KS Quotient
Fairly Easy: Two-stage mixing. No hand-shaping.
Brioche is one of the richest and most finely textured yeast doughs; individual slices almost look as soft and golden as pound cake, though they are almost never more than faintly sweet. Brioche is lovely eaten both as is and in fancy French toast, and is sometimes called for in very elegant bread puddings. (I personally can't bear to use brioche for this purpose; it seems too contrary to the traditional notion of bread puddings as economizers designed to salvage pieces of unwanted everyday bread.)
The most elaborate brioche is brioche á tête, or "brioche with a head," which is baked in a special fluted pan and has a perky topknot rising in the center. Because the Kneadlessly Simple dough tends to be soft, and since I recall my fellow pastry school students and I producing many lopsided and sunken topknots while learning to work with brioche dough, I have opted for an easier, but equally delicious, "headless" version here. Bake it in a large loaf pan, or for a beautiful, foolproof decorative look, in a kugelhopf, Bundt, or similar fluted tube pan. (For a very sophisticated coffee cake, fold in chocolate shards and top the brioche with chocolate ganache glaze as directed in the variation at the end of the recipe.)
This recipe calls for beating in a lot of butter and eggs before the second rise, so, while this can be done by hand, it's easiest to use a heavy-duty stand mixer fitted with a paddle.
Yield: 1 brioche, 14 to 16 slices
2½ cups (12.5 ounces) unbleached all-purpose white flour, plus ¾ cup (3.75 ounces), plus more as needed
5½ tablespoons granulated sugar, divided
1¼ teaspoons table salt
1 teaspoon instant, fast-rising, or bread machine yeast
1¼ cups plus 2 tablespoons ice water, plus more if needed
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, soft but not melted, cut into ½-inch pieces, plus more for brushing dough top and brioche pan
1/3 cup good-quality instant nonfat dry milk powder (don't use a generic brand)
2 large eggs plus 1 egg yolk, at room temperature, plus 1 egg for egg wash (if using loaf pan)
First Rise In a large bowl, thoroughly stir together 2½ cups of the flour, 3 tablespoons sugar, the salt, and yeast. Vigorously stir in the ice water, scraping down the bowl and mixing until the dough is thoroughly blended. If the mixture is too dry to blend together, stir in just enough more ice water to facilitate mixing and yield a slightly firm dough. If the mixture is soft, stir in enough more flour to make it barely firm. Evenly brush the top lightly with butter. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap. If desired, for best flavor or for convenience, you can refrigerate the dough for 3 to 10 hours. Then let rise at cool room temperature for 12 to 18 hours.
Second Rise In a medium bowl, whisk together the remaining 2½ tablespoons sugar and the milk powder, then thoroughly whisk in the 2 eggs plus egg yolk until well blended. Gradually add the egg mixture, then ¾ cup of the flour into the dough and mix vigorously to incorporate; use a paddle and heavy-duty mixer on low if available. Add the butter a tablespoon or two at a time, mixing after each addition until smoothly incorporated. If dough still seems very moist and soft, mix in a few tablespoons more flour until slightly thicker than thick pancake batter. Turn out into a well-greased 8- to 10-cup Bundt or kugelhopf pan, or a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan. Cover with nonstick spray—coated plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour to firm up the butter.
Let Rise Using Either of These Methods For a 2½- to 3½-hour regular rise, let stand at cool room temperature; or for an extended rise, refrigerate for 4 to 48 hours, then set out at room temperature. Let rise until the dough reaches the pan rim if using an 8-cup tube pan or loaf pan or to 1 inch below the rim if using a 10-cup pan. Remove the plastic wrap as the dough nears it.
Baking Preliminaries 15 minutes before baking time, place a rack in the lower third of the oven; preheat to 350°F.
Baking If baking in the loaf pan, mix the remaining egg for the egg wash with 2 teaspoons water. Evenly brush over the dough top. Omit the glaze if the brioche will be baked in a fluted pan and served inverted. Bake on the lower rack for 35 to 45 minutes, covering the surface with foil partway through to prevent over-browning if necessary. Continue baking for 15 to 25 minutes more, until a skewer inserted in the thickest part comes out with just a few particles clinging to the bottom (or until the center registers 201° to 203°F on an instant-read thermometer); the baking time will be longer in the loaf pan. When the brioche seems done, bake for 5 minutes longer to ensure the center is baked through. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the brioche to loosen it from the pan and transfer to the rack; let cool completely.
TipThe accelerated rise is not offered for this bread, as the extra warmth might cause the butter in the dough to soften too much.
Serving and StoringThe loaf tastes and slices best fresh and at room temperature. Cool completely before storing airtight in plastic or foil. The bread will keep at room temperature for up 3 days, and may be frozen, airtight, for up to 2 months.
Shave or chop 8 to 10 ounces of fine-quality bittersweet or semisweet chocolate into shards. Thoroughly fold into the dough right after the butter and extra flour have been incorporated (before the second rise). Proceed as for the original. Top the finished brioche with Chocolate Ganache Glaze while still warm, if desired.