Classic Brioche

December 19, 2015

Let me tell you something. This brioche is about as good as I’ve ever had it: tender, buttery, a little sweet, lightly tangy. Frankly this bread should be illegal. And to think I made it in my own kitchen with my own two hands. Sounds sappy, but that’s how I feel. That’s the good news. The OTHER good news is I’m celebrating with this over-the-top grilled cheese sandwich. I’m 18 pounds slimmer and at my goal weight, so this makes it day two of maintenance! Yeah? A sandwich like this is about all I can have for the day, given everything (even on maintenance). Who really cares for today. Who really cares. So I ate it for breakfast.

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Instructions

DOUGH STARTER

Dough starter is always a fascinating process

Just the way it chews through the flour blanket. Personally speaking, I love making bread.

Brioche starter bubbling through the flour blanket.

BRIOCHE DOUGH

My dough did everything Rose said it would. It was impossibly sticky when it was first mixed

and so smooth and delicate after the 5 minutes of kneading. I also noticed how fragrant it was at this stage of mixing. The kitchen smelled divine. The colour lightened up too.

The butter incorporated very easily because it was ultra soft. When it was time to remove it from the mixing bowl and put it in the proofing containers, I wet my hands thoroughly and sunk them into the bowl. The dough was amazingly soft, like newborn skin. Whenever the dough thought about sticking to my hands, I wet them again. You know, this was a really great solution. The dough lifted out of the bowl and went into the container with very little trouble.

LET THE DOUGH RISE

It rose like a champ.

This is an amazing cookie, no doubt.
Once the dough was chilled, I proceeded to shape it.

It was so soft and malleable, that I simply pushed it into its rectangle.

Rounding the dough after the second fold.

I chose a single braid from the Bread Bible.

The dough looked like a snake, fatter on one end and thinner on the other. Or maybe it looks like a garden slug.

It was delicious. Complete deliciousness. Classic Brioche, The Finer Cookie.

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Here’s how it works: once a week, for the next two years, 25 Alpha Bakers commit to baking their way through every recipe of Rose Levy Beranbaum’s newly published The Baking Bible. Each week we post our experiences on our blog sites: our successes, our failures, our like and dislikes . The recipes are scheduled in advance so that everyone is baking the same recipe at the same time. No recipes can be shared in my Alpha Bakers Baking Bible posts due to publishing restrictions enforced by the publisher, but if you love to bake, this is a must-have book. You can see other tutorials for the same recipe at the following link The Baking Bible Alpha Bakers at http://rosesalphabakers.blogspot.ca/