Buttery Soft Brioche

I had been craving oven roasted portobello for a while. I had a SUPER one last year at Gartine. Beautifully baked portobello stuffed with goat cheese and rosemary on a buttered brioche. Hmmmmm.
I know, I know it's crazy to crave something for so long! But hey, I'm crazy about food :)

Niws, my super had an awesome deal on portobello's (€1 for two big ones), so I decided to give in to my slumbering craving. While I was thinking things up and browsing recipes I just couldn't get over the idea of making brioche to accompany the portobello's. I just knew it would taste soooooooo much better with them! I had never mad brioche before, so it was a bit exciting. Actually kind of a lot exciting. Especially since it takes about 4 hours to make them.

Funny story. Turns out I've been in possession of brioche pans for years without knowing it! Way way back in the day's my mom had once bought these thinking they were cupcake pans. They are of course very unsuitable for cuppies, so they've just been rusting away in my cupboard. Sad, sad pans. But now that I've discovered there true purpose they will be getting plenty of use :)

Ok so I adapted the recipe from Macrina Bakery & Cafe's Cookbook a little to make these buttery soft brioches. It should make you about 12 pieces. It's super easy, but it just takes some time to go through all the steps. Now, the most important part to this recipe is letting your dough sit in a warm spot. I don't know if you noticed, but it's winter here in the Netherlands so there's not a warm spot anywhere. So I've made my oven into an "incubator". I heat it up just a little so it's nice and warm and then turn it of. You just slip in your covered dough and let it rest. This also keeps it out of harms way aka prying fingers and eyes :)

The brioches turned out great! They really surpassed all my expectations. They were crunchy and crumbly on the outside, but soft and airy on the inside with just a hint of sweetness. I love love love them!
And they were indeed a beautiful match with the portobello's I made.


Ingredients:

• 1/8 cup warm water
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/4 tsp dry yeast
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 3/4 cup flour (sieved)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3/8 cup lukewarm milk
• 1 egg
• 5 tbsp unsalted butter (softened)
• 1 egg + 1 tbsp cold water (for egg wash)
• some vegetable oil

Directions:

STEP ONE:

1. Place warm water and 1 tsp sugar in your mixing bowl. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Add the yeast and stir until dissolved. Leave it to sit for about 5 minutes.
2. Add all the other ingredients EXCEPT the butter. Aka the rest of the sugar, vanilla, flour, salt, milk and 1 egg. Using your dough hook, mix on low speed for about 3 minutes. 
3. Switch to medium speed and slowly drop in bits of butter. Scrape the sides to get all the batter in. Continue to mix for about 10-15 minutes. Your dough should be somewhat wet and sticky. 
4. Pull dough onto a floured surface and form into a ball. Place your dough ball in an oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let it rest in a warm spot for 2,5 hours.

STEP TWO:

1. Butter up your brioche pans.
2. If all went well, your dough should have doubled in size by now. Place dough on a floured surface and fold it over a few times to release any excess bubbles. 
3. Steal a small piece of dough and make it into 12 small balls. Divide dough in half. Continue dividing each half in 6 balls. Place the balls in the brioche pans. 
4. Now, with a buttered finger, punch a whole in the dough ball and drop the smaller balls in. The butter helps them stick.
5. Cover with plastic wrap and leave to rest in a warm spot for another 1-1,5 hours.

STEP THREE:

1. Preheat your oven to 180 C and make your egg wash by beating 1 egg with 1 tbsp cold water.
2. Take of the plastic wrap and lightly brush brioches with egg wash.
3. Place in the center of oven and bake golden brown in about 20 min.
4. Leave to cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan.

PS: I had also tried making a sort of brioche bun. Aka I just made a little dough ball and threw it on a baking sheet. This didn't really work out well. The bottom was burned and the texture was dry and had large air bubbles in them. It also tasted very yeasty. Not something I would recommend.