Brioche

Hey foodies!

I've been wanting to make a brioche for a long time, but a slightly special one. :o)

I don't know if you've ever heard of Japanese brioche, which is incredibly soft. They make a Tangzhong (a mixture of flour and water heated to 62°C). Anyway! All of this to say that I used a Butchy brioche recipe straight from Germany and added a touch of Japan to get an ultra soft brioche. :o)

To make this brioche, you will need:

Tangzhong

- 11gr of flour

- 50gr of water

Brioche

- 290gr of flour

- 1/4 tsp of salt

- Tangzhong

- 35gr of sugar

- 1 egg

- 10gr of fresh yeast

- 100gr of sour cream

This recipe needs to be made over 2 days so that our Tangzhong can develop properly.

Day 1:

We'll start by making our Tangzhong. :o)

The idea is to heat flour and water to 62°C, then place the mixture in the fridge overnight or for 24h.

This way, the gluten can develop and your brioche will be incredible!

Pour 11gr of flour and 50gr of water into a saucepan and heat everything to 62°C while whisking. A thermometer is essential for this step.

Your mixture will thicken, a bit like a pastry cream.

Remove the Tangzhong from the heat and pour it into a bowl. Place cling film directly on top and keep your Tangzhong in the fridge overnight.

Day 2:

In a bowl, pour 290gr of flour and 1/4 tsp of salt. Use measuring spoons for more precision.

Mix the two ingredients with a spoon. This step is very important so that the salt is not in direct contact with the yeast later on.

I sometimes have customers telling me that one of my recipes didn't work… Most of the time, it's because the salt wasn't mixed into the flour and ended up in direct contact with the yeast…

Then add your Tangzhong mixture, 1 egg, 35gr of sugar, 10gr of fresh yeast and 100gr of sour cream.

Knead your dough for 10 to 15 minutes at medium speed using the dough hook.

This is important so that your brioche rises well afterwards.

Shape the dough into a nice ball at the bottom of your bowl.

Cover your brioche with a damp cloth. Let it rise for 1h30 to 2h at room temperature.

Once your brioche dough has doubled in size, it's time to knock it back. Give it 2-3 punches to deflate it.

This step is important so that during the second rise, it can develop evenly.

You can clearly see that when you punch the dough it deflates and loses air. :o)

Get yourself a perforated baking tray, a silicone mat, an adjustable cake ring and a non-stick release spray.

Set your adjustable ring to 20 cm, then spray the inside edges of your ring. It's not necessary to spray the mat, just the ring.

Weigh out pieces of approximately 48-50gr. This will give you 11 pieces.

Shape each one into a ball between your hands. Place it on the work surface. Cup your hand over the ball without pressing too hard. Keep a small gap between your thumb and index finger. Make circular movements on your work surface to roll the ball and give it a perfectly round shape.

This technique gives you perfectly round balls. :o)

Place your 11 balls inside your ring, spacing them slightly apart.

Place everything in your cold oven for about 1h. After 1 hour, you can clearly see that our balls have more than doubled in size. :o)

Remove from the oven, then preheat your oven to 150°C, fan-assisted.

For this recipe, we don't need to brush our brioche with egg. It will look beautiful as it is.

Bake your brioche at 150°C for 28-30 minutes.

Take it out of the oven — it will be nicely golden on top.

As soon as it comes out of the oven, dust it with a little icing sugar and remove the ring so it doesn't keep cooking inside it.

And there you have it, my Japanese-German brioche. :o)

I hope you'll enjoy this new recipe! I have to hide it as soon as it comes out of the oven if I don't want it to be eaten in 5 minutes!

A real treat — ultra soft and indulgent!

Wishing you a lovely Sunday!

Karin

P.S.: All the equipment used can be found at the bottom of the recipe.