BRIOCHE

BRIOCHE 

Ingredients

1. Bread Dough
2. 1 cup milk, warmed
3. 2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
4. 1/2 cup granulated sugar
5. 5 cup all-purpose flour
6. 3/4 cup granulated sugar
7. 1 tsp salt
8. 3/4 cup butter, melted
9. 3 large eggs
10. 1 each egg, beaten
11. 1 milk, splash
12. Topping
13. 1 cup granulated sugar
14. 1/4 cup butter, melted
15. 1 cup grated cheese

Steps

1. Combine yeast, milk and sugar in your main mixing bowl to activate the yeast. Remember to use lukewarm milk, you don’t want to boil your yeasty friends to death. Set aside in a warm place until the mixture is foamy.  
2. In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients: flour, sugar and salt. You can also sift the ingredients together. Make sure that the salt is thoroughly mixed in to prevent killing the yeast.  
3. In your main mixing bowl where your activated yeast is sitting, beat in the eggs and melted butter.  
4. Combine the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients thoroughly until you have a workable dough. I used a mixer to knead the dough, but I would sometimes work the dough on a lightly floured work surface.  
5. Preheat your oven to the lowest possible setting then turn off. You will need a warm environment to allow for the dough to rise.  
6. Turn dough on to your work surface and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic. Take your time and make sure that the dough is smooth and it springs back into shape when poked.  
7. Now it’s time to let your dough rise in the warm oven. Lightly grease your mixing bowl with oil or butter and put the dough in and cover with a damp cloth or plastic wrap. If the oven is too warm, prop the door slightly open with a wooden spoon.  
8. After a few hours, check on your dough. You want the dough to at double in size.  
9. Once the dough has doubled, punch the dough down and then cut into your preferred shape.  
10. A note about shaping the dough. Some people prefer to roll the dough into ropes, then coiling them. I went about it a different way because I am a glutton for busy work. What I did was I cut the dough into small equal pieces, flattened the dough into a rectangular shape, brushed the dough with melted butter, sprinkled a little bit of cheese, the rolled it up like a cigar. Then I coiled it. It’s really up to you, the cheese is optional, but it adds a lot of flavor.  
11. Proof your formed dough into their final shapes. If you formed the dough in a pan like in the picture, make sure you line the pan so that it’s easy to pop out. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm place (you can proof in a warm oven). This could take an episode or two of your favorite TV show. No worries.  
12. When you are happy with the proofing, preheat your oven to 350°F. DO NOT FORGET TO TAKE YOUR PROOFED DOUGH OUT BEFORE PREHEATING. Brush your dough with a simple milk eggwash before baking. (If you don’t want the bread to turn out pretty dark, take out the milk from the eggwash.)  
13. Bake bread for about 15 minutes or until it smells like bread, and feels hollow when you tap.  
14. Optional. After baking, let the bread cool. Then brush the bread with melted butter, dust with granulated sugar, then top with grated cheese. I completely understand if you don’t want to do this because you’re worried about the carbs, but you’re about to eat bread, you might as well go down swinging.