Friday, June 1, 2012

Brioche : ABC June 2012

I have always wanted to make Brioche, especially the one from Dorie Greenspan's book, "Baking From My Home To Yours". So when Hanaa chose Brioche from "The Weekend Baker" by Abby Dodge for our monthly Avid Baker's Challenge (ABC), I was really looking forward to it. Abby's method  is simpler than Dorie's,  though I would definitely give Dorie's recipe a try one of these days.


Abby's recipe is very flexible, meaning that you may prepare the dough right up to the first or even second stage of rising, refrigerate the dough overnight and bake the next day, really convenient for busy bakers on the go! 

I did not follow the overnight method, made this in the afternoon, enjoyed it on the same day! The dough is wonderful to work with, but at the beginning it is really soft and sticky, after the first 12 minutes of mixing, it does not look like it is leaving the sides of the bowl, as it should after 6 minutes of mixing! So I added in about 1/4 cup of bread flour. I use bread flour instead of all-purpose flour as called for in the original recipe. After the addition of flour, the dough gets a little better but was still sticky, butter was then added in, and continue kneading until the dough is smooth and satiny. Leave to rise in an oiled bowl for about 45 minutes. 


Abby's Brioche is done plaited style, but I wanted a loaf, after I divided the dough into three equal portions, I placed them side by side in a greased 9"x5" loaf pan. The dough is very easy to work with, it is soft but no longer sticky. Leave to rise for about 30 minutes, they rose beautifully. Brush the top with some egg wash and bake in a preheated oven at 200C.


Goodness, the loaf really rises more during baking! I could not see as the light bulb in my oven is no longer in working condition. At 20 minutes into baking time, I checked the loaf and found the top is getting brown too fast as it really rises very high, almost touching the heat element at the top of my oven! I tent the loaf with a piece of aluminium foil, lower it to a rack below and continue baking for another 5 minutes of so. The Brioche loaf took only about 25 minutes to bake. I took it out and when I tried to remove it from the baking pan, it got stuck! See the tears at the side of the loaf! The next time when I make this again, either I'll use a bigger baking pan or simply plait it, just as Abby suggested.



This Brioche Loaf is so fluffy and soft! 


It has a lovely light yellow buttery colour, though you can't see from the picture.


This is the first time that I've made Brioche, so I am unable to compare with other Brioche, but I have no complains about this one!


Can you see the fluffy, cottony soft texture? It even stays soft and fluffy the next day! Good eaten on its own, with a cup of black coffee!

My hubby had a piece of this soft and lovely Brioche, fold it in half, sandwiched in the centre, is a scoop of homemade creamy chocolate ice cream! It takes me back to the days when I was a little girl, we used to buy soft bread sandwiched with scoops of ice cream from the ice cream seller, who went round selling ice cream using his bicycle with a freezer box at the back, holding a bell in his hands, and you can hear him coming!  Attached to his freezer box in plastic bags, hung the ice cream cones and soft square buns, he would slit the buns halfway through and place a scoop of ice cream in the centre! Have you eaten ice cream this way before? This Brioche is perfect for that! Yum!!!


Avid Baker's Challenge


To see the other ABC members' wonderful Brioche, please do stop by ABC.  You can get the recipe from "The Weekend Baker" by Abigail Johnson Dodge, one of my top favourite baking book. All the recipes that I've tried are keepers!  If you would like to join ABC, please contact Hanaa.


37 comments:

  1. OMG thats a beauty! look at the fluffy texture. It looks like cotton. Super job joyce. M bookmarking this one (my library is dominated by your bookmarked posts :D)
    xoxo
    Anuja

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  2. Wow, that looks awesome!! I agree with Anuja. It sure looks cotton-y soft :o) Great job, Joyce! I'm already looking forward to the version in Dorie's book and see your comparison. I recently made the brioche from The Cake Book by Tish Boyle and that was a winner! I'm looking forward to making Abby's version :o)

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  3. WOW!! You have got a super moist bread. Nice texture too.

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  4. Wow ... The bread looks very cottony soft. Can send by express courier for my breakfast tomorrow? ;)

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  5. This looks super soft , moist bread...Love the way it doubled during baking. Can you share the recipe plz?

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    1. Hi,
      My apologies, ABC does not permit us to include the recipe in our post!
      I appreciate your visit and your comment! Have a lovely day!

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  6. Woot! What a riser! Looks excellent and so fluffy. I've never heard of bread and ice cream. We used to have ice sellers they had this carrier cycles with the freezer on the front (little roof and a bell attached)

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  7. Very nice loaf of bread. So fluffy and soft.

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  8. You knead with your hands?

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  9. It looks so fluffy and tasteful!Have a lovely day,dear!

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  10. Wow, the brioche looks so cute in the loaf pan, as if they were going to "explore!" The bread looks very soft & fluffy! Happy baking!

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  11. This is a beautiful creation; i love making bread, but this one blows me away; I have to they this one.
    Rita

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  12. must be the wonderful smell of this bread that makes you so 'kan cheong ' taking the loaf out. hey, i want to make plaited one..one fine day!

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  13. Super soft and prefectly baked brioche.

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  14. You started June with a success in this bread. The texture looks perfect.

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  15. Thanks for the visit:) your brioche is delicious with one aspect, the core is very soft;)
    Kisses, good weekend.

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  16. hi Joyce, i love brioche and this one recipe is indeed a keeper
    i only managed to make thin braids so didnt really feel the fluff
    next time i wanna make in loaf tin like you so i can feel the fluffy cottony soft texture more
    enjoy your weekend :)

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  17. Beautiful Joyce. I bet it would also be delicious fried in a little butter to make it crispy!

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  18. I love brioche but do not bake it as often as bread because of the high fat content. But when i do bake them, I enjoyed it to the hilt! Yours looks really soft and fluffy ilke you said! Delicious!

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  19. I love brioche with jam, but have never made my own. Yours turned out so well!

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  20. Lucen esponjosos y muy ricos me encanta,abrazos y abrazos.

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  21. Joyce, your brioche looks marvelous! And I'm all for a recipe that's easier than Dorie's :) Have a wonderful weekend!

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  22. What a big, beautiful loaf! I love the taste of brioche, in any form. How delicious!

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  23. Wow, your brioche look really really soft and fluffy, you are tempting me to try my 1st brioche soon. Have a nice weekend.

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  24. I love the pattern you got putting three balls of dough in a loaf pan; very pretty!

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  25. I love the pattern you got putting three balls of dough in a loaf pan; very pretty!

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  26. Oh my gosh, you can see how fluffy this bread is! It looks SO good and I've never heard of eating ice cream with bread before. Interesting!! Another recipe from Dorie I need to try.....

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  27. I got convinced by you! I'm with ABC now! This recipe is fantastic!

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  28. Nice idea with the 3 loafs in the pan.
    Your difficulties with unmolding the bread could also come from egg wash running down the sides, and sticking to the loaf pan (happened to me several times.)

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  29. Beautiful!! Sorry it took me so long to read your post..still unpacking.

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  30. Hi Joyce!

    Sorry it took me so long to get over here to read your post, but I'm super impressed by your first brioche- that baby really rose! It looked so light and fluffy. I have NEVER heard of eating ice cream and bread together but I'm super intrigued... it's so common even the ice cream man serves it? Very interesting!

    Have a great start to your week!

    Hope to hear from you soon,
    Joy

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  31. So great to see your brioche rose like a balloon, mine got very big too. Love the fluffyness in our slices, they look like candy cotton.

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  32. Just stumbled upon your blog and loved it. Must say your brioche looks so fluffy and the texture is awesome. Thanks for sharing!

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