Recipe: Brioche Nanterre

I made a loaf of Brioche Nanterre for my (bread-obsessed) supervisor's birthday. He was extremely pleased with it, and shared it with the rest of the lab. I was told that there was some debate as to whether I had bought or made the bread.

Uh, gee. This was only my second foray into bread-making, and the loaf was rather misshapen. Also, not being a connoisseur when it comes to bread, I couldn't tell you if it was genuinely good. Nevertheless, here is the recipe for any interested parties.

Brioche Nanterre

(Adapted from a whole bunch of different recipes)

Ingredients

1 sachet (7 g) active dried yeast

1/4 cup warm milk

1/5 cup caster sugar

2 4/5 cups bread flour

1/4 tsp salt

3 eggs, lightly beaten

125g soft butter, cut into 2 cm cubes

1 extra beaten egg, for egg wash

1 tbs poppy seeds

Combine yeast, milk and 1 tbs of the caster sugar in a small bowl. Leave for 5 minutes until it turns frothy and the yeast floats to the top. 

In a large bowl, combine flour, salt and the remaining sugar. Make a well in the centre. Stir in the yeast mixture first, then gradually add the beaten eggs. Stir until just combined; a rather tough dough will form. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 5 minutes, until smooth.

Add 1-2 pieces of butter and work them into the dough until well combined. Continue to add butter cubes, a few at a time. The dough will gain a yellowish tinge and become stickier.

Place the dough in a bowl and set aside in a warm place (about 30-40 degrees C - I turned my oven into a makeshift incubator for this purpose) for one hour, until the dough has doubled in size. Punch down the dough and knead for about 5 minutes until smooth. Cover with a lightly-floured cling film and place in the refrigerator to rise overnight.

The next morning, grease a standard loaf pan (for a non-stick pan, you can skip the greasing). Punch down the dough again and knead it for 5-10 minutes until it warms slightly and is easier to mould. Split the dough into six pieces. Roll each piece tightly between your hands until it forms a compact ball. Arrange the balls in two rows of three at the bottom of the loaf pan. Place the pain in a warm location (about 30-40 degrees C) for about 1 hour, until the dough has risen to about 2-3 cm above the edge of the pan. Alternatively, the dough can be left to rise at room temperature, but this will take about 3-4 hours.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C. Brush the top of the dough with the beaten egg and sprinkle with poppy seeds. Place the dough in the oven and immediately adjust the temperature to 190 degrees C. Bake for 10 minutes, then lower the temperature to 160 degrees C. Bake for another 20-35 minutes. (The timing will depend on the loaf pan you use - bread in a darker pan will bake a lot faster). The bread is done when it is a deep golden-brown on the top and sides, and sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.

Turn out the bread onto a wire rack. Rest the loaf on its side and cool for 5 minutes, then turn it onto the other side. When hot, the bread can be wrapped in a clean tea-towel or some other breathable fabric. (Never wrap a warm loaf in plastic!) Otherwise, allow it to completely cool before packaging it.

The bread can be stored at room temperature for about two days, or in the refrigerator for a week.