Brioche Dough

By norsegal8

Brioche is an elegant yeasted dough, a cross between bread and pastry. It is rich with butter and eggs, just a little sweet, pullable - a gentle tug, and the bread stretches in long, lacy strands - and fine-textured, the results of being beaten for close to a half hour.
There is nothing difficult about making the perfect brioche, but you do need time and a heavy-duty mixer. Preparoing this brioche will familiarize you with the texture and mixing patterns of other yeast doughs that include butter: Babas and their sister, Savarin, Cranberry-Walnut Pumpkin loaves, White loaves and Fruit Focaccia - all of which come together like standard bread doughs, fall apart with the addition of butter (a sight that strikes panic into the hearts of first-timers), and come together once again.
Of course, you can use the brioche to make the traditional tetes in fluted molds, or soft, golden loaves which slice beautifully for breakfast toast or sandwiches and, when just past peak, make sublime French toast or Twice-Baked Brioche. But it is also the base of such glorious creations as plump Pecan Sticky Buns, custardy creme-fraiche topped Brioche Tart, and savory Brioche Pockets filled with mashed potatoes, goat cheese and asparagus tips.
In this version, the brioche is made with a sponge, which gives the yeast a leisurely proofing period and deep flavor. You'll notice that the sponge instructions call for adding the dry yeast without a presoak to dissolve it. This is an unusual technique, one more commonly assiciated with the use of fresh yeast. If you have doubts - have a bite.

Ingredients

• THE SPONGE
• 1/3 cup warm whole milk (100 to 110 degrees)
• 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 1 large egg
• 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• THE DOOUGH
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 4 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 1/2 cups (approximately) unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature

Preparation

Step 1

Put the milk, yeast, egg and 1 cup of flour in the bowl of a heavy-duty mixer. Mix the ingredients together with a rubber spatula, mixing until everything is blended. Sprinkle over the remaining cup of flour to cover the sponge.

REST Set the sponge aside to rest uncovered for 30 to 40 minutes. After this resting time, the flour coating will crack, your indication that everything is moving along properly.

Add the sugar, salt, eggs and 1 cup of the flour to the sponge. Set the bowl into the mixer, attach the dough hook, and mix on low speed for a minute or two, just until the ingredients look as if they’re about to come together. Still mixing, sprinkle in ½ cup more flour. When the flour is incorporated, increase the mixer speed to medium and beat for about 15 minutes, stopping to scrape down the hook and bowl as needed. During this mixing period, the dough should come together, wrap itself around the hook, and slap the sides of the bowl. If, after 7 to 10 minutes, you don’t have a cohesive, slapping dough, add up to 3 tablespoons more flour. Continue to beat, giving the dough a full 15 minutes in the mixer – don’t skimp on the time; this is what will give the brioche its distinctive texture.

WARNING Be warned – your mixer will become extremely hot. Most heavy-duty mixers designed for making bread can handle this long beating, although if you plan to make successive batches of dough, you will have to let your machine cool down completely between batches. If you have questions about your mixer’s capacity in this regard, call the manufacturer before you start.

INCORPORATING THE BUTTER In order to incorporate the butter into the dough, you must work the butter until it is the same consistency as the dough. You can bash the butter into submission with a rolling pin or give it a kinder and gentler handling by using a dough scraper to smear it bit by bit across a smooth work surface. When it is ready, the butter will be smooth, soft and still cool – not warm, oily or greasy.
With the mixer on medium-low, add the butter a few tablespoons at a time. This is the point at which you will think you have made a huge mistake, because the dough that you worked so hard to make smooth will fall apart – carry on. When all of the butter has been added, raise the mixer to medium-high for a minute, then reduce the speed to medium and beat the dough for about 5 minutes, or until once again you hear the dough slapping against the sides of the bowl. Clean the sides of the bowl frequently as you work; if it looks as though the dough is not coming together after 2 to 3 minutes, add up to 1 tablespoon more flour. When you are finished, the dough should still feel somewhat cool. It will be soft and sticky and may cling to the sides and the bottom of the bowl.

FIRST RISE Transfer the dough to a very large buttered bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap and let it rise at room temperature until doubled in bulk, 2 to 2 ½ hours.

SECOND RISE AND CHILLING Deflate the dough by placing your fingers under it, lifting a section of dough, and then letting it fall back into the bowl. Work your way around the circumference of the dough, lifting and releasing. Cover the dough tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate the dough overnight, or for at least 4 to 6 hours, during which time it will continue to rise and may double in size again.

STORING If you are not going to use the dough after the second rise, deflate it, wrap it airtight, and store it in the freezer. The dough can remain frozen for up to 1 month. Thaw the dough, still wrapped, in the refrigerator overnight and use it directly from the refrigerator.







*Mix, mix and then mix some more. Once all the ingredients except the butter have been added, the dough must be beaten for a very long time - sometimes as long as 25 minutes - to develope it's fine texture.

*Listen for the slapping sound: The dough should wrap itself around the dough hook and visually and audibly slap the sides of the bowl. If the dough doesn't come together, add a few sprinkles of flour and continue to beat.

*Keep the butter smooth and cool. The butter and the dough it goes into should have a similar consistency - soft, smooth and still cool (never oily). To get the butter to the right consistancy, beat it with a rolling pin or smear it in pieces across a work surface.

*Add the butter bit by bit. The butter should go into the dough a few tablespoonfuls at a time while you mix at medium-low speed. Don't panic when the beautiful dough breaks with the first few additions of butter - press on. The dough will come together and once again make that satifying slapping sound.