Brioche 2 Ways
Wed Apr 01 2020
Patrick Ryan’s Rich Man’s Brioche
Brioche is a French bread enriched with eggs and butter. It is often broken down into three types, poor man’s, middle class and rich man’s brioche, depending on the ingredients. This recipe is certainly rich man’s brioche and why not, we all deserve a treat every now and again. This bread is rich, velvety and almost flaky. It is a bread with the richness of pastry.
The great thing about this recipe is that the dough can be made in advance, many feel that it is better when its been given overnight in a fridge. The dough will keep very well for 2-3 days.
Ingredients:
- 500g flour
- 10g salt
- 50g sugar
- 100g milk
- 15g fresh yeast
- Zest of half an orange
- 6 eggs
- 250g butter, softened cut into cubes
Method:
- For this dough I do recommend the use of a kitchen mixer with a dough hook attachment as this recipe produces a very soft wet dough. If you do not have a mixer the dough can be made by hand however do expect the dough to be significantly softer than ones you may have worked with previously. You will also find with enriched doughs the mixing time is always longer. Be persistent the dough will come together.
- Mix together the flour, salt and sugar in a clean mixing bowl. Dissolve the yeast in the milk and add it to the bowl of the mixer along with the eggs. Add the flour, salt, sugar and orange zest to the eggs and yeast. Starting the mixer on a slow speed bring all the ingredients together to form a rough dough.
- Slowly increase the mixer to a medium speed. You do not want the mixer on a high speed for too long as this can result in increasing the temperature of the dough. After mixing of approximately 5 minutes you will notice the dough starting to slowly come together. At this point add the diced butter to the dough. The butter should be added to about 3 stages, a little at a time Wait until all the butter has been incorporated before adding the next amount of butter.
- Once the butter has been fully incorporated increase the speed of the mixer to high for approximately 2 minutes. The dough should be smooth and come away cleanly from the side of the mixing bowl. The dough is now ready to begin its first prove.
- Place the dough into an oiled bowl and cover with cling film. Place the dough into a fridge over night
- Remove the dough from the fridge
- On a lightly floured surface turn out the dough and knock back. Divide the dough into two equal portions. Shape the dough and place into two lightly greased 1ld loaf tins.
- Cover with a damp cloth and allow to prove for about 2 to 3 hours at room temperature.
- Preheat an oven to 200C/ 380F/ gas mark 5. Before baking brush each brioche loaf with egg wash. Place in the oven, steaming the oven as always and bake for 35 minutes. If you find that your dough is taking a lot of colour reduce the oven temperature to 180C and continue baking. Remove and leave to cool.
Chocolate and orange mini brioche rolls
To fill each mini brioche roll you will require chocolate ganache. It is very easy to make but if you do not have time a spoonful of Nutella inside each brioche roll works great also.
Chocolate and vanilla ganache ingredients:
- 200g cream
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 160g dark chocolate
- 60g diced softened butter
Method:
- Place the cream and vanilla into a saucepan and heat till just below the boil
- Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and stir until melted and fully combined. Add the diced butter and continue to stir until fully incorporated. Allow the chocolate ganache to cool slightly. As it cools it will thicken.
- For the mini brioche rolls when the dough has been knocked back divide the dough into 30g portions.
- Roll each portion of dough into a round. Flatten each portion of dough slightly. Make an indentation into each portion of dough and add a spoonful of chocolate ganache to the centre of each round. Cover the chocolate ganache over by Pinching the sides of dough to seal. To finish the mini brioche rolls ( this is optional ) holding each piece of dough by the seam roll the surface of the dough in a damp cloth and then into nibbed sugar (crushed nuts also works very well) . Damping the surface of the dough helps the sugar to stick to the dough. Place the dough seam side facing down into the mini bread moulds.
- Allow the dough to prove for approximately 90 minutes
- Preheat an oven to 200C/ 380F/ gas mark 5. Place the proven mini brioche rolls in the oven, steaming the oven as always and bake for 14 minutes. Once baked serve warm and enjoy
About Patrick Ryan:
Patrick Ryan is the face behind the Firehouse Bakery. Having swapped laws books for chef knives Patrick now spends his days returning bread to its rightful place as King of the table. Having worked throughout Ireland, Australia and the UK Patrick returned home to set up the Firehouse Bakery. Despite the ongoing recession at the time Patrick choose to stage his bread revolution with the opening of his bread school on Heir island off the coast of West Cork.
His message was simple “bread is king” He wanted everyone to have good bread, all the time. And not just good bread, but bread that is good for you, bread that does you and your body good and he will even show you how to make your own.5 years on from what began on an island of 27 people the Firehouse Bakery has grown from strength to strength. Patrick operates an award winning bakery and cafe in Delgany Wicklow where you will find an open plan bakery, a bustling cafe and wood fired oven, His bread can be found in cafe and restaurants throughout Dublin and the bread school on Heir island appears to be always fully booked. Patrick is a founding member of realbread Ireland and is also a Failte Ireland Food Champion and with plans for new and exciting projects Patrick’s bread revolution is only getting started.
