Braided Brioche Buns for Christmas Eve
December 24, 2017 to December 25, 2017
“Making some Braided Brioche Buns just in time for Christmas Eve Dinner! Maybe Santa will want these instead of cookies this year 🎅🎄”
“I may have created a monster for Santa... 😅”
On Christmas Eve 2017, a knot of pale, glossy brioche dough sat in a muffin tin, and I figured maybe Santa would want these instead of cookies this year. On Christmas Day I held up the result in front of the fire: a towering golden bun that had risen well clear of its mold. I may have created a monster for Santa. That mold was too small.
Brioche is bread enriched with so much butter and egg that it sits on the border of cake. All that fat makes the dough slow to rise and then gives it tremendous oven spring, which is what caught my muffin tin out. A good rule is to fill a mold no more than halfway. The braided knot is shaped from a single rope of dough.
This article is written in Corey’s voice for this tribute site, based on his captions and blog. His own words are the quotes above.
Brioche: Loaf and Braided Buns
Brioche is the richest of the classic French yeast doughs, made with eggs in place of most of the water and with butter worked in at up to half the weight of the flour. It has been recorded in France since the early 15th century, with Normandy, famous for its butter, usually named as its home.
Ingredients
Dough
- 500 g bread flour (about 4 cups)
- 50 g granulated sugar (1/4 cup)
- 10 g fine sea salt (1 3/4 tsp)
- 10 g instant yeast (1 tbsp)
- 300 g eggs, cold (6 large)
- 30 g whole milk, cold (2 tbsp)
- 250 g unsalted butter, cool but pliable, in small pieces (2 sticks plus 2 tbsp)
Finish
- 1 egg beaten with 1 egg yolk and a pinch of salt, for egg wash
- Pearl sugar, for the buns (optional)
Method
- Put the flour, sugar, salt and yeast in the mixer bowl, keeping the salt and yeast apart, and add the eggs and milk. Mix with the dough hook on low for 4 minutes, then on medium for 8 to 10 minutes, until the dough is strong, elastic and clears the sides of the bowl.
- With the mixer on medium-low, add the butter a few pieces at a time, waiting until each addition disappears. This takes about 10 minutes. Continue kneading 5 minutes more, until the dough is glossy, pulls away from the bowl, and stretches into a thin translucent window.
- Cover and let rise at room temperature for 1 hour. Fold the dough over itself a few times to deflate, cover tightly, and refrigerate overnight, 8 to 16 hours. The butter firms and the dough becomes workable like modelling clay.
- For a loaf, divide 570 g of cold dough into 6 pieces, round each into a tight ball, and set them in two rows of three in a buttered 21 x 11 cm (8 1/2 x 4 1/2 in) loaf pan.
- For braided buns, divide the remaining dough into 8 pieces of about 70 g. Roll each into a 30 cm (12 in) rope, cut it into three, pinch the tops together, braid, and tuck both ends under. Space on a parchment-lined tray.
- Brush with egg wash and proof at 75-80°F (24-27°C) until doubled and very wobbly: about 2 to 2 1/2 hours for the loaf and 1 1/2 hours for the buns. Keep the proof below 82°F (28°C) so the butter does not melt out.
- Egg wash again. Bake the buns at 375°F (190°C) for 14 to 18 minutes, until deep golden.
- Bake the loaf at 350°F (175°C) for 35 to 40 minutes, until dark golden and 190°F (88°C) inside. Tent with foil if the top browns too fast. Unmould after 5 minutes and cool completely on a rack before slicing.
Chef’s notes
- Develop the gluten fully before the butter goes in. If the butter is added to a weak dough, it coats the flour and the dough never becomes strong enough to rise tall.
- A greasy dough means the butter got too warm. Stop, chill the bowl for 15 minutes, and continue. The finished dough should be no warmer than about 77°F (25°C).
- Do not skip the overnight chill. It improves flavour and makes shaping possible. Warm brioche dough is too soft to braid.
- Day-old brioche makes the best French toast and bostock.
Drawn from the methods of
- Thomas Keller and Sebastien Rouxel, Bouchon Bakery (2012)
- Ferrandi Paris, French Pâtisserie (2017)
- Peter Reinhart, The Bread Baker's Apprentice (2001)
- Jeffrey Hamelman, Bread (2004)
Corey has not published his own formula for this piece. This reference recipe is compiled from the published methods of the chefs and bakers listed above, written in our own words.
