NO PAIN, ‘PAIN BRIOCHE’!

Golden Brioche

Eat Me Eat Me

The Love Affair I have with bread apparently should stop or at least slow down. According to an Ion Cleanse I had this last week anyway. Not sure I am completely convinced, but I have stopped eating all gluten for a week, and I must say, I have more energy, so that can’t be all bad. We”ll see if it helped when I go for another Ion Cleanse this week coming…(how’s that for sucked in??)

This recipe for ‘Pain Brioche’ I have developed over a couple of tries (tough, but someone had to do it!) and after half a brioche conversation with chef Martin James from Wai restaurant in Queenstown at his Master Class, this is the excellent result, if I say so myself. Brioche is traditionally tough to make and a real labour of love, but in the Thermomix, cold butter and all, an absolute snap….and on a side note, I have devoted an entire category to ‘Bread for Life’ (see right drop down column) because, as noted before somewhere on here, I have added substantial amounts of bread musings to this blog in recent times.

Golden Pain Brioche

NEED:
120g butter
2 large eggs
2 tsp yeast
2 tbsp sugar
130g milk
360g bakers flour
1 tsp salt
Egg wash for glazing

DO:
Weigh and cube butter, place on plate in freezer.
Place eggs, yeast, sugar and milk into Thermomix and blend for 5 sec/speed 5. Warm for 3 min/37ºC/speed 1.
Add flour and with dial set to closed lid position, knead for 4 min/Interval. Through hole in lid, add cubed butter a little at a time. The finished dough will be sticky and glossy, but quite malleable. Scrape out onto buttered Silicone Mat and with buttered hands, knead into a smooth ball. Do not be tempted to add flour.
Place into glass bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap and place in fridge over night (or for at least 12 hours) to rise slowly.
Punch down and place into bread or brioche tin. Allow to rise in a 40ºC oven for as long as it takes to double. (It may take a couple of hours as the dough has to ‘wake up’ after being in the fridge.)
Brush with egg wash before baking for 15-20 minutes in 200ºC oven on a bread setting until sounding hollow when tapped on the bottom. Remove from tin and place back in the turned off oven after baking just to dry crust a little.

Serve immediately, and honestly, try not to eat the entire thing in one sitting, as it is excellent when grilled the next day and served with sliced peaches and mascarpone, drizzled with real maple syrup…sorry, must stop drooling and get to the gym.