasants who had no bread, "Qu'ils mangent de la
brioche", commonly translated inaccurately as "Let them eat cake". This saying is
commonly mis-attributed to Queen Marie-Antoinette, wife of Louis XVI. In the
contemporaneous "Encyclopédie" it says: "the taste for luxury and onerous
magnificence of much of the world, having slipped into religious practice, the usage was
introduced in large cities of giving in place of bread, some more or less delicate cake ...
one would not believe what it costs the nation every year for this article alone. We know
that there are more than 40,000 parishes in the kingdom where they distribute blessed
bread."

HOW TO MAKE
INGREDIENTS
DOUGH
 2 3/4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
 1/4 cup Baker's Special Dry Milk or 1/2 cup nonfat dry milk
 3 tablespoons sugar
 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
 1 tablespoon instant yeast
 3 large eggs*
 1/4 cup lukewarm water
 5/8 cup (10 tablespoons) butter, room temperature
*Use 3 large eggs + 1 egg yolk, if desired — this will allow you to
brush the leftover egg white on the loaf if you're planning to garnish it
with sugar; see tip below.

INSTRUCTIONS
1. In a stand mixer or bread machine (programmed for dough), mix
together all of the ingredients to form a smooth, shiny dough. Don't
worry; what starts out as a sticky mess becomes beautifully satiny as
it kneads. This dough takes longer than most to develop, so be
prepared to let the dough knead for up to 15 to 20 minutes in a stand
mixer. Also, we don't recommend trying to knead it by hand. If you're
using a bread machine, let it complete its kneading cycle, then
continue as directed below.
2. Form the dough into a ball (it'll be very soft), place it in a greased
bowl, cover the bowl, and it let rise for 1 hour. Then refrigerate the
dough for several hours, or overnight. This will slow the fermentation
and chill the butter, making the dough easier to shape.
3. Divide the chilled dough into 12 pieces to make mini-brioche (brioche
buns); leave it whole for one large round brioche; or divide it in half
for two 8 1/2" x 4 1/2" loaves.
4. Place the dough into the greased pan(s) of your choice, cover lightly,
and let rise for 2 1/2 to 3 hours, until it's doubled and looks very puffy.
If you're making two loaves, it's fun to make simple three-strand
braids, and set them in the loaf pans.
5. To bake a large, round brioche: Place the pan into a preheated 400°F
oven. After 10 minutes, reduce the oven heat to 350°F and bake for
about 30 to 35 minutes more. Check the brioche after 15 minutes;
 tent with aluminum foil if it appears to be browning too quickly.
Brioche should be a deep brown when done, should sound hollow
when tapped, and will read 190°F at the center using an instant-read
thermometer. (It's easy to underbake, since it browns so quickly!)
Remove the brioche from the oven, and after 10 minutes remove it
from the pan to cool completely on a rack.
6. To bake the mini brioches: Place the pan(s) onto a baking sheet for
easy handling, as shown; then nestle that baking sheet into another
baking sheet, to protect the buns' bottoms from over-browning. Bake
the buns in a preheated 375°F oven for 25 to 30 minutes (tent after
10 minutes if they're browning too quickly). Remove them from the
oven, let stand for 5 minutes, then turn them out onto a rack.
7. To bake the loaves: Allow the loaves to rise until they've nearly
reached the rim of the pan, about 3 hours. Set the loaf pans on a
baking sheet, for easy handling. Bake in a preheated 350°F oven for
30 to 35 minutes, tenting with foil after 15 to 20 minutes.

PRESENTATION/PLATING
PACKAGING
 Project
in
Bread and Pastry
Submitted by:
Paolo M. Balatbat
Grade 11-Brioche

Submitted to:
Mr. Hernan C. Teologo