Brioche

French Bread Recipes

2 Tbsp. yeast (2 packets) 1 c. warm milk 2/3 c. butter, softened 1 egg 4 egg yolks 1/2 c. sugar 1 1/2 tsp. salt grated zest of 1 lemon 5 1/2 c. flour (approx.)

This rich golden bread is my favorite. Toasted with a bit of strawberry jam - it's the best! Well worth the wait... You will need: Time. This recipe is something of an "all day sucker." While it doesn't need a lot of care and tending, you will need to remember you're making bread all day. Eggy breads rise very slowly. The other morning I started a batch right after breakfast...when I dropped the box of eggs and all five of them ended up with broken shells. It rose and it rose and I baked it after supper. When life hands you lemons, make lemonade. When life hands you five broken eggs, make brioche! Start by heating the milk in the microwave. One minute does the trick in my microwave - do test it and make sure it's not too warm. Stir the yeast into the milk and set aside 5 minutes. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine butter, egg, egg yolks, sugar, salt, lemon zest and about 2 c. flour. Add the yeast and milk. Stir in as much of the flour as is needed to make a smooth, elastic dough. Place dough in a large, buttered bowl. Allow to rise in a warm place free from drafts (like in the oven with the light on) until doubled in bulk. This will take 1-2 hours. Punch it down. Then put it back into that warm place and let it rise again, at least 4 hours. (Or at this point, you can put the whole thing into the refrigerator overnight.) Shape it. Spray a loaf pan with nonstick spray. Form one loaf and six rolls or Put it into a "brioche" pan or Take about half the dough and roll about six balls of it, placing the balls of dough in the bottom of a loaf pan sprayed with nonstick spray in zigzag fashion or Take about half the dough and roll about six or eight balls of it, placing the balls of dough in the bottom of a round pan sprayed with nonstick spray. Let it rise again, however you've shaped it. Preheat oven to 375°F. For "muffin-sized" rolls, bake about 20 min. For a "loaf-sized" loaf, bake about 45 min. (Tap it on the bottom; if it sounds hollow, it's done.)

Submitted by Gretchen Grant
Contributed on: Friday January 11th, 2008 and modified on Monday May 10th, 2010