Since my first attempt was SUPER successful, I thought ‘why not?’ So, I made another batch of brioche this morning…but this time, I baked it the old fashioned way. (I have to say that my house smells AMAZING!) It turned out wonderfully!! Skip to the brioche recipe.
My Brioche Recipe
I did cheat a little and let my bread machine do the mixing and proofing – there’s really no nice warm spot in my house that I can use to let the dough rise since I live in Texas and it’s 70+ degrees in the winter.
This loaf turned out absolutely amazing, and I thought that I would share (and I did promise Christina that I would post the recipe).
I will warn you that this recipe is DELICIOUS, and may cause you gain a few pounds since it’s hard to have just one slice.
Brioche
- 1/3 c warm water 1/3 c warm milk (cashew milk works great)
- 2 envelopes dry yeast
- 3 3/4 c all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 6 tbsp mashed potatoes
- 1/4 c sugar
- 1 1/2 c (3 sticks) unsalted butter, each stick cut into 4 pieces, room temperature
Place the first 3 ingredients into the bowl of a standing heavy-duty mixer; stir until yeast dissolves.
Fit a stand mixer (I have this Kitchenaid) with its dough hook (You can do this by hand, but it’s A LOT of work – don’t make this by hand if you need your strength for something else!).
Add flour and salt to the bowl, then mix on low speed just until flour is moistened, about 10 seconds.
Scrape sides and bottom of the bowl. Beat in your mashed potatoes on low speed, then add the sugar. Increase speed to medium and beat until dough comes together about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low.
Add butter, 1 piece at a time, beating until each piece is almost incorporated before adding next (dough will be soft and batter-like). Increase speed to medium-high and beat until dough pulls away from the sides of your mixing bowl, about 7 minutes.
Cover your dough with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise at room temperature until almost doubled in volume. Lift up dough around edges and allow the dough to fall and deflate in the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic and let the dough chill in your fridge overnight.
Grease and flour two loaf pans. Divide dough into 2 equal pieces. Cut each dough piece into 4 equal pieces. Roll each into a 1/2-inch-long log, forming 8 logs total. Arrange 4 logs crosswise in bottom of each prepared loaf pan. Place loaf pans on baking sheet.
Cover pans with waxed paper and a kitchen towel. Let loaves rise at room temperature until dough almost fills pans.
Now For The Fun Part!
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Bake your bread until loaves are golden brown and sound hollow when tapped, about 30 minutes. Cool in pans on racks for 15 minutes, then turn your loaves out onto racks; cool for at least 1 hour.
To store your loaves, wrap them in foil and place into resealable plastic bags. Store at room temperature for 1 day or freeze for up to 1 month.
You can rewarm room-temperature or thawed loaves wrapped in foil in a 350-degree oven about 15 minutes if they last that long.
